3.2.1 Destroy Onsite - RIM Manual

Onsite physical records are maintained in a government office, rather than in offsite storage. When these records are eligible for destruction, the office is responsible for administering this process. 

Onsite digital records are stored in a variety of environments and applications. When these records are eligible, destruction may be carried out within the office according to internal procedures (e.g. for records on a LAN/shared drive or a SharePoint site that the office manages) or it may be carried out with assistance from the service provider using application-specific procedures (e.g. for records managed in business application databases such as EDRMS Content Manager or the Corporate Accounting System [CAS]).

Refer to the Appropriate Information Destruction guidance for the onsite destruction of government information. Ministries are responsible for having appropriate information destruction practices in place for the disposal of data and government information and following applicable standards and policies. Records cannot be destroyed if they are subject to current or upcoming ligation, investigation or subject to requests under FOIPPA. For further guidance, contact: GRS@gov.bc.ca.

Specifications for Destroying Records Onsite

For all government information and records the onsite destruction process must:

1. Be administered according to a defensible, documented, authorized process;
2. Be applied only to records eligible under RIM Section 3.2;
3. Be fully secure throughout (i.e. only accessible to authorized staff);
4. Ensure that the information is completely obliterated and cannot be reconstituted; and
5. Be cost-effective and environmentally friendly.

Destruction agents may include both employees (as authorized by records schedules and office procedures) and authorized service providers. 

In addition to the above specifications, that apply to all government information regardless of format or storage location, the following types of records have additional specifications as follows:

Additional specifications for particular types of records

Type of Records	Destruction Agent	Destruction Site	Destruction Method and Specifications
Digital records	Employee or Authorized service provider (i.e. agency that manages the system where the records reside).	Server managed by office or service provider	Delete digital records stored online (e.g. in an email application, a shared drive/LAN, a SharePoint site, or other digital system). Also delete any extra copies that may exist, except for copies filed elsewhere in the office recordkeeping system and routine computer backup files.
Film, microfilm, other recordable or fixed media	Best practice is to use the Secure Electronic Media Destruction service provided by the Asset Investment Recovery (AIR) branch	AIR facility, Victoria	Shred magnetic storage media or film, whether digital, analogue, audio or audiovisual (e.g. microfilm, microfiche, VHS tape, floppy disks).
Paper records	Contracted records disposal service (as authorized under a supply arrangement) or Employee	Authorized destruction facility or Office site	Shred paper records using a cross-cut shredder with one cut shredded to a width of 1 cm (3/8”) or less and any length, and the other cut at 15 mm (5/8”) or less, to ensure the information they contain is obliterated. After shredding, the resulting material may be recycled or pulped.
Records created and received by mobile workers	Employee (if authorized) or Authorized service provider	As authorized by office	Best practice is for mobile workers to bring any paper records into the office for destruction, and to ensure all digital records are managed online using government servers and devices. Ministries and agencies may develop specific procedures that accord with relevant government-wide policy; for guidance see OCIO’s Working Outside the Workplace Policy and GRS’s RM Guide: Managing Records Outside the Office.
Sensitive/confidential records	Must be an employee authorized to handle/destroy sensitive/confidential records. May require special authorization under office or government-wide procedures	May be restricted to destruction at office site rather than at the destruction facility	These include records identified as sensitive by either the ministry/agency or by government as a whole, for a variety of reasons (e.g. cabinet confidential records, personal information). The records may have Protected A, B, or C security classification under the Information Security Classification Standard. For paper records that are sensitive, do not use open office recycling bins.
Storage devices for digital records	Best practice is to use the Secure Electronic Media Destruction service provided by the Asset Investment Recovery (AIR) branch	AIR facility, Victoria	Use an industrial hard drive shredder to destroy hard drives and other digital records storage devices (e.g. mobile devices such as smart phones and laptop computers, and portable storage devices such as memory sticks) when they reach the end of their useful life for the ministry or agency.
Other			For records in formats or media not covered above, seek advice from Government Records Service (GRS).