Why is regular document shredding important?

Why is regular document shredding important?

Arkiva Shredding

Why Is Regular Document Shredding Important

Every office possesses highly confidential documents of staff or business transactions that should never fall into the wrong hands. Such documents are very sensitive, private and are meant to remain as such. But there’s only a limited area in our office spaces so proper disposal of confidential materials is crucial in keeping our offices conducive and comfortable for conducting our businesses.

1. Compliance with the law

The use of individuals’ personal data in Singapore is governed by the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) It is our legal right to protect our confidential information and that of our customers. As a matter of fact, one can be penalized for improper discarding of confidential information. Once a document is no longer in use, organizations are advised to ensure that it is properly disposed through shedding. It is imperative that all organizations carry out proper disposal of private information and protect every personal data in their care.

2. Prevents leakage of confidential information

No organization wants to go through any sort of scandal/fraud or lose personal data of its employees. Ensure that this does not happen by shredding any unused private documents and data. Vital information of a company’s business or private data of an employee in the wrong hands can have dire consequences. While most documents are now stored digitally, some companies still see the need for physical renditions. You definitely don’t want confidential documents on your sales figures, business development plans and staff information to fall into the wrong hands.

3. Protects you and your staff from identity theft

Identity thefts – the crime of obtaining personal or financial information of someone else – are more prevalent than you think. When not disposed of properly, personal information of you and your valued staff can be used by an identity thief for his/her own financial gain.

4. Reduce clutter and save on storage space

It is quite common for many companies to leave papers and documents lying around in storage at the office. Some of these have yet to see the light of day in years but are somehow still sitting on desks, resting in filing cabinets and taking up a ton of unnecessary space. Shredding these unwanted documents can free up space in your office and reduce clutter.

5. Helps you save time

Perhaps the easiest and most convenient way to destroy documents is to tear it up by hand, especially if it’s just one or two pieces of paper. However, according to advisory from the PDPA, tearing such documents in halves or quarters does not destroy data on the paper completely. In fact, it still provides third parties with the opportunity to retrieve them and reassemble the pieces into the original document. Shredding paper completely into indiscernible pieces not only helps you to save time when you need to destroy documents in bulk, but also ensures that the strips of shredded documents can’t be reassembled.

6. Excessive clutter can pose as a fire hazard

Keeping piles of documents in the office increases the risk of a fire outbreak. There should be constant disposal of these documents by shredding once they are no longer in use. Every office should own a secure shredding console with someone placed in-charge. Although a third-party shredding service is the best because it does not involve capital investment, frequent maintenance service and the time spent by employees at the shredding machine can be better used at making money for the company.

7. Ensures your customers’ trust

When confidential documents with information about customers, clients and staff are guaranteed to remain private even after a business transaction, it increases the trust that all stakeholders have in the company for future liaisons.

8. Makes recycling so much easier

From an environmental perspective, paper recycling should be encouraged instead of burning. After shredding, the shredded remnants can still be recycled as raw materials and processed into recycled paper.

Every organization is to carry out paper or document shredding to fulfil the above-mentioned points. Organizations can own their shredding machine or pay a fair amount to third-party shredding companies. This is where Arkiva Shredding Service steps in. We are here to serve and fulfil all your document shredding requirements. We understand privacy and we make sure that all your documents remain secure with us even after shredding.

Arkiva Shredding Service provides you with a top-notch secure off-site paper shredding. Our shredding policy is in compliance with the PDPA (Personal Data Protection Act). With GPS tracked vehicles for transportation, we are beyond pleased to let you know that we carry out strict shredding policy thereby only our trained authorized personnel are permitted to be in charge of the documents.

Do drop an email to us at info@arkiva.com.sg or call 6303 0688 to work out the best way to suit your requirements now!