Security Shredding News Fall 2020

Volume 17, Issue 3

FALL 2020

Security Shredding News Serving the Security Shredding & Records Storage Markets

Visit us online at www.SecurityShreddingNews.com

Shred Companies Try to Avoid Getting Shredded by COVID-19

D

ocument destruction companies will likely remember 2020 — with the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the country and the world — as the year they tried to keep their businesses from going through the shredder.

As businesses shuttered and employees began working from home or remote locations, document destruction companies found their revenues dropping by 20 percent to 25 percent, with some reporting declines of as much as 60 percent. Some companies that operated by offering low front-end service prices with plans of making up that revenue on the back end by selling their shredded paper found market prices plummeting, forcing them out of business.

“In the first couple of months of the Many document destruction companies got pandemic, everyone thought the world was through the early days of the pandemic thanks coming to an end,” says Bob Johnson, chief to the federal government’s Paycheck Protection executive officer of i-SIGMA, a trade group Program (PPP). That program provided eight which represents some 2,000 document weeks of cash-flow assistance to small businesses destruction companies worldwide. “They through 100 percent federally guaranteed loans thought business was going to drop to employers who maintained their to zero but that it would be over payroll during the coronavirus in three or four months.” pandemic. PPP is a forgivable “Long term, N ow, m o re t h a n 10 loan. this is just a wake-up months later, document When PPP ran out and call for any entrepreneur, destruction companies Congress could not agree whether it’s document s e e m re s i g n e d t o t h e on new stimulus measures, shredding or whatever industry companies were left to their fact that paper volume it is,” says Mike Callihan, ge n erat e d f ro m t h e i r own devices. As revenue customers is going to stay CEO of Document Destruction remained down, some were down 10 percent to 15 forced to lay off employees, based in Cincinnati, Ohio. percent and they continue although some have since “Don’t get too far over to scramble to find new and been recalled. your skis. ...” innovative ways to remain in “You definitely needed to business. have a diversified service offering “Long term, this is just a wakeor be able to financially adapt to the up call for any entrepreneur, whether it’s changes,” says Katie Chambers, owner of Pure document shredding or whatever industry it Data Services In Wyandotte, MI. is,” says Mike Callihan, CEO of Document She notes that some businesses are not Destruction based in Cincinnati, Ohio. “Don’t expected to have their employees return to their get too far over your skis. Don’t have too much offices until June 2021. debt. Run things as lean as humanly possible so “It’s a big adjustment,” she says. “It was that when stuff like this does happen, you’re still a very big change from going somewhere on going to be in business. It is true that you’ve got a regular basis and all of a sudden there’s no to take risks, you’ve got to invest. But be ready.” one in the building. Those who have gone back Callihan, who has been in business for 17 to work on a very limited basis, the amount of years, was initially forced to lay off eight of his paper we’re pulling out of those offices is quite 12 employees but has since hired them all back. reduced because nobody’s there.”

By P.J. Heller

Chambers, who started Pure Data Services six years ago, estimates that routine repeat business remains down by 40 percent.

“I think we need to reinvent ourselves a little bit,” suggests Keith Eriksen, president of Reed Records Management in Wooster, Ohio.

Eriksen’s company, for instance, recognized that most of its walk-in shred business was senior citizens, so at the end of July he started a drive-up, drop-off half-price service from 9 a.m. to noon on Fridays. Although now closed for the winter, he expects to start it up again in the spring. His company also offers records storage management and some destruction of electronics media, including hard drives, printers and fax machines.

Eriksen is chairman of the 2021 i-SIGMA NAID and PRISM International Conference and Expo, which is now planned to be held virtually.

He was chairman of the 2020 conference, which was scheduled for May 14-16 in Florida but was cancelled due to the pandemic.

The day the conference was cancelled was also the day the National Basketball Association suspended its season and when actors Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson announced they had both tested positive for the coronavirus.

“Two of them made global news, one of them didn’t,” Johnson of i-SIGMA says with a laugh.

The following day, March 12, i-SIGMA advised its members that they were considered essential workers, not subject to stay-at-home or Continued on page 3

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Shred Companies Try to Avoid Getting Shredded by COVID-19 Continued from page 1

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shutdown orders. residential offices which is obviously much “It is clear that information management, higher than it had been in the past,” says IT asset disposal, and secure data destruction are i-SIGMA’s Bob Johnson. included in ‘essential services’ to carry on during Bridget Johnson says she also saw a big the COVID-19 pandemic,” i-SIGMA said. increase in people coming to the company’s Despite the downturn in the shred business, warehouse in Longmont, where they can watch Chambers and Eriksen both reported spikes in their documents or electronics media being purging business. destroyed.

