Industry News

Topeka, Kan.-based records management firm Jayhawk File Express (JFE) has announced that it has maintained its document destruction certification with the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID).

JFE is the only NAID certified shredding provider in the Topeka/Lawrence area. "The AAA certification provides a third-party evaluation, ensuring JFE customers that the highest possible secure and confidential destruction practices are followed," according to a press release from the company.

The company’s security measures include:

• Screening employees using Kansas Criminal History background checks and drug testing;

• Maintaining security logs and personnel identification requirements;

• Monitoring the facility using closed-circuit cameras;

• Adhering to documented destruction protocols;

• Specifying equipment for particle size; and

• Adhering to vehicle security procedures and inspections.

"The Jayhawk File Express team strives to exceed customer and industry expectations," JFE President Cheryl Creviston says. "The NAID certification is one way to show our customers our commitment to security and confidentiality. The same standards of excellence are also applied to our file storage and management, document imaging and media vaulting services."

JFE has been NAID AAA certified since 2003.

Founded in 1996, Jayhawk File Express provides secure file management, secure shredding, media storage and document imaging to a wide range of clients in Topeka and Lawrence.

Access Information Management has announced that it has acquired DataStor Inc., a business records management firm based in Martinez, Calif.

According to Access, the acquisition gives the company a broader market share and expands its operations into the San Francisco Bay area.

Dan Miles, former president of DataStor, joins Access, based in Pleasanton, Calif., as a member of the corporate shared services team.

"DataStor has established a tremendous track record as a quality records management company serving clients throughout the entire Bay area," Access CEO Dennis Barnedt says. "Their team is an excellent fit for our company and our clients."

Access has made eight acquisitions since 2005, including American FileSafe, Moorpark, Calif.; Fortress Records Management, based in Newbury Park, Calif.; and Capital Records Management, Sacramento, Calif.

Total Training Services, Spartanburg, S.C., has announced its Shred School schedule through the end of 2007.

Sessions will be Nov. 7-9 and Dec. 5-7 at Total Training Service’s Spartanburg headquarters.

Shred School provides registrants with three days of hands-on training in sales and marketing, pricing, equipment and operations as well as detailed training and industry manuals with samples of marketing letters, brochures, ads, etc. Shred School also enables shredding industry entrepreneurs to network with other independently owned shredding companies. All meals and lodging are provided to registrants.

Total Training Services is considering offering Shred School sessions more frequently in 2008.

"Due to popular demand, we are going to look at conducting a Shred School every month starting in 2008," Ray Barry, president of Total Training Services says. "This year we have conducted the Shred School every other month and we have limited space each time, and it fills up very quickly."

Barry continues, "Being that we have operated our own successful shredding business, we also understand that the shredding business owner has a very busy schedule and adding four to six more Shred Schools next year may provide more flexibility for them."

More information on Shred School is available at www.shredschool.com and at www.totaltrainingservices.com.

Gilmore Services, Pensacola, Fla., was awarded a three-year document shredding contract by the Florida Department of Revenue (DOR). The contract includes the agency’s Tallahassee headquarters as well as all the DOR’s facilities in Bay, Escambia, Jackson, Leon, Okaloosa and Washington Counties.

Ronnie Gilmore, CEO of Gilmore Services, says, "In a bout of stiff competition, against some of the largest national companies in our industry, this award is just one more affirmation of the exceptional quality of all the services delivered by our fine people."

According to the company, a key consideration of the DOR in awarding the contract was the fact that Gilmore Services was one of the few companies operating in the Tallahassee area certified by the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID).

"The companies that go through the rigors of our certification process do it at a great deal of expense and time. It shows that they really are as concerned for their customers’ information as the customers themselves are. It is one true measure that really differentiates the companies involved in the handling of confidential personal, corporate and government data," Bob Johnson, executive director of NAID, says.

The DOR contract began Aug. 1, 2007, and has an option for a three-year extension should both parties agree.

Gilmore Services, which began as a moving company more than 50 years ago, has expanded its offerings to include storage and management of clients’ records, shredding of confidential materials, high-speed data imaging and off-site electronic data storage.

SafeGuard Destruction Services, Fort Myers, Fla., has received AAA certification from the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID).

SafeGuard President Shirley Roth says, "In the era of identity theft, ‘good enough’ doesn’t cut it when protecting client and patient privacy. NAID certification is the best assurance that a firm’s document destruction services can be trusted."

The company, which is endorsed for plant-based paper/printed media and computer hard drive destruction, earned the certification by submitting to annual and unannounced audits by an independent certified protection professional.

Of the 21 companies with NAID certification in the state, only SafeGuard is endorsed for hard drive destruction. The company specializes in off-site destruction and offers optional "virtual on-site shredding," a service that allows customers to monitor the off-site shredding of their documents using a secure online connection.

More information on SafeGuard Destruction Services is available at www.safeguardds.com. 

The board of trustees for the Summit-Akron Solid Waste Management Authority has approved a plan to offer mobile shredding services throughout the county through the end of 2007 and all of next year.

The trustees have decided to seek out a mobile shredding operation that can service residents and small businesses in the country in the last quarter of 2007 and throughout 2008. The authority has approved $16,000 to finance these services in the fourth quarter of this year. According to local press reports, the authority also has earmarked $16,000 to continue the project throughout 2008.

According to the trustees’ plan, residents would be offered the service at no charge. Residents would be restricted to a maximum of seven bags or boxes at one time.

A spokeswoman for the authority says the service would be offered at two locations. She adds that the authority wants to host as many as six shredding events this year, possibly starting in early October.

A formal request for proposal likely will not be issued. Representatives from the authority have contacted several shredding firms, including Shred-it and Neoshred.

The authority plans to solicit bids with a flat per-pound price. Companies that conduct the shredding would need to be licensed and bonded and all shredding would need to take place on site.

Boston-based Iron Mountain Inc. has acquired Irvine, Calif.-based Accutrac Software Inc., a provider of records management software and professional services. Terms were not disclosed.

According to a press release from Iron Mountain, "Accutrac’s client-based software, Accutrac XETM, enhances Iron Mountain’s core records management capabilities by helping customers to better manage, retain and access records throughout their life cycle from creation through disposition." The Accutrac XE software provides a central system to manage active and inactive records, whether they reside at an Iron Mountain site, a company’s own records room or any other location or repository.

"Our customers want us to partner with them throughout the life cycle of a record to help reduce the costs and risks associated with information management," Greg Nicastro, executive vice president of Integrated Solutions and Development, Iron Mountain says. "Accutrac’s software gives us the ability to begin that partnership earlier in the life cycle."

The Accutrac XE application facilitates active records management with comprehensive automation tools including:

• Indexing and classification;

• Location tracking;

• Records delivery request automation with Iron Mountain system integration robust discovery, search, query and filtering tools; and

• Retention management, legal holds, archiving and isposition/destruction reporting.

"Joining Iron Mountain represents the ultimate accomplishment and opportunity for Accutrac, its employees and especially its customers," Kurt Thies, CEO of Accutrac Software Inc., says.

Titan Mobile Shredding LLC, a secure mobile document destruction company based in Doylestown, Pa., has been awarded the AAA Certification for mobile operations from the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID)

The company, which serves customers in Eastern Pennsylvania and throughout New Jersey, received the certification in July. Currently, Titan is the only company based in southeastern Pennsylvania that is certified by NAID, according to a Titan news release and NAID’s Web site.

Titan Mobile Shredding deploys a fleet of mobile trucks for the complete destruction of its clients’ confidential paper and printed media.