Three Tips For Storing Your Business's Important Documents
Storing your business's documents can be important for both complying with the applicable regulations for your profession and reducing potential legal liabilities. To avoid issues when storing documents, you need to be mindful of some steps that you should take.
Pay The Extra Expenses For A Climate Controlled Storage Unit
Climate controlled storage can be a highly effective solution for preventing damage from occurring to your stored documents. In a standard storage unit, the interior temperatures and moisture levels can vary greatly, which can rapidly cause paper documents to degrade. Climate controlled storage units are built so that the interior temperature and moisture levels are kept constant, which will allow your paper documents to be safely stored for extended periods of time with minimal degradation. The ideal settings for storing your documents will largely depend on the type of paper and ink that is being used, but the staff at your storage facility will be able to provide guidance when you are setting the condition for your storage unit.
Digitize Your Records Prior To Placing Documents In The Storage Unit
Before you place your documents in the commercial storage unit, you should consider investing the time to digitize them first. This will allow you to quickly find the information from these documents without needing to go to the storage unit to retrieve the physical copy. Also, when your business needs original documents, you will be able to quickly review the available information so that you can compile a list of the exact documents that are needed. This can dramatically reduce the time needed to provide copies of these documents when they are needed by your customers or legal department. It can also protect you in the event that the storage facility suffers a fire or other catastrophic damage that impacts your unit.
Perform Regular Inspections Of The Stored Documents
If you do not regularly need to retrieve items from storage, it can be possible for them to suffer an assortment of damages. For example, it may be possible for the storage unit to develop a leak, which could greatly increase the risk of the documents suffering water damage. Also, it may be possible for some of the boxes to get tipped over, and this could allow the papers to become disorganized and damaged. Lastly, insects and other pests may also become a problem as they may be attracted to the stored paper for nesting or food. By taking a few moments to visually inspect the items stored in your unit, you can increase the odds that you discover these potential problems before they are able to cause serious issues for your documents.
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