“Purges are soaring,” Chambers reports, “People love to see it,” she says, noting attributing it to the fact that the large warehouse that companies are either space kept its doors wide abandoning office space “Though there may be fewer open so people felt safe. or trying to make space As a one-person service providers after this, to accommodate social operation in rural distancing. “I’ve never they will be the ones who were Texas offering on-site seen so much business. document destruction, strong enough to survive,” They’re moving paper Tony Guess says his out as fast as they can.” says i-SIGMA’s Bob Johnson, business has been “feast Eriksen says his or famine” during the who also remains cautiously pandemic. Some of the purge business in 2020 has increased by as much six to 10 counties his optimistic that the industry as 50 percent over the business covers have seen will be fine. previous year. little impact from the Bridget Johnson, coronavirus pandemic, owner of Green Girl with no lockdowns or Recycling in Colorado, says both flexibility other mandates. Businesses in other areas were and diversification were key to her being able shut down. to remain in business and retain her eight Guess, who 12 years ago started Bulldog employees.

Shredders in Millsap, outside of Fort Worth, “I initially didn’t know if I would be able says some customers have simply told him not to keep my full staff,” recalls Johnson, who has to show up because of the pandemic. been in business for 22 years serving Boulder, “Schedules have gone out the window with Larimer and Weld counties along Colorado’s many commercial customers reducing staff or Front Range. “Literally day by day I was trying shutting down,” he says. “I made it clear to all to reach out to all of our customers to figure of my customers that I’m more than happy to out if they were still a customer, what were work with them on an ‘as needed’ basis.” their needs. The hardest thing was to keep my Under that plan, customers can call employees calm even though I was rattled.”

Guess and he will schedule their service when Having diversified over the years — recycling convenient. everything from electronics media to batteries to “In effect, it’s saved me money on fuel,” he wood pallets to plastics — helped the business says. “I didn’t lose any customers. cope with its initial 30 percent downturn in “Individuals have flooded us with requests document shredding business. Those customers for small jobs allowing us to keep up the total also became more aware of the other recycling tonnage per month, but the amounts paid by the services during the pandemic. recycler has been nowhere breakeven for fuel to Green Girl Recycling provides both take the material to them,” Guess adds. residential and commercial recycling.

As of November, he reports that routes were “If I only did commercial pickups, I would returning to “somewhat normal” but warns that have definitely let someone go by now,” she says. could change any day.

“Absolutely.”

Guess is also concerned about the possibility As business offices closed and employees of a resurgence of the virus and subsequent began working from home, demand for Green lockdown of the metro area, which he says will Girl paper shredding at office locations dropped. affect him both from a business standpoint Since her company was already doing as well as personally. At 70 years of age and residential pickups in the mountains and along with the possibility of some underlying health the Front Range, she shifted some of those conditions, he is in a higher risk category for routes to be able to pick up documents for COVID-19. shredding that were being generated by people Currently, the U.S. leads every country now working from home. in the world with more than 10 million cases.

“There is a lot of innovation in the industry Cases nationwide are now surging by more Continued on page 8 surrounding the need for service at remote and

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Security Shredding News

A World of Pain

Spotting opioid abuse at work and taking steps to prevent it, while supporting workers who might need help.

By Emilie Shumway

A

s the opioid epidemic sweeps the country, recycling workers are especially vulnerable. Here’s how employers can help prevent opioid abuse on the front end—and what to do if it’s too late.

The opioid epidemic has grown dramatically since it first began in the late 1990s, with a notable spike in the last decade. In 2007, 18,515 people died of an opioid-related drug overdose; that number had more than doubled, to 47,600, in 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For the first time in history, a person in the United States is more likely to die of an opioid overdose than a motor vehicle crash.

As the opioid addiction crisis has spread, employers are starting to face it head-on. In a National Safety Council survey conducted this year, 75% of employers reported experiencing an issue with opioids in the workplace. As corporate quality, environment, health and safety manager at PK Metals in Coram, N.Y., Bill Rouse has seen the way opioids can infiltrate and devastate a recycling facility. “I think almost everyone has had issues,” Rouse says, “and if they haven’t, they’re just not looking.”

