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Identifying and protecting your Vital Records allows you to re-establish
normal operations in your office soon, if not immediately, after a
disaster. By realizing the importance of your records for continuing your
office functions and arranging for protection of these records, you will save
valuable time and resources after an emergency. You will be able to
concentrate on restoring operations rather than finding necessary
information or spending money and time on restoring unnecessary records.
The identification and protection of your Vital Records is crucial as it
allows you to:
- Minimize the disruption of normal business operations after an
emergency.
- Minimize the economic impact of the disruption.
- Provide for rapid and smooth restoration of services.
- Comply with legal and regulatory requirements.
- Recover and/or salvage office vital records and assets (i.e., equipment)
rather than using time to recover unnecessary information.
Although you may not realize it, regardless of the damage your office may
receive due to a disaster and the resulting problems you experience in
re-establishing your normal operations, other offices that have also had
damage may immediately need some of the records/functions your office
provides. That makes your Vital Records important not only to you but
also to the University as a whole.
In addition to the practicality of identifying and protecting your Vital
Records, your office has legal obligations with regard to your records
and their protection.
U.W. Presidential Executive Order #54 (1977) states that "each
University
office will assume the primary legal responsibility for proper care and
management of its records". This includes the protection of records in
the event of an emergency.
The Revised Code of Washington Chapter 40.10.010 requires State agencies
to provide adequate protection of their Vital Records by the most
economical means possible. Protection methods accepted by the State are
outlined in How do you Protect and Store Vital
Records.
As the University is considered a state agency, this chapter applies to
University records identified as vital.
Some federal guidelines may apply to
departments/offices which receive funding in the form of federal grants.
When an office is audited by a federal agency that has issued it a grant,
failure to provide records requested because of a disaster is not
considered an adequate response to an audit request.
NEXT: How Do You Identify a Vital Record? >>
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