Reality check: How safe are personal shredders?
Safety Risk
Personal Shredders are designed for occasional use at our homes and should be turned off when not in use. They can overheat, spark, or worse if overused or in the case of an accident. In an office environment, they are often used under a desk (plugged into workstations mostly) alongside much more valuable equipment. A localized accident can have devastating consequences.Privacy Risk
No matter how diligent you are, a pile of “to be shred” materials invariably forms on your desk. By definition, this pile, big or small, is valuable, confidential, and/or private (otherwise you wouldn’t be shredding it) and we all leave it a very portable, almost gift wrapped stack. For those offices that consolidate shredding with a receptionist or in a mail room, these risks are made exponentially higher by the volume and the lack of available time to perform the tasks – vacations, deadlines, and other duties often trump the dreaded shredding commitments from the crew. The worst examples are at the front desk, where visitors are within arms length of some of the most sensitive information your firm creates. What about at night or off hours, can you really be sure this stack is treated appropriately.Wasted Resources
Putting aside the cost of the equipment, its replacement after too big a piece of metal is inserted, the replacement after that for burn out, etc…the time that self performance of shredding can consume versus the minimal expense to outsource this need is wasteful for any level of employee (other than free interns and “kids of the boss”). Time is money but it is tough to measure in this case, but just 30 minutes a month has a cost, not to mention the complaining to others distractions, the noise disruption and dust and damage to their clothes.The Alternative
Outsourcing your shredding to a trusted, reputable organization like Corodata enables you to realize a few key benefits:- Inexpensive Rates – $1 a day per piece of equipment is a good estimate for this type of service.
- Immediate Security – The whole office will be able to slip their material in the bins or consoles on the way to a meeting or to grad a refill of coffee. No need to stack or pile for long periods.
- Locked and Secure – The equipment is locked and tamper resistant. Once inside the paper can not be touched by personnel and all the material is mixed to together providing even more anonymity.
- Green – All the shredded material is recycled after destruction to make napkins, towels, and other necessities.
Warning about Recycling Bins
Recycling bins are not the same as shredding. Do not assume that a recycling program includes shredding or any other destruction prior to exposure to outsiders. If it needs to be shred, please train your employees to view Shredding as just as Green as recycling.Get Started
To learn more about this alternative to those little shredding monsters, please contact us and we’d be happy to consult with you as to equipment, frequency, and other training needs.Taking Control of Inactive Records with Corodata
Properly labeling and tracking inactive files, and moving them safely offsite, can save your company space, time and money; remove the threat of losing documents; providing easy retrieval of files when needed, and set your reputation as a secure company.
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