Recyclers’ Vulnerability

T few years, little data exists on opioid use in specific industries. In 2017,

hough the opioid crisis has received increased attention over the past

Frank Manzo IV, policy director of the Illinois Economic Policy Institute (La Grange, Ill.), decided to dig into the stories he was hearing about opioid abuse in the construction industry. The evidence turned out to powerfully reinforce the anecdotes he was hearing. A construction worker in Ohio was 7.24 times more likely than the average worker to die of an opioid overdose in 2016, according to Manzo’s 2018 report, “Addressing the Opioid Epidemic Among Midwest Construction Workers,” co-authored

by Jill Manzo.

Manzo’s report focuses on construction rather than recycling, and it centers on the Midwest, where—like Appalachia and the Northeast—the crisis has hit particularly hard, but it’s easy to see the similarities between the two industries. Construction is physically intensive, and construction workers have a higher risk of injury than office workers face. Recycling carries similar risks of injury, even when operating according to safety requirements. Scott Wiggins, Institute of Scrap Industries’ (ISRI) vice president of EHS, notes the risk of ergonomic problems. “Tall, lanky people may have back problems from leaning over,” he says. Sometimes employees will try to adjust for the problem themselves by asking to move to a different position instead of telling employers they are experiencing pain. Some may seek out medical attention.

Doctors are likely to prescribe opioids to an injured worker as pain relief, Manzo says, inadvertently introducing the risk of dependence and addiction. A common route to opioid misuse is a legal prescription, the NSC says. More than one quarter of chronic abusers, defined as those who took pills for at least 200 days in the past year, received written legal prescriptions for the drugs, while another quarter misused opioids legally prescribed to friends or family, the organization reports in one of its guides on the epidemic, “The Proactive Role Employers Can Take: Opioids in the Workplace.”

Jerry Sjogren, safety director of E.L. Harvey & Sons (Westborough, Mass.), noticed that injuries resulting in long-term use of prescriptions were a common gateway to opioid misuse for employees at that facility. Those who developed an addiction would decline rapidly following a surgery or other medical procedure. Without proper intervention, the effects can

4 Security Shredding News Fall 2020

be devastating, even for a person who had no apparent addiction issues before developing opioid use disorder. “I’ve had to terminate people and just watch their lives crumble around them,” Sjogren says.

Understanding the Disorder

L Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. “People

ike other substance use disorders, opioid use disorder is listed in the

should realize that this is a brain disease,” says Beth Connolly, project director of the substance use prevention and treatment initiative at the Pew Charitable Trusts. “Physiologically, [opioid dependence] changes the brain, and these effects continue over time. That is why it is not a moral failing, but a chronic medical condition.”

Opioids decrease a person’s sensation of pain by blocking pain messages sent through the spinal cord to the brain, the NSC says. They increase the level of dopamine in the body, giving some people a sense of euphoria. Predisposition to addiction depends on a person’s brain chemistry in addition to a variety of risk factors, including preexisting mental health conditions like depression and anxiety, growing up or living in high-stress environments, and childhood trauma—though anyone exposed to opioids can develop an addiction.

It can be more difficult to identify an impairment caused by opioid use compared with an impairment caused by substances like alcohol and marijuana. Signs and symptoms can vary depending on the drug being used, the degree of abuse, and the user’s level of tolerance. States of intoxication and withdrawal from opioids will appear different, says Dr. Neeraj Gandotra, who specializes in addiction treatment and psychiatry at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

“Intoxication would look like pin-point pupils, impaired coordination, drowsiness, lack of concentration, and shallow breathing,” he says, while a person in withdrawal will be restless and uncomfortable, will experience chills or sweating, and will have dilated pupils. Because a person misusing opioids may simply appear tired or unfocused, early stages of addiction can be difficult to detect.

As the misuse increases, behavioral changes are likely to occur. Rouse says one employee caught the attention of his co-workers after becoming “very angry and irate—he was screaming on the phone all the time with his friends and family.” Another employee, he says, was in such a catatonic state that he fell asleep standing up. He also describes observing erratic energy levels, with affected employees fluctuating between a lethargic state and being “really hyped up.” Sjogren noticed changes in hygiene and appearance. The most common signs, according to the NSC, are a failure to appear at work and declining performance on the job.

How to Respond

I approach. “It’s not a good idea to accuse the person if they haven’t f you suspect an employee is misusing opioids, be careful in your

admitted to it and you don’t have hard evidence,” says Kathryn Continued on page 6

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Security Shredding News Fall 2020

5

Security Shredding News

A World of Pain Continued from page 4

Russo, principal at Jackson Lewis (New York).

