It’s known among the shredding industry that many businesses maintain legal obligations that can be fulfilled through the use of a professional shredding service. But what is less known is exactly what specific bills contain laws that can be satisfied through the use of a professional shredding service. What’s more, many businesses don’t even realize that they are subject to legal obligations concerning how information is managed.
What sort of obligations exactly? Generally speaking, these are obligations that involve either the proper handling of sensitive information, or the proper disposal of sensitive information. In the United States there are a few different bills that outline rules and regulations that can be fulfilled by a professional shredding service. Below are brief outlines for just a few of such bills.
HIPAA
The Health Insurance Portability and Accounting Act (HIPAA) was enacted in 1996 with the intention of protecting sensitive patient information, and to maintain and safeguard the privacy of patient medical records. Many organizations and businesses operating in the medical industry are subject to the guidelines outlined in HIPAA, and many penalties are outlined for organizations that fail to properly protect specific patient information.
FERPA
Applying to all educational agencies and institutions in the United States that receive any sort of funding from the Department of Education, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) was enacted in 1974 with the intent of managing the handling and access of educational information to public entities. Such entities could include potential employers, foreign governments and publicly funded educational institutions.
FACTA
Enacted in 2005, the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) applies to virtually all businesses and individuals in the United States that maintain or possess any consumer information. Such information could include things such as credit card numbers, SSN’s, driver’s license or phone numbers and email addresses. The goal behind FACTA largely was to protect against and minimize instances of consumer and identity fraud.
How Do these Bills Relate to Shredding?
These bills all concern secure document shredding in the same manner; failure to properly dispose of medical records, educational records or any consumer information could result in hefty penalties and fines for affected businesses. Critical to complying with all three of these acts is the proper management of sensitive information.
As a provider of both secure shredding services on and off-site, Shred-A-Way’s shredding services will help ensure your business stays compliant with its information management obligations. We even allow our customers to monitor the entire shredding process themselves, so that they know their documents are destroyed satisfactorily. As always, we make sure that a certificate of destruction lands in the hands of our customers, guaranteeing our work and providing legal proof that documents have been shredded in accordance with the law.
If your business is looking to get serious about fulfilling its information management obligations, contact us today. Our service area is always expanding to serve more clients. Talk to us today to learn more.