The Drawbacks of In-House Shredding

Routine shredding of confidential documents is a must for every business. But before implementing an in-house shredding program, consider the risks. In this blog, we discuss the drawbacks of in-house shredding.

1. Your Employees Make Document Disposal Mistakes

Mistakes happen in a busy office, but one document disposal error can cause a data breach or non-compliance fine. Outsourcing your shredding offers your business a reliable privacy protection solution. Your shredding provider places secure collection containers throughout your office, enabling confidential documents to be disposed of quickly. Depending on the volume of information your business needs to destroy, the security collection containers are collected weekly, bi-weekly, every four weeks, or every eight weeks, and your documents are professionally destroyed on-site.

2. Office Shredders are Inefficient

If you have used an office shredder before, you know it’s not quick. First, you must remove staples and paperclips from your documents and separate files into easily shredded portions. Then, after hand-feeding your documents into the shredder, the shredding receptacle must be emptied. This time-consuming process gives you less time to focus on other important tasks. A commercial shredding service helps you save time and stay productive.

3. Compliance Is Not Guaranteed

Under HIPAA, FACTA, GLBA and several other privacy laws, the personally identifiable information (PII) and protected health information (PHI) of consumers and employees must be protected. Businesses must meet the information disposal requirements of these state and federal regulations or face fines and penalties. They must also provide proof of destruction. With an outsourced shredding solution, you receive a Certificate of Destruction noting the date of destruction and amount of information destroyed after every shredding project.

4. Health Risks

It is easy to overlook the health risks of in-house shredding but doing so can put your staff at risk. Office shredders produce dust particles that can be detrimental to the health of your employees. Manually feeding paper into a shredder or unclogging a paper jam can cause a serious injury. Outsourcing your shredding helps protect the health and wellbeing of your staff.

As you can see, in-house document shredding is costly and risky, but outsourced shredding is an affordable solution.

If you are ready to outsource your shredding, please call us at 610-692-TEAR(8327) or complete the form on this page.

Wiggins Shredding serves Pennsylvania and the Tri-State Area of Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey with secure shredding and destruction services. We are your trusted, locally-owned paper shredding resource!