Employers who confront employees and level accusations about drug use that prove to be false may run afoul of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities. Employees who find themselves subject to a wrongful accusation at work, followed by a disciplinary action, are legally protected under the ADA, Russo says. It’s fine to take employees aside privately, voice concern about behavioral issues, and ask them if they’re OK or need assistance, she notes. Document and use concrete examples of performance or attendance problems to

bolster your case for concern. If termination is necessary, emphasize these performance and attendance issues and exclude your suspicion of an opioid problem.

In some cases, employees may recognize they have a problem themselves and come forward to their employer. These cases can also create the potential for legal violations, says Michael Wong, a labor lawyer at SmithAmundsen. “If they find out an employee is on a prescription drug, the knee-jerk reaction for an employer is to ask what the name of the drug is,” he says. Such a disability-related inquiry would violate the ADA. You may be tempted to research that drug

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on your own and draw your own conclusions, without necessarily having all the information.

“In doing that, you may again be violating the ADA by regarding that individual as being disabled and as having limitations based on the name of the drug that was given to them,” he says, “not [based on] what their doctor is actually saying their restrictions are, if any.”

The need to stand back and collect evidence of poor performance can be stressful, especially when employees are working in positions in which careless operation of equipment or oversight of operations could lead to dangerous circumstances. To protect yourself from these situations as much as possible, Wong recommends you have a drug policy in the employee handbook that includes specific guidelines for prescription drugs like opiates. For example, you can require a doctor’s clearance to return to some kinds of work following a medical leave, hospitalization, or even concerns over safety, Wong says. He recommends a drug policy that requires employees to review their job descriptions with their doctors before returning to work on a new medication. He also recommends employees be required to disclose to the employer if a medication could impact the employee’s ability to safely do his or her job. If the doctor prohibits operating heavy equipment or other types of work due to potential side effects, you must evaluate whether the employee is entitled to Family and Medical Leave Act benefits or whether the ADA process should allow the employee to work in a different, less demanding role until he or she recovers. Wong says each situation should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Both Russo and Wong also endorse the use of drug testing, which is already required for some recycling employees by the U.S. Department of Transportation. To increase your chances of uncovering misuse, Russo suggests you expand your testing panel to include synthetic opioids, which could include prescription drugs like Vicodin and OxyContin. Pre-employment testing, random testing, and post-incident testing are some of the most common types of drug tests. Testing is not a perfect means of detecting opioid use disorder. If a tested subject can provide the medical review officer with verification of a legal prescription, the officer is likely to return those results as negative—as the subject is not illegally using the drug, Wong says.

He adds that employers should discuss with their medical review officers how results are reported and whether—for positions where safety is a significant issue—the officer will report that while the result is negative, the employee is taking a prescription medication for which they may need to provide a doctor’s clearance.

Some recyclers, like Rouse, say they have success with “reasonable suspicion” drug tests, Continued on next page

6 Security Shredding News Fall 2020

Security Shredding News Continued from previous page

which you conduct based on factors like the employee’s appearance, speech, behavior, and work performance. While many employers have access to these tests, they may be hesitant to use them, Russo says. “Very often, unless supervisors are trained, they’re afraid… they don’t know what to say to the person, they don’t know what they’re looking for—they just don’t know how to do it,” she says. Both Wong and Russo recommend training supervisors on how to use reasonable suspicion and supplement the test with checklists. Russo provides such training across the country in person and via webinar. PK Metals has four employees trained to use reasonable suspicion as the basis for a drug test, and Rouse says the tests have been the most successful way of detecting opioid issues at the facility.

Where there is a clear and alarming situation, Russo says, use your best judgment to prevent an accident from occurring. Prevent an employee who seems disoriented, confused, especially tired, or otherwise impaired from operating equipment or doing other work—even if you don’t know what’s going on. While an employee could conceivably pursue a discrimination claim, weigh the potential of more likely and more serious safety and legal issues if the impaired worker were to cause an injury. “Most employers would rather be faced with a discrimination lawsuit than a personal injury lawsuit,” she says.

Preempting the Problem

W opioid misuse, you can take a proactive role to reduce the chance your hile there are several ways of detecting and dealing with suspected

employees will develop a dependence on opioids.

