In part 1 of our “When Disaster Strikes” series, we discussed what a vital record is. In this part, we will discuss steps you can take to protect those vital records.

This simple five-step plan for identifying and protecting your organization’s vital records is adapted from the US EPA’s records management toolbox:

1. Identify your vital records. Review the information and records maintained in your office and determine which ones would be needed in an emergency. There are three tiers of vital records protection:
   1. Tier 1 protects those records necessary in the first few hours of a crisis.
   2. Tier 2 records are necessary to respond to the emergency at hand.
   3. Tier 3 records involve activities which are the most critical to the organization’s mission.
2. Conduct an inventory of your vital records.  Next you need to prepare a listing, or inventory, of the records identified in Step 1. Decide who needs to have copies and establish a procedure to ensure the inventory is updated and sent to the appropriate people.
3. Determine how you will protect your vital records.  Now that you know which records in your office are vital and where they are located, you need to determine how to protect them. There are two basic choices: (1) duplicate them and store them offsite; or (2) collect them from other sources and recreate them.

4. Designate an off-site location, or locations, for your vital records storage.  Based on the decisions made in Step 3, it is likely you will need to find an offsite location to store duplicates. If you work for a public agency or large business with multiple locations, a facility may have already been identified.
5. Protect your vital records.  Once you have decided how the records are to be protected, add the information to your inventory.

Records should be updated as often as possible. Consider the risk to the recovery effort if the information is out of date versus the cost of keeping it updated.

Ensure that any other documents which contain information related to the office’s vital records program, such as the office’s continuity of operations or business continuity plan, reflect the most updated vital records program-related information.

Create a resource list of disaster recovery firms for your geographic area and update the information at least annually.

Don’t forget to test your plan to be sure the recovery runs smoothly. Include drills on using the equipment, supplies, and procedures for vital records recovery.

In the next and last installment of our “When Disaster Strikes” series, we’ll be discussing secure electronic storage options for backing up your records and concluding the series.

Contributed by: Tod Chernikoff, CRM CIP, Senior Records Manager, Cadence Group

Tod Chernikoff is a Certified Records Manager and Certified Information Professional.  He is Subject Matter Expert in the records and information management field with almost 20 years’ experience.  He has led records and information management programs in both public and private organizations, as well as serving as a consultant to a wide range of public and private clients in the US and abroad.

Image by: Zdeněk Malý at ©Depositphotos.com