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Lessons Learned in Houston--Disposal of Flood Damaged Boxes



Subscribers on the Archives and Records Management List Serves may benefit from the lessons I learned from Tropical Storm Allison. 

 

  1. A complete disaster preparedness plan must include provisions for the destruction of sensitive records that are not worth the cost of preservation. 
  2. Destroying wet paper is a different matter than disposing of dry records.  It can be more or less difficult depending on what equipment is used.  Crosscut shredders will go through wet paper faster than dry files but disintegrators can have problems with wet fibers clogging their screens.

 

When I realized that I had these problems I contacted David Culbertson of Texas Shredding Company for advice.  He followed up with an experiment and some observations that readers may also find interesting. 

 

 

Paul,

 

As I told you yesterday, last week we did a test and intentionally flooded a box overnight so that we would know exactly what the box weighed before and after being flooded. Below are the results.  I know you thought it would be a good idea to post this to the listserv.

 

Subject

Testing of a 1.2 cubic foot (letter/legal) storage box for accurate weight after having been flooded.

 

Test

A 1.2 cubic foot box was submerged in water overnight.  The box was removed from water the next day and was allowed 3-4 hours to let the excess water run off from the box.  The box weighed 31 pounds before the test and 64 pounds after the test.  The box absorbed approximately 110% it's own weight  in water.  The material in the box was a very good cross sampling of material found in boxes of archived records. 

 

Conclusions

Most shredding companies charge by the pound to destroy records.  A box will continue to loose weight form the water damage slowly over time from normal evaporation and being in a dry climate.  However,  approximately 50% of the service charge in the destruction process centers around the handling and/or transportation of  the material.  Once boxes have become wet, they are not movable by normal means.  They must literaly be picked up and scrapped up by hand or sometimes even shovel to be removed.  Handles built into the box are no longer operable.  Boxes will also mildew and lose their R-Value(Recycle Value).  This is why most companies that have had experience doing this sort of thing will not discount the price or will add a several cent surcharge to the price.  One way to help offset the additional cost is to provide labor to load the boxes yourself.

 

Lessons Learned

The old addage of "pay me now or pay me later" takes on a whole new meaning.  It becomes "pay me now or pay me more later"

 

Many are hearing of price gouging in the Houston Area after the flood and there is much of that very thing happening.  On the other hand, many vendors who are simply marking up their cost to cover additional labor and other ligitimate expenses are being falsely accused of price gouging.

 

ARMA Internatonal Storage/Destruction ISG-Leader

David Culbertson, President

Texas Shredding Company, Inc.

16802 Barker Springs, Suite 700

Houston, Texas 77084

281-579-1800

shredmaster@texshred.com

 

Paul R. Scott

Records Management Officer

Harris County, Texas