Employee education can be key, several experts say. In up to one‑third of cases, people who are prescribed opiate-based drugs for pain relief—which include common medications like Percocet, OxyContin, and Vicodin— don’t realize they are taking an opioid, according to the NSC. Bring in experts and hold companywide seminars to educate employees about these drugs’ potency and effects and empower them to ask questions about the medications they are taking. In many cases, there may be a serviceable alternative. “For types of pain related to common workplace‑related injuries, including soft-tissue injuries and musculoskeletal problems, opioids are not any more effective than non‑opioid alternatives such as Tylenol, Advil, or generic ibuprofen,” NSC’s report on opioids in the workplace notes.

Consult your health insurance providers about opioid addiction and ask what measures they have taken to ensure patients are not needlessly prescribed opiate-based medication, Manzo suggests. While doctors have cut back significantly on opioid prescriptions in recent years as awareness of the epidemic has spread, abuse of legal prescriptions is still a risk.

Ultimately, medication is a personal and confidential choice a doctor and patient should decide together, but you can press insurance companies to account for how they’ve responded in the face of the epidemic and what alternative services they offer or cover for employees dealing with pain. You can select health plans that cover substance abuse treatment and mental health treatment. It also helps to provide at least two weeks of paid sick leave and encourage employees to use it when needed, Manzo says. His research found that employees who feel pressured to return to work quickly following an injury—either due to perceived employer pressure or the threat of losing money on unpaid sick leave—may turn to “popping a pill” as a way to endure the pain when returning to work too soon.

You can offer other resources outside the traditional insurance system as well. Manzo provides the example of a construction company labor union that negotiated for access to a physical therapy provider. The benefit allows any worker to access physical therapy for any reason, from a back injury to shoulder pain. “They don’t even need a doctor’s note,” he says.

Russo also highly recommends all employers have an employee assistance program, which can provide assessments, short-term counseling, referrals, and follow-up services that are confidential and free to the employee. These can be helpful both for employees who think they have a problem with opioid use but are hesitant to seek help due to the stigma of the disease and for those who are looking for pain management alternatives.

Access to nonprescription means of dealing with pain—from mental health services that can help people manage chronic pain psychologically to acupuncture and physical therapy—may be key in reducing the likelihood

that employees will be directed to opioid medications. While opioids are often the appropriate treatment for short-term and acute injuries, Dr. Gandotra says, long-term use for chronic pain increases the chance of developing an addiction considerably. “The treatment of a chronic condition with an addictive substance for an extended period of time is generally a very bad idea,” he says. He notes that people often have an expectation of complete pain relief; unfortunately, for those with chronic pain, this may be an unrealistic expectation.

For Bob Lenhardt, substance abuse counselor and co-founder of the HeartWell Institute, finding ways of reframing this expectation is central to his work of helping addicts recover. He has seen an increase in the number of opioid addictions in recent years and has found pain to be a primary factor that has led to the addiction, he says. Among other approaches, Lenhardt uses a mindfulness-based method of helping people cope with their pain, which he says can be very effective. “People have the same amount of pain, but their experience of pain has changed dramatically,” he says. “Their story about the pain has changed. It makes it a lot more tolerable.”

If employees seek out recovery and have their performance and attendance under control, be supportive and flexible, Dr. Gandotra says.

As a chronic condition, opioid use disorder may take time to overcome.

However, he notes, the longer a person stays engaged in treatment, the more likely they are to be successful. You can play an important role by being compassionate and offering a wide variety of resources.

“Employee‑sponsored treatment is more effective than treatment encouraged by friends and family,” the NSC report says. “Retaining an employee following successful treatment is good for morale and the company’s bottom line.”

Emilie Shumway is an editor/reporter for Scrap. Reprinted with permission from the November/December 2019 issue of Scrap. ©Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc. All rights reserved. For more information on ISRI, go to www.isri.org.

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Shred Companies Try to Avoid Getting Shredded by COVID-19 Continued from page 3

than 100,000 daily and experts are warning that things could get even worse in months ahead, which could force states to again issue lockdown orders. More than 237,000 COVID-19 deaths have been reported in the U.S.; globally the total has surpassed 1.25 million.

Despite the surge in cases in the U.S., Bridget Johnson of Green Girl Recycling says she is hopeful that life will return to normal, or at least to near normal.

“I think things will go back,” she says. “I don’t think people will want to work from home forever. At the end of the day, it might not look exactly like it did.

I’m cautiously optimistic.”

