Workplace Disasters to Avoid in Document Management

Without proper document management, workplace dangers like faulty electrical equipment, overloaded sockets, and trails of loose wires can cause irreversible damage to important documents. Moreover, the business is at risk of breaching GDPR – the latest data protection regulation – creating litigation risks and a poor brand image. Paper documents are extremely easy to destroy and impossible to track, version, or protect. Besides the legal harm, if the documents are not stored digitally or in a secure document management system service, employee productivity takes a massive hit. 

Sumeet Goel, dox2U’s CEO said: “The heavy reliance placed on paper documentation is uncharacteristic of the digital age we operate in. Cluttered paper is at risk of damage due to fires or natural deterioration. Information that is not digital can create barriers to efficiency, collaboration and productivity. 

If the information is scattered and siloed in paper files, document retrieval and exchange of information becomes a time-consuming, manual process. The manual nature of working with documented information on paper also projects a dated brand image. 

To avoid these hazards and litigation risks, it’s crucial for organizations to adopt digital transformation by implementing an intuitive document management system that can help ease the manual pains of paper documents.”

Rather than administering a “band-aid” fix every time a workplace disaster occurs, the business should focus on creating a robust document management system in the first place. Let’s take a look at some of the most commonplace workplace dangers with paper documents, and how to prevent them with an organized storage process. 

Workplace Hazards that can Permanently Destroy Important Documents

Without an organized storage system for paper documents, the business is at risk for several health and safety violations. Here are some examples:

Theft and Data Breaches

Most people associate data theft and breaches with online documentation, but paper documents are equally at-risk for wrongful access by unauthorized persons. In fact, it’s twice as hard to find the culprit since paper theft cannot be traced as easily as online theft. Employees with malicious intent or criminals can photocopy or siphon off sensitive company documents, and hold that information for ransom or sell it to competitor businesses. Past research shows that “61% of data breaches within companies of less than 500 employees involve paper records.”

Solution: To prevent document mishandling, businesses should store the documents in a digital archive or document management system, and shred any unnecessary documents such as old employee records containing sensitive data and numbers. 

Mishandled Documents

Human beings are clumsy and careless; oftentimes, the worst consequences of document mishandling are brought by spilled coffee or tea. Heaps of papers crowding the office can also take a toll on employee productivity, and harm the brand image. If employees are wasting time rummaging for necessary information through heaps of paper, they cannot optimize their efficiency or service the client to the best of their potential.

Solution: While it’s a good tip to have a dedicated area for employees to eat lunch and drink morning coffee, a document management system is a must nevertheless. With a digital archive for all your paper documents, the business has a safety net for any unexpected accident at the workplace that may ruin important documents. 

Document Deterioration

In a typical office environment where the temperature tends to fluctuate between air conditioning and central heating through different seasons, it’s easy for paper documents to decay or lose their quality. If the humidity levels are above 65%, it’s extremely difficult to prevent mold growth on paper, while humidity levels lower than 40% can cause the paper to become brittle and dry. 

Solution: In addition to keeping the storage room for documents, protected from pests, dry, and clean, having a digital cabinet for your most important documents, eliminates all environmental threats like pests and mold growth. 

Lastly, without proper care, heaps of paper can also threaten an employee’s life. An office cluttered with stacks of papers everywhere could obstruct emergency exits. As the paper is highly flammable, a fire hazard is a permanent possibility. By identifying potential disasters and risks associated with paper document management, employers can seek more nuanced solutions for document management. 

Safety Tips for Employers to Avoid Workplace Disasters

While it’s important to have a secure digital archive for all your paper documents, no business can eliminate day to day use of paper documents for business processes. Past research shows that 27% of employees choose to print out any PDFs they need to review, while 58% still print out PDFs received via email to hand-sign documents.

Listed below are five tips for employers to incorporate into the workplace environment. 

1. Discourage Risky Behavior: 

Oftentimes, employees are working under high pressure, rushing around to meet important deadlines, and this can create a window for accidental damage to documents. By incentivizing innovation and not accident-inducing risk, employers can discourage risky behavior. 

2. Implement Control Measures: 

Once you’ve identified potential workplace hazards, make a plan to implement control measures such as a wrist brace (PPE), frequent breaks, substitutions, etc. In the following diagram, you can see various control measures provided by The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

3. Review Your Policies and Processes

Employers must make it an annual practice or a follow-up procedure by a workplace accident to review the current governance plan for safety hazards, both for employees and the business. For example, past research shows that just 26% of employees in companies with over 100 employees had access to PDF editors. In the absence of proper tools, employees can upload company information to a free PDF converter, without knowing who can get their hands on that database. Once the employer has identified and rectified the lacking measures, make sure to update the employees on the same via a company-wide email. 

4. Educate Employees About Potential Risks 

A poorly trained employee is not only a threat to themselves but also the company and other third parties. It’s the employer’s responsibility to avoid potential workplace disasters by providing timely training programs, no matter how experienced an employee may be. Keeping the employees up-to-date on policies and procedures may take some time away from operations, but it can protect the company from disastrous hazards and yourself from a potential lawsuit. 

5. Create a Feedback Mechanism 

The best way to create a safety harness is to ask the person who’s taking the risks regularly. No one knows the workplace risks better than the workers facing them. Hence, when creating a governance plan or reviewing company safety policies, create feedback channels for employees to voice their concerns and suggestions. A suggestion box or a hotline for workplace concerns can provide an anonymous and secure outlet for employees to create a safer working environment. 

Key Takeaway 

Paper creates risk- and employers can not do away with paper, just yet. Whether it’s the default habits of employees, lack of proper tools, ad-hoc sharing, or other elements, paper documents are always at risk of natural disasters and man-made accidents. That’s why employers need a holistic approach to document governance – an in-depth review process that identifies potential hazards timely and updates current document management solutions in accordance. One such preventive measure that forms the core of modern document handling is adopting a digital archive or secure document management system that offers a safety net for all your important documents.