Because of some land acquisitions, my organization has been the lucky
recipient of a large number of moldy boxes.  The records are needed for
cost recovery activities. My staff was concerned about their health
while inventorying the records and so I called the State Industrial
Hygienist for an opinion.  He said that mold needs wet conditions to
thrive and be harmful.  Since the records are dry, and have been dry for
quite a while now, they pose no problem.  I also asked about the
smell/odor being a problem and he said that it was not harmful, just a
nuisance.  He said to use rubber gloves if the dirty condition of the
paper was personally offensive.  We are preparing the records for
off-site storage.  Can't wait to get them out of here!  The retention on
them is quite long.

Chris Johnson
Agency Records Manager
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
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-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Rebecca Bowen
Sent: Monday, April 02, 2007 4:02 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Damaged Records

Hello,

Can anyone on the list guide me to legal or other documentation besides
NARA
that speaks about destruction of damaged records?

I am in a situation wher there are approximately 3000 sq ft of records
that
are water damaged and moldy.  They have been uncared for until now,
obviously.  But, with some shifts in my organization records management
is
becoming the priority that it should be.

The records are a health hazard, but I would like to have as much
documentation as possible to support their destruction.


Thank you listserv, in advance.

Regards,

Rebecca

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Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance