But, for the owners of that information, or those who need to collect it, there’s often a paper trail. These papers are often the only verifiable proof of certain transactions or encounters. Because of this, they’re still important and will remain important for some time. If something were to happen to those paper, original documents, an organization or business could be held liable for any number of errors, inaccuracies or even fraudulent activities.
You might recognize the importance of taking care of your most important documents. Perhaps you have even explored “safe” document storage facilities and options. But – what about protecting against fire? Unlike other natural disasters that are – for the most part – limited to certain areas of the country, fires can, and do, break out everywhere. In fact, they account for $23 billion in property loss each year according to the National Fire Protection Association. The region with the highest number of fires per capita is right here in the Northeast.
Can you say with certainty that your most important documents are truly safe from fire?
Sprinklers Can’t Cut It
If this is a new concept or something you haven’t considered in the past, it’s easy to think about the first – most popular – form of fireproofing: sprinkler systems. Many warehouses and storage facilities are equipped with sprinklers in case a fire does break out.
Unfortunately, if you’re storing paper documents, water can be just as destructive as the fire itself, sometimes more so. Paper and water don’t mix well.
Alarms Aren’t Enough
It’s clear that water isn’t the right answer. So, as long as a facility is equipped with working alarm systems, damage can be minimized, right?
Not so much.
The “Benchmark” standard time for fire teams to respond to fires is 5 minutes 20 seconds, as set by the NFPA. Think about how fast a fire could spread – with paper to fuel it in a document storage facility – in that amount of time. The potential for damage if the best option is to wait for a fire department to respond is great. Can your documents withstand that risk?
So, What’s Left?
If fires can break out anywhere and everywhere, and sprinklers can’t douse flames without destroying paper documents, what other options exist?
This is where it gets exciting: specific, systems exist that stop fire without water.
At Higher Information Group storage facilities, we rely on Fike fire systems utilizing Ecaro-25 gas to eliminate the possibility of fire. These gas-based systems release non-corrosive substances that stop fires in their tracks without harming paper documents. We believe this is the gold standard… what businesses and organizations like yours should be able to count on.
Are your documents protected by the most efficient possible fire protection system? Is there room to improve? Contact the Higher Information Group team today to discuss options for better protecting your important documents.
