Records and Information Management Service (RIMS)

It is essential for the effective administration of the University that redundant or time expired information is destroyed routinely. Employees need to know the most appropriate method and the point in time to destroy information.

It is the responsibility of employees who select information for destruction to do so in accordance with the relevant records retention schedules, and to ensure they follow University guidelines and advice.
 
In addition, Data Protection legislation and the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 place specific responsibilities upon us to destroy information (both paper and electronic) appropriately, i.e. in line with the agreed records retention schedule, and regularly. It may also be necessary to keep a record of its destruction.

• Routine paper waste, e.g. blank forms, routine correspondence, early drafts of work, publicity material, "junk" mail et.c should be put into the office paper recycling bins.
• Papers that contain information about sensitive University business, and therefore have a selected readership, (i.e.  disclosure would compromise personal privacy, financial or strategic information etc.) need to be disposed of carefully. If you have small amounts of papers to destroy and have access to a shredder, use it and then put the waste into your office paper-recycling bin.
• Large volumes of information about sensitive University business (i.e. information where disclosure would compromise personal privacy, financial or strategic information etc.) should be disposed of by the confidential waste service (see 'Special Waste Services').

The type of information which should be handled and disposed of confidentially includes any significant information about living people, whether they are employees, students or have other links to the University.

Follow the appropriate records retention schedule, to ensure that different types of record (e.g. committee papers, individual employee files, project files) are reviewed, weeded and disposed of systematically. Doing so will meet the requirements placed on us by FOISA and Data Protection legislation, and other regulations.

The Records and Information Management Service (RIMS) can work with you to produce bespoke retention schedules tailored to the needs of your office.

IT Services have a policy on the safe disposal of IT equipment such as desktop PCs, tablets, and other storage media.

For further guidance on the disposal of electrical and electronic equipment, including DVDs and other portable storage media, please see the related Safety and Environmental Protection Service pages.