Playing it safe with your records

Nation's Business, Jan, 1997 by Peter Weaver

What would happen to your business if fire destroyed vital papers and computer data?

Would you be able to replace those things quickly and inexpensively?

If there's any doubt, you should consider investing in an office safe, a home safe, a bank safe-deposit box or some combination of the three.

"l advise small-business owners to ask themselves some key questions," says Dianne Digianantonio, product manager for Diebold, Inc., a safe manufacturer based in North Canton, Ohio.

Among those questions are:

* What records are vital for the business? Examples include accounts receivable, computer data, film, audiotapes, videotapes, contracts, charters, and paid-off loan notes.

* How frequently will you need access to your vital documents? If the answer is rarely, then a relatively inexpensive bank safe-deposit box $25 to $100 a year) is the answer. But if you require frequent access to important papers or computer data, you should consider investing in a safe or a fireproof file cabinet.

* What risks are you concerned about - fire, theft, or both? If its one or the other, you can spend less for protection. If you want to cover both risks, you'll have to pay more.

A small office or home safe that is designed to protect valuables and paper documents but not computer data can cost as little as $400. A larger, fireproof, and burglar-resistant security file cabinet that can hold computer records along with papers will cost $1,500 or more.

When you're shopping for a safe or a fireproof cabinet for your office, pay attention to the UL (Underwriters Laboratories) fire and theft ratings. If you want a fireproof safe or cabinet for paper documents, it should have a UL fire rating of at least 350, advises Diebold's Digianantonio. That rating means that if the exterior temperature is 1,700 degrees, the interior temperature will stay at 350 degrees or below for one hour.

For computer discs and other electrornic records, you'll need a special box that is placed inside the safe or cabinet. The box, which looks like a six-pack cooler and costs about WHO, lowers the UL fire rating to 125 and keeps the interior humidity at less than 80 percent.

There are two anti-theft ratings. UL-2 means the safe will keep a burglar out for up to 20 minutes. A more expensive safe with a UL-1 rating is designed to require at least two hours to crack.