Cost should never be a factor. However, it is important to obtain a cost
effective rate which can be a standard according to an SLA.
An important factor to note, once destruction is not done by a company
itself but by an approved vendor, the business relationship is base on trust
that is fulfilled by the vendor providing service in compliance with the
company's requirements.

Option 1 - Is very risky as stated. However, your company can place strict
requirements on this vendor (one man operation or not) such as the NAID
Certification, ensuring that the vendor has a protection policy (mostly for
themselves which will also benefit you) in compliance with Legal Guidelines
and that they are not shredding for the "cash involve", Secure Shredding
(eliminates the possibility of information security being compromise),
Steady or occasional witness to the shredding process (can also be done by
your security staff).

Option 2 - The more secure method. This is usually the route taken by almost
all companies that seeks to remain in compliance with their own corporate
guidelines and legal and regulatory agency requirements. It provides a
greater assurance of your records destruction. The process should involve
paper works (your company & vendor),neccessary approvals (from within your
company) and the verification of that approval by vendor before destruction.
I would recommend that you obtain a Destruction Process Workflow with which
you can follow up on for the specifics. Also arrange with the vendor to view
the shredding process even if its a "once in a lifetime tour". It will give
you insight into what goes on behind the scene.

These are only my views base upon my current function and involvement with
Records Destruction. I am involved with both Option 1 & 2 but in Option 1,
the vendor is a well established company.

P.S. Ensure you are getting secure shredding.

Hope this helped in someway.


Murez Sandy
Records Specialist
Global Records & Information Management
Honeywell International



-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Terry Schofield
Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2005 1:27 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Shredding process evaluation


Hello, List.  I've spent much of my morning reading through the archives;
I'm
now ready to seek advice from the experts.

There's a long and frustrating story leading up to this question, but I'll
spare
you the details and throw out this question.

Question:  If you were to recommend a process for destroying /shredding
paper
records, which of the following two options would you choose:

Option 1 - An on-site vendor brings a truck to our campus, and drives to
each of
our four buildings collecting the contents of locking 64-gallon containers
and
shreds them in the respective parking lots. No one from our company is
tagging
along to witness the destruction of the materials.  A Certificate of
Destruction
is provided at the conclusion of the destruction, indicating the number of
containers shredded. The Vendor, who is located out of state, is not NAID
certified.  Not much information is available about the vendor because their
website is a home page with no information available.  I believe they are a
one-man operation.

Option 2 - An off-site destruction vendor, who comes to our site, collects
locking 96-gallon containers from each of the four buildings and replaces
them
with empties.  No one from our company is accompanying them to collect the
containers. Vendor takes the locked containers to their facility, located
about
20 miles from here, and shreds the contents of the collected containers - no
one
from my company is witnessing this destruction.  A Certificate of
Destruction is
sent to us providing the number of containers shredded.  The Vendor is NAID
certified, and we have a successful relationship with them as our offsite
storage vendor.

Additional details:
Cost is not a factor.
Materials being shredded could include our HR records, but other than that,
no
other "personal" information.
Materials being shredded also include business data for our member
companies,
and confidentiality is essential.
We are a profit-neutral company, and are heavily regulated by FERC.

I realize there are probably many other factors to consider, but given the
situations described, do you see one as a riskier option than the other?

How critical is it to accompany a vendor and witness destruction?

I have a definite opinion on this.  I would really like to know which option
you
would choose and why.  I'm trying to assess if I'm off base with my opinion,
or
gather points to build an argument to support my opinion.

Thank you all for your anticipated feedback.

Terry Schofield
Sr. Records Management Analyst
[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
(610) 666-4519


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