“Though there may be fewer service providers after this, they will be the ones who were strong enough to survive,” says i-SIGMA’s Bob Johnson, who also remains cautiously optimistic that the industry will be fine.

“When I say fine, they will be able to survive. They will be operating on 75 percent to 80 percent of revenue at their height. They’ll find a way to be efficient and make a profit on that level of revenue and they’ll get to the other side of this and hopefully things will pick up from there. Certainly there will be some people who don’t make it; I don’t think there will be a lot,” he says. “... There’s nothing to like about this shutdown,” Johnson adds, “but we should not miss out on one of the main things we can salvage: the opportunity to come out of this stronger.”

Report: US Businesses are Focusing Less on Security Training and Policies Since 2019

N

early half of C-suite executives and a growing number of small business owners have experienced a data breach and yet their focus on security training and protocols has declined in the last year, according to Shred-It’s 10th Anniversary Edition Data Protection Report.

The survey, conducted by Ipsos, showed that 43% of company executives surveyed (up 21% from 2017) and 12% of small business owners (up 7% from 2017) have reported data breaches. The price for not enforcing security policies is staggering. The average data breach costs American businesses $8.64 million.

Threats to data security, both physical (including paper documents, laptop computers or external hard drives) and digital (including malware, ransomware and phishing scams), have outpaced efforts and investments to combat them, according to the Shred-it report.

Despite cloud-based technology and digital media, organizations are still generating large amounts of paper documents. The risk of physical security breaches is compounded by a decline in adherence to data storage and disposal policies, which slipped 13% in the past year.

The survey found that 49% of SBOs have no policy in place for disposing of confidential information on end-of-life electronic devices. The work-from-home trend, which has spiked in 2020 revealed many vulnerabilities. Just over half (53%) of C-suites and 41% of SBOs have remote work policies in place that are strictly adhered to by employees working remotely (down 18% from 71% in 2019 for C-suites; down 8% from 49% in 2019 for SBOs. Meanwhile, 24% of C-suites and 54% of SBOs reported having no regular employee training on information security procedures or policies. The number of organizations that regularly train employees on how to identify common cyber-attack tactics, such as phishing, ransomware or other malicious software, declined 6% for C-suites (from 88% in 2019 to 82% in 2020) and 7% for SBOs (from 52% in 2019 to 45% in 2020).

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly half (45%) of small businesses did not have a policy for storing and disposing of confidential information when employees work off-site from the office.

Consumers are the main driver for companies to take a serious look at security training and policies. The majority (86%) are concerned about the security of their personal data used by businesses and 86% expect businesses to have data protection policies in place.

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HIPAA Enforcement Remains Strong During COVID-19 Pandemic

U

.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued more than $12.2 million in HIPAA resolution agreements this year, signaling a strong focus on patient privacy, access to medical records, and compliance by providers, according to an article by Nexsen Pruet associate, Shannon Lipham published on JDSupra.com.

HIPAA settlements have affected almost every sector of the health industry, Lipham says. The most prominent settlements have occurred in three main areas: patient’s right of access to their medical information, breaches of protected health information (PHI) via cyber-attacks and theft; and non-compliant risk analysis and risk management plans.

Right of Access

C

omplaints filed with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) alleging requests for medical records were not completely fulfilled resulted in a $100,000 penalty to NY Spine Medicine and a $160,000 penalty to St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center (“SJHMC”), a large acute care hospital in Phoenix, AZ

Cyber Attacks and Stolen Information

H

ealth insurer, Anthem, Inc., agreed to a total $39.5 million in settlements with 43 states related to the largest health data breach in history. Premera Blue Cross, the largest health plan in the Pacific Northwest, settled with OCR for $6.85 million in penalties stemming from a cyber-attack executed via malware and a phishing email, exposing over 10.4 million individuals’ electronic protected health information.

An Athens, GA based orthopedic clinic settled with OCR for $1.5 million to settle potential HIPAA violations related hacking and theft of electronic medical record system affecting more than 200,000 individuals’ protected health information. OCR investigators found a failure to conduct a risk analysis and implement risk management controls, and a failure to secure business associate agreements with multiple business associates.

CHSPSC, LLC, a company providing a variety of business associate services including IT and health management information to hospitals and physician clinics in Franklin, TN, agreed in September to pay $2.3 million based on a potential HIPAA breach affecting over 6 million people.

