Does shredding protect the security of the hospital and patient?
There is a false sense of security associated with protecting hospital and patient data with shredding. Security is greatly compromised when pieces of shredded material containing confidential data are easily scattered at the hospital, en route to the disposal site and finally at the landfill. Contrary to popular belief, the waste will not resemble what is discharged from a paper shredder. Pieces can range from 2cm x 4cm to even larger with a single pass shredder. Additional equipment (hammermill) can be added to further reduce the size of the shredded waste, however, such equipment is extremely expensive and the high-speed operation of the teeth makes such equipment very vulnerable to damage when a non-shreddable item is introduced to the system.
