Sometimes when you get rid of something, you need to know it’s gone for good. It could be a legal requirement, a way to ensure business secrets stay confidential, or simply a personal reassurance that what’s done is done. Regardless of the reason, requesting and getting a certificate of destruction can be a load off your mind. What is a certificate of destruction? In simplest terms, it’s a receipt that verifies the receipt and destruction of a particular material. And that’s not all. Here are five reasons to obtain a certificate of destruction
Proving Compliance
To be clear, a certificate of destruction isn’t a legal document. It’s a statement that proves the elimination of your documents in a way that satisfies industry regulations and standards. That said, some industries, such as healthcare, financial services, and other businesses, have rules about how organizations can store and eventually destroy data and records. A certificate of destruction can help avoid legal issues and fines.
Protecting Data
Want to keep your data out of the wrong hands? Destroy it. Obviously, you should protect and preserve currently useful data. But when a person passes or needs their personal information eliminated, you need to obliterate it utterly. A certificate of destruction promises that data is gone for good and you and your customers aren’t vulnerable.
Protecting the Environment
Sometimes it’s not data and documents a business must worry about. Every field creates waste, and some waste needs special handling because it can harm people or the planet. Such waste should require confirmation of its disposal with a certificate of destruction. Having a certificate shows that a business is conscientious about the community’s safety. A certificate can also stay in your records as proof that you’ve taken care of waste should the government ask.
Building a Better Brand
A company that doesn’t care about its clientele won’t bother with things like certificates of destruction. Show corporate responsibility by establishing a reputation for handling documents, waste, and off-spec products with the proper amount of care. Establishing trust is important to business, and lost trust is almost impossible to reacquire. Certificates of destruction and other activities help put you and your company in a better light.
Best Practices
Your company should always strive for perfection or at least something near to it in your business practices. Obtaining a certificate of destruction should be part of those best practices. Not only does it show due diligence, but it goes a long way toward protecting your interests. A certificate of destruction is also very effective in protecting your intellectual property.
Those are just five reasons to obtain a certificate of destruction. Make sure you request yours from whatever company you hire to shred or otherwise destroy your documents, waste, or other materials.
