BUSINESS
Report flags document destruction failings
09-02-2005
by Deirdre McArdle
A survey has revealed a worrying lack of formal policies for destroying documents in Irish IT companies and SMEs across all sectors.
Eight out of ten Irish IT companies have no policy in place for the safe disposal of company files and documents, according to a survey by DMG Services, which consists of the businesses of Filestores and Shred-it. The number of IT firms without formal policies surpasses the Irish average of 62 percent.
The results are all the more puzzling considering that only 28 percent of IT companies believe that their documents are completely secure. SMEs across all sectors also admitted to taking a casual approach to the disposal of files and confidential information. Seventy-nine percent of those surveyed said they had no formal policies in place.
It was almost a year ago that Vodafone admitted that personal and financial details of about 2,700 Vodafone Ireland customers had gone missing after the Person 2 Person mobile phone shop closed its College Green store in Dublin. The documents containing the sensitive information were included with waste material thrown out by the current occupiers of the building during renovations. Approximately 70 percent of the missing documents were in relation to new, contract-based mobile phone connections and included personal and financial details.
"These research results provide hard and factual confirmation that Irish companies have limited formal policies in place when it comes to disposing of documentation," said Cecil Ryan, managing director of DMG Services. Ryan noted that changes in corporate governance, data protection and legislation have highlighted the importance of securing and disposing of documents in a safe manner.
Other sectors taking part in DMG's survey showed more interest in the safe destruction of documents. The best performing companies were those in the financial services and public sectors with 60 percent and 44 percent respectively saying they had a written policy for destroying documents.
Over a quarter of Irish companies strongly agree that their remiss approach to document storage could pose a potential threat to the company, while 35 percent agree that their document storage practices have caused a considerable time drain when faced with looking for old documents.
"Companies will be left exposed if they do not start adhering to best practice with their destruction policies," Ryan warned. He also added that simply storing documents indefinitely in the office was adding to costs and taking up useful space; some 53 percent of Irish companies are guilty of keeping documents indefinitely.
Meanwhile, IT companies fare better when it comes to recycling old documents with seven out of 10 -- the industry average -- saying they practiced recycling. Furthermore 60 percent of IT companies said they recycled over 30 percent of all their waste documents. Public sector companies came out on top, recycling over 75 percent of all their waste documents.
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