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By Bob Dalton, CRM - Puget Sound ARMA Chapter
Question:
Do you have any advice on how to effectively ship records
into storage?
Response:
Many of us probably go though the
process of packing up inactive files for transfer to inactive storage on a
yearly basis. This shouldn't be a difficult task to perform. You get a file box,
put the files in, and then take or ship them to inactive storage. Simple…Not.
Think about it. Here are some of the things you should consider when sending
files to storage:
Room for additional files: Every year I box up
files and ship them to storage. Two weeks later I need to add something to the
box. Whoops. No room. Leave a little room to be able to add a file, or
additional information to an existing file. Temperature and humidity levels will
cause your records to expand and contract. I've also been known to rip the label
off when trying to extract a file jammed into the box.
Like Retention periods: If at all possible you
should pack records in a box with like retention periods. Why? So you can
destroy the box, not the individual contents within the box when the retention
period is up. I've seen some organizations destroy partial contents of boxes
and/or leave the box in storage for the longest retention period. Besides not
destroying records in a timely basis, leaving the records until the last
retention period is completed may expose your organization during discovery. You
should try to destroy your records as soon as they have met their retention
requirement.
Indexing: Based on my experience (lots of), the
lack of indexing is probably the biggest problem facing the poor individual who
is suppose to be managing the records for the organization. I can say without
hesitation that every organization, minus my government days, I have worked for
or with had indexes that had entries labeled “misc. file”, blank entries in
the description field, and no file, destruction or review dates. I can remember
one index labeled “Oldies but Goodies”, with numbers in sequence. It was in
ink, and with only one copy in existence.
When packing and sending boxes to inactive storage remember
that a poorly indexed box/storage container is difficult, if not impossible to
retrieve. If you're using a vendor data entry sheet to transfer files/boxes,
complete the form with as much detail as possible to expedite the retrieval
process. If you use an internal transfer system, again, enter as much
information as possible for retrieval purposes. Put the dates in, especially the
destruction/retention review ones. The lack of information could cause your
organization some real problems by forcing the review of more boxes than
necessary during litigation.
Weight: A standard storage box is 1.2 cubic
feet and weighs between 30-50 pounds. The last formal organization I worked for
had a limit of 30 pounds. Remember lifting incorrectly is one of the causes of
injuries in the work place. Don't take a chance with your back.
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