OCR’s investigation revealed “longstanding, systemic noncompliance” with HIPAA. A Rhode Island non-profit provider agreed to pay $1.04 million and adopt a corrective action plan to settle potential violations of the HIPAA privacy and security rules related to a hospital employee’s unencrypted laptop that was stolen. The OCR investigation found “systemic noncompliance” with the HIPAA rules, including a failure to encrypt protected health information on laptops, a lack of device and media controls, and a failure to have a business associate agreement in place with the nonprofit’s parent company.

Small Providers

A

Utah gastroenterologist and solo practitioner was determined

by OCR to have demonstrated significant noncompliance with HIPAA. The investigation began after a breach report was filed with OCR related to a dispute with a business associate. OCR found that the practice failed to conduct any risk analysis, and “failed to implement security measures sufficient to reduce risks and vulnerabilities to a reasonable and appropriate level.”

A small Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) providing services in rural North Carolina settled with OCR for $25,000 to resolve potential HIPAA violations. The FQHC filed a breach report in 2011 after discovering disclosure of protected health information to an unknown email account, resulting in a breach that affected 1,263 patients. OCR’s investigation determined the FQHC had “longstanding, systemic noncompliance with the HIPAA security rule,” including that it failed to implement any HIPAA policies and procedures and “neglected to provide workforce members with security awareness training until 2016.”

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Product/Equipment Profiles Introducing the EZ Tipper

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he EZ Tipper was designed to increase your operations efficiency while maximizing the profitability of your organization by providing a light weight, durable, mobile solution that could be easily used in a plant/warehouse environment or in the back of a service vehicle! The EZ Tipper’s lightweight design, and durable 3’xxx wheels make it extremely easy to move in and out of the back of a service vehicle or throughout your facility.

The EZ Tipper has played a major role in the document shredding industry by introducing an affordable cost-effective method of providing service to a company’s client base.

Traditionally document shredding companies have to maintain enough containers readily on hand to service their current customer base (routine service), as well as an adequate supply of containers available for new customers. For every 1-2 containers that a company has placed with a customer in the field an additional one is needed to swap out when servicing the customer’s account. As a company grows and its client base expands this can become a very costly expenditure to an organization; however, there is now an alternative! The EZ Tipper will not only save your organization time and money but will help in reducing the overall risk of employee injuries commonly associated with fatigue, and other factors such as bending and stooping.

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Security Shredding News Fall 2020

9

Security Shredding News

Great Barrington Declaration: COVID Lockdowns are Unnecessary

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he social lockdowns and the near shutdown of the world’s economy in the face of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) represents a huge mistake, argue leading scientists in the world of epidemiology.

The Great Barrington Declaration was issued on October 4 by scientists who argue that most of us should return to our pre-COVID ways of life.

The Declaration brought a swift rebuttal. Rupert Beale, PhD, of the Francis Crick Institute, said that herd immunity depends on the wide distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine, which has yet to be developed. Further, he argued that “the Declaration prioritizes just one aspect of a sensible strategy—protecting the vulnerable—and suggests we can safely build up ‘herd immunity’ in the rest of the population. This is wishful thinking. It is not possible to fully identify vulnerable individuals, and it is not possible to fully isolate them. Furthermore, we know that immunity to coronaviruses wanes over time, and re-infection is possible—so lasting protection of vulnerable individuals by establishing ‘herd immunity’ is very unlikely to be achieved in the absence of a vaccine.”

According to an Epoch Times article, the Declaration, was signed by more than 34,000 medical doctors and health scientists from around the world. was launched by three epidemiologists from Harvard, Oxford, and Stanford.

In the article, citizen journalist, Omid Ghoreishi, writes that more than 440,000 members of the general public have also signed the petition. “The Epoch Times could not verify the status of the signatories.” Ghoreishi wrote.

A FAQ on the Great Barrington Declaration website reads, “Pranksters have added fake signatures such as Dr. Johnny Bananas, Dr. Neal Ferguson and Dr. Person Fakename. One lockdown supporter adding fake names even bragged about it on Twitter. The fake signatures are less than 1% of the total, and most have been removed from the count tracker.”

The original text of the document follows:

The Great Barrington Declaration

“A

s infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists we have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing COVID-19 policies and recommend an approach we call Focused Protection.

Coming from both the left and right, and around the world, we have devoted our careers to protecting people. Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health. The results (to name a few) include lower childhood vaccination rates, worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes, fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health – leading to greater excess mortality in years to come, with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden.

Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice. Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage, with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.

Fortunately, our understanding of the virus is growing. We know that

vulnerability to death from COVID-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young. Indeed, for children, COVID-19 is less dangerous than many other harms, including influenza.

As immunity builds in the population, the risk of infection to all – including the vulnerable – falls. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity – i.e. the point at which the rate of new infections is stable – and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine. Our goal should therefore be to minimize mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.

The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity, is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection, while better protecting those who are at highest risk. We call this Focused Protection.

Adopting measures to protect the vulnerable should be the central aim of public health responses to COVID-19. By way of example, nursing homes should use staff with acquired immunity and perform frequent PCR testing of other staff and all visitors. Staff rotation should be minimized. Retired people living at home should have groceries and other essentials delivered to their home. When possible, they should meet family members outside rather than inside. A comprehensive and detailed list of measures, including approaches to multi-generational households, can be implemented, and is well within the scope and capability of public health professionals.

Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal. Simple hygiene measures, such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practiced by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular activities, such as sports, should be resumed. Young low-risk adults should work normally, rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open. Arts, music, sport and other cultural activities should resume. People who are more at risk may participate if they wish, while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.”

On October 4, 2020, this declaration was authored and signed in Great Barrington, United States, by: • Dr. Martin Kulldorff, professor of medicine at Harvard University, a biostatistician, and epidemiologist with expertise in detecting and monitoring infectious disease outbreaks and vaccine safety evaluations.

• Dr. Sunetra Gupta, professor at Oxford University, an epidemiologist with expertise in immunology, vaccine development, and mathematical modeling of infectious diseases.

• Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, professor at Stanford University Medical School, a physician, epidemiologist, health economist, and public health policy expert focusing on infectious diseases and vulnerable populations.

i-SIGMA® Board Appoints Bowman Richards as Chair of Complaint Resolution Council

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ASHVILLE, Tenn., October 16, 2020 – The International Secure Information Governance & Management Association® (i-SIGMA®) Board of Directors has appointed Bowman Richards – owner and president of Nashville-based secure shredding company Richards & Richards, LLC – as chair of the association’s Complaint Resolution Council (CRC).

Richards replaces outgoing CRC Chair Cory Tomczyk of Wisconsin-based IROW. Prior to the appointment Richards served as a member of the CRC since 2018. He was also i-SIGMA’s international conference chair in 2014 and served on the board of directors of PRISM, a part of i-SIGMA, from 2017 to 2020. He has been a member of i-SIGMA or its predecessor organizations since 2008 and has earned the CSDS designation (Certified Secure Destruction Specialist). As a member of i-SIGMA or its predecessor organizations since 1987, Richards & Richards has played a leading role in the organization since

10 Security Shredding News Fall 2020

its earliest days.

“Cory did an amazing job guiding the CRC through some very delicate situations,” said Richards. “Although I have some big shoes to fill, I had the privilege of working with and learning from Cory throughout his time as the CRC chair. I’m honored to be his successor.”

By charter, the i-SIGMA CRC is responsible for enforcing the association’s Code of Ethics, handling complaints of wrongdoing within the information lifecycle management industry and protecting the association’s trademarks if misused.

“The CRC is tasked with one of the toughest jobs in the organization,” said i-SIGMA President Pat DeVries, CSDS. “By its very nature, the council is working with members who are addressing complaints and are generally unhappy about it. Bowman’s past experience on the CRC means he already knows his way around the politics and pitfalls associated with complaint resolution.”

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Inside This Issue

VOL. 17 NO. 3

FALL 2020

Shred Companies Try to Avoid Getting Shredded by COVID-19 PAGE 1 A World of Pain Spotting opioid abuse at work and taking steps to prevent it, while supporting workers who might need help.

PAGE 4

Report: US Businesses are Focusing Less on Security Training and Policies Since 2019 PAGE 8 HIPAA Enforcement Remains Strong During COVID-19 Pandemic PAGE 9 Great Barrington Declaration: COVID Lockdowns are Unnecessary PAGE 10

We’re in Your Corner There’s more to NAID than its widelyrecognized data destruction operational certification. Revenue from annual dues, its successful conference, and global certification program are used to:

We are Member-Owned & Member-Accountable.

Association Dollars are Controlled and Spent to Benefit Members & the Industry.

• Engage in Regulatory Advocacy for Laws that Promote and Protect Secure Data Destruction Services

• Conduct Research to Help Members and

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