In the spring, they clean up, remove the backlog and throw away what is unnecessary. The same should be done with documents that are no longer valid. Actually, what should be done with them?

It's defined by the rules. The institution or person managing the documents must take appropriate care of them.

Legal requirements

The data should not be passed on to unauthorized persons. The data should also be protected from being used in ways that violate the law or from destruction. And when the data is no longer up to date, it must be deleted, but in such a way that its content cannot be reproduced.

If someone does not do it or does not do it right, they will suffer criminal consequences. If the data from the documents gets into the wrong hands, then a fine, restriction or imprisonment will be imposed. And if such an action was not intentional, then one can expect a penalty lower by one year. As far as the fine is concerned, it may amount up to EUR 100,000, the changes will also apply to the General Inspectorate of Personal Data, which will be able to enforce legal regulations. The draft amendment was submitted to the Sejm.

Company security

The protection of personal data should be particularly important for the security of the company. Elements such as bank accounts, trade secrets, employee data, contract details are particularly valuable for espionage, for example, and should therefore be destroyed.

If you don't do that, it will be a voluntary acceptance of risk. Inappropriate information will end up in the hands of competitors or even criminals. The theft of such data is no longer just an invention of the people writing film scripts, it is also a way for criminals who will know how to use such data.

Economic and ecological considerations

Economic and environmental considerations must also be taken into account when it comes to destroying documents. Office space should be used as optimally as possible, so it is worth taking care that there are not many documents on the floor and that cabinets are not filled with them. In order to maintain order in the documents every time, it is necessary to control in real time which are still valid and which are no longer valid, as well as to keep track of the regulations which appear in this respect (it is about the time of storing documents). Thanks to this, old papers can be handed over for destruction in turn. What's more, shredder clippings can be converted into new paper.

How to shred?

Methods such as those shown in the film "Dogs", where policemen burn files from the Security Office at a dump, are no longer used. Today basically all public institutions use shredders.

Not all shredders are the same. The needs of the company are different, so you have to choose the equipment that best suits your specific needs. First, you need to consider what kind of documents are most often destroyed and on this basis you choose the security levels:

- first level - general purpose documents are destroyed, the strips of paper are 12 mm wide and the offcuts are 2000 square mm square,

- Second level - internal documents are destroyed, the resulting strips are 6 mm wide and the cuttings are 800 square mm,

- Level three - confidential documents are destroyed, the cuttings are less than 2 mm wide or less than 320 square mm in area,

- Level four - secret documents are destroyed, the cuttings have a surface area of less than 30 square mm, width less than 2 mm and length less than 15 mm,

- level five - strictly confidential documents shall be destroyed, the cuttings shall be less than 10 square mm in area, less than 0.8 mm in width and less than 13 mm in length.

It is also necessary to consider how many documents will be destroyed and how often it will take place. Small shredders are good for destroying paper every once in a while, but if this amount is bigger, you have to find shredders with high capacity, e.g. http://www.zlotesklepy.pl/kategoria/niszczarki/search-p,151. The application is simple, it consists in loading the chamber, closing the cover and securing it by entering the code. It is also good to make sure that the shredder does not jam the paper.