Certificate of Destruction

Every job ends with a certificate of destruction. It is the document a HIPAA auditor, a bank examiner, a records commission or an insurance adjuster asks for, and it is the proof that separates a shredding service from a guy with a truck.

What ours says

• Client name and service address
• Date of destruction
• Method: on-site mobile shredding, witnessed by the client
• Volume destroyed, in boxes, containers or pounds
• Number of hard drives or media items destroyed, if any
• Signature of the operator, and a line for yours
• A statement that shredded material was recycled

How to use it

File it with your compliance records. HIPAA expects documentation kept for six years; GLBA and FACTA expect evidence of reasonable measures; public offices attach it to a records disposal certificate. If a regulator or auditor ever asks how a set of records was destroyed, this is the answer, dated and signed.

Why on-site matters to the certificate

An off-site service issues its certificate after the paper has traveled and waited. Ours is signed in your parking lot, minutes after you watched the last box go in. The certificate describes something you saw.