Protect Your Company Confidentiality With Shredders

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We are living in a world of paper: we receive important information on paper, and share confidential information on paper: creating documents, letters and many sensitive issues. Therefore it's important to be sure that our confidentiality and privacy are protected, and that waste paper is disposed of. In the past people used ways of destroying paper like burning and tearing, etc. Nowadays with huge volumes of paper all these methods are useless and we need something really powerful and reliable.

The first idea of a bulk paper shredding machine was patented in 1908 by A.A. Low, and the first shredder was created in Germany in 1935 by Adolf Ehinger. Since then with the fast growth of business and industry, shredders have become an important item of office equipment, for both company and home needs.

Nowadays each company creates, edits, and destroys tons of paper documents that may contain highly confidential information that is not intended for third-party viewing and usage. And the best way for the company to protect itself is to shred all documents and other important papers before throwing them away.

This guide will help you choose the right shredder for your company needs.

Before you go to the nearest office equipment store or logon to an online office supplies shop, you need to know answers to these 2 questions:

1. How often will the shredder be used?

The environment in which the shredder will be placed is usually the best guide to how much shredding a machine will have to undertake and if it is the right type of machine to best meet your needs.

Home Personal shredders are the best for single users who works from home. Such machines can utilize about 20 sheets per day and work in an economical way for home workers to shred confidential business and personal information.

Medium duty use (not continuous) machines usually utilize 50-100 sheets a day. This is normal for shared use in an office with 3 and more users.

Heavy-duty use machines are designed for large companies to withstand everyday continuous use and can work as centralised machines for all office users.

2. How confidential is the information to be shredded?

The security provided by the shredder is determined by how small the paper is shredded. Levels of security rated by a DIN Security Level are ranging from 1 to 5. DIN stands for "Deutsche Industrie Normierung" which means "German Industry Standard" and it is a registered association promoting standardization, quality assurance, safety, and environmental protection internationally.

The DIN level of each shredder model can be found in the machine specs.

The official levels range from 1 to 5 with 1 being the least secure and 5 being the most secure. Level 3 is an average one and usually enough for most requirements.

Each level depends on cut types a shredder uses: strip cut or cross cut.

Cross cut shredder cuts paper into confetti-like pieces providing higher security and significantly reducing bulk waste.

Strip cut shredder cuts paper into spaghetti-like pieces the length of the paper providing everyday security.

- 1 Level is used for general paperwork and provides strip cut (10.5mm) and cross cut (10.5x40-80mm)
- 2 Level is to be used for everyday documents with strip cut (3.9mm).
- 3 Level is used for confidential documents with cross cut (3.9x30mm)
- 4 Level is intended for sensitive documents and uses cross cut (1.9x15mm)
- 5 Level provides the highest security and is used for secret documents with cross cut (0.78x11mm)

What to shred?

Each company is legally required to adequately dispose sensitive information. Accounting and Personnel departments produce highly sensitive information that is extremely useful to competitors. The following documents should always be shredded before disposal:

- Financial reports
- Marketing reports
- Sales reports
- Budget information
- Salary information
- Personal data
- Internal correspondence

There is a wide range of shredders that can shred A4 landscape, A3 and even CDs, and that feed automatically. The maximum width of paper, which can be shredded by each machine, is listed in the specifications table for individual models.

Number of paper sheets that be shredded at one time varies depending on the model. A standard office shredder can shred from 15 to 20 sheets at one time. A strip cut machine shreds more sheets of paper in one time than cross cut machines, which provide higher level of security shredding fewer sheets.

Shredders maintenance

Shredders usually require very little maintenance. The basics maintenance can be easily done inside the company without calling in a specialist: this is periodical clearance of the cutting heads of excess shredded paper and regular oiling of the shredder to ensure the proper movement of the cutting heads. These are 2 crucial steps towards efficient and long lasting operation of the shredder. The shredders usually have a 2-years warranty with a 5-years warranty of the cutting heads.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

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