On Oct 27, 2008, at 12:01 AM, RECMGMT-L automatic digest system wrote:
> http://snipurl.com/4q6bz [www_showbizspy_com]
> Elton John, The Rolling Stones and David Bowie Lose $2m Rock
> Memories in
> Blaze By Fame News, October 26 2008
>
> A handful of the world's biggest rock legends - including The Rolling
> Stones, David Bowie and Elton John - have been left reeling after
> $2m worth
> of rare memorabilia was destroyed in a fire.
>
> Tour pictures and promotional material marking different eras in
> The Stones
> 42-year career were lost in the warehouse blaze; legal documents
> signed at
> the start of Bowie's career were lost forever; and items belonging
> to Elton
> John and Duran Duran were also being kept at the depot in Bow, east
> London
> by storage experts Iron Mountain.
>
> A source says, "Everyone is very upset. The material is
> irreplaceable. Some
> of it is years old and worth thousands of pounds.
>
> "Lawyers have been instructed to deal with it. People just want some
> compensation for their loss. They refuse to take it lightly.
>
> "There is no way that this will be let go, there has not even been
> a proper
> explanation."
I can tell you from past experience, that unless these rock stars
have special clauses in their contract specifying a value and
specific requirements for secure fire protection of their records,
they have no cause of action here. Their contract, if typical,
specifically states that they are storing in a warehouse and that
protection is through redundancy and the client is responsible for
keeping their own copy safe and should their copy be destroyed, the
back up is there at the offsite location.
What percentage of this listserv believes that storing offsite is
actually done in a vault?
I just sat in a meeting in Oakland and listened to engineers state
that their records stored offsite were protected. A quick check
proved they were false. Then they stated that their records were in
a vault on site. Again, a quick check revealed that their records
were in a drywall (gypsum board) room on site. This room offered no
real protection. (Vaults must be structural in a fire.)
I asked which of their records were vital and they stated none.
Again, a quick check with the records management staff provided a
listing that certain records were indeed vital. In fact, their
disaster recovery plan stated that these vital records would be
protected from any and all loss. (Fire, earthquake, theft and so on.)
The engineers response was to get very angry and state that they did
not have time for this worthless BS.
Now these meetings are never pleasant! Proving to a group of people
that they are SO wrong as to be unbelievable, does not make you
friends in lateral departments. But it does draw Legal's support to
the fact that you are doing it right. Or you are trying to undo
wrong and begin to do it right.
Protection of records will be even more important as Congress
attempts to legislate control over certain corporate actions as part
of the bail out. You need to let Legal know you are on top of
things. Now is the time to point out flaws in your company's
processes and methods.
You need to be high profile now and point out the liability of
failing to be proactive.
In the coming months, some company's will seek to eliminate non-
essential personnel. Now is the time to make the case for your
profession. If Sarbanes Oxley was the response to ENRON and three
other companies wrong doing, imagine what will go on now. Your CEO
and CFO will need you more than ever!
Did any one attend a session at ARMA that made this case for you? If
so, it would be great to share that info. It is easy to understand
why some rock stars would get this idea about protection wrong but it
is down right embarrassing that a real records manager would be
confused in this same way.
I should mention that I have installed vaults for four individual
rock bands so some of them do get it about the value of their
archives and contracts. They realized their records had value and
started to examine what level of protection was being provided. Upon
determining that they had no real protection in their existing plan
they decided to move forward with a plan of their own.
Now is the time to become high profile and have a specific plan of
action based on what will happen after this election.
Hugh Smith
FIRELOCK Fireproof Modular Vaults
[log in to unmask]
(610) 756-4440 Fax (610) 756-4134
WWW.FIRELOCK.COM
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