Hurricanes cause billions of dollars in damage each year as they rip across the area. Floridians know that the threat of one of these storms is great from June to November. Plywood and generators fly out of the big box stores each season while people hunker down to ride out the storm. On occasion, evacuation is necessary. One area that is often overlooked is that of protection for vital documents. Businesses have a much harder time resuming operations when they lose equipment and records. It’s possible to keep your crucial documents safe, especially during hurricane season, by taking a few precautions throughout the year. 

Steps to Keep Office Records Safer All Year Long

Even though hurricane season starts in June each year, natural disasters can strike at any time. Implementing a scheduled routine of securing, shredding, storing, and destroying documents prepares you for the worst.

1. Gather and secure the most crucial company documents: Hurricanes bring flooding and quickly decimate paper documents, making it challenging to prove business matters afterward. It’s recommended that the following documents are gathered and placed in a waterproof area:
   1. Articles of Incorporation
   2. Licenses
   3. Special certifications
   4. Employee records
   5. Client Records
   6. Tax information
   7. Budget and expense paperwork
   8. Insurance paperwork
   9. HIPAA, FACTA, and other compliance records 
2. Set up regular intervals to shred outdated or unnecessary documents: Most businesses have many files and documents sitting in stacks that they no longer need. The records could be sitting in piles in a storage room or on employees’ desks waiting for shredding or recycling. The best place for them to be is already shredded and removed from your facility. There may be just enough information on the paperwork to aid an identity thief or hacker breach your security. Having an established schedule with mobile shredding service all year long lowers your liability and risk.
3. Regularly back up data and destroy any retired hard drives: Your data is another area to maintain. It makes good business sense to back up your company’s data to the cloud. Additionally, don’t just wipe hard drives clean as you phase out computer equipment. Destroy them through a qualified shredding company. Like paper, shredded hard drives cannot be glued back together to take information off them. 

Crown Information Management Handles Year-Round Shredding

Crown Information Management provides records shredding and destruction services throughout the year. We work with you to establish a schedule to eliminate unneeded documents, hard drives, x-rays, and other confidential items. Our services include:

• Locked containers to store your hard drives in until the scheduled pick-up. 
• Complete chain of custody. You know who has access to your hard drives and documents through the destruction and shredding process.
• Destruction verification by qualified and trained technicians who remove and transport the locked containers. 

Preparing for hurricane season is much simpler when you trust Crown Information Management with the process each year. 

We put our team to work for you for complete destruction, shredding, and records management services. Call Crown Information Management at 800-979-9545 or contact us online to schedule a pick-up or learn more about the process.