Question
”My organization has irreplaceable information on digital records or microfilm – what offsite record storage facility can I trust to properly protect this critical information from fires, earthquakes, floods, disgruntled employee sabotage, tornadoes and hurricanes, and all other natural disasters?”
Answer
There are so many options when it comes to offsite storage vendors and the types of facilities they offer. Common sense should help to eliminate some of these storage facilities. If a facility is sitting in a flood plain or in a high liquefaction zone or next to an earthquake fault, this should send up “red flags” about the safety of your crucial records in these facilities. You have to spend some time and look at the area where these buildings are located and talk to your local emergency agencies in your city or county about possible hazards in the area.
If the facility is in close proximity to other buildings, what types of companies are nearby? Could there be fire danger or chemical spills that could shut down the entire area and interrupt the service of the offsite storage company?
What if the facility stores a lot of paper records – over the past few years some of these off-site storage companies that store a lot of paper records have had fires that have completely destroyed all the contents inside. Even