Health and Safety Records retention: an overview
Effective information management is vital for any company. And this means that every company needs a good records retention schedule.
In this post we’re going to look at how to design a records retention schedule. First, though, we’ll look at why records retention is so important.
Why is a Records Retention Schedule Important?
A company can use a records retention schedule to set out:
- How long they should keep records related to their various commercial and internal activities
- How to store and access records securely
- How to dispose of records that are no longer needed
This can affect everything from operational efficiency to legal compliance requirements. It can help reduce the chances of losing important information, and bring down costs by reducing the risk of financial penalties for non-compliance, as well as by decreasing the number of hours of spent on unnecessary records management by staff members.
It’s crucial that document storage is systematic and controlled. But a document retention schedule needs to be clear and comprehensive so that all employees understand what they need to do. Usually, this means working with a records management expert to design a schedule, with help from staff in relevant business areas.
You can break down the process of designing a file retention schedule into five steps:
1. Preparation
Before beginning on the schedule proper, you need a full understanding of how your organisation works. The team designing the records retention schedule should:
- Get to know the different areas within the company, working with representatives from each to understand what their department does, and the types of record they create.
- Decide who will be responsible for each aspect of the records retention schedule design process (e.g. legal research and timelines).
- Set out an approval process for when a schedule has been drafted.
- Plan an implementation process, including staff training and outsourcing to a document storage company for records that don’t need to be stored on-site.
- Consider ongoing maintenance requirements post implementation.
You must also decide whether to assess the whole company at once or each area of the business separately. This will depend on the size of the company, the scope of the project, and the resources available.
2. Conduct a Records Audit
After the initial planning phase is completed, your organisation should conduct a records audit with representatives from each part of the business. This will provide the information required to design an effective records retention schedule.
The first step is to explain what the schedule is for and what will count as a ‘record’. The representatives should then be given records inventory worksheets, which are used to gather information about the records kept in each business area. This may include:
- The document type
- A description of what the record contains
- The business value of keeping said record
- How long it should be kept to fulfil its purpose
- The historical value of records (i.e. whether they should be put into archive storage)
- Any legal requirements for retention
- The record media and format
- Usage statistics and volume growth
Once the worksheets have been completed, it’s time to collate this information for use in the design process.
3. Analysis and Drafting
The information from the records inventory worksheets should be analysed before drafting a schedule. If required, you can also conduct further research to clarify how records fit in with the operational requirements of each business area.
One key factor here is how records are affected by statutory retention requirements. Someone in the company’s legal department may need to oversee this, or work with a records management professional. But once you have the necessary information, you can design and draft a schedule.
4. Review and Approval
The review process involves working with representatives from each department to ensure the schedule meets their operational needs. It is important to do this for each record series, as the requirements may differ in each case.
If necessary, you can then revise the draft schedule to cover issues identified during the review. Once you have done that, the approval process can begin.
Typically, as part of this process, a representative or manager from each business area will sign off on the process for each records series. It is then worth double-checking the veracity of the schedule with an experienced records management partner.
5. Ongoing Maintenance
The final records retention schedule can be implemented as soon as it has been approved. As well as clearly communicating the changes to everyone involved, this may mean training staff responsible for record keeping on any new procedures.
But the process does not end there! The records retention schedule should be reviewed regularly and updated as required to ensure that regulatory obligations and business needs are met.
Such ongoing maintenance will largely take place within each department, but it’s also important to apply retention rules consistently. As such, you may need a system in place to track records retention and archiving across the business as a whole.
Designing a document retention schedule can be a complex process – so it may be most cost and time-effective to outsource your records management requirements.
Contact Access Records Management today to learn more about our document storage, scanning and secure shredding services.
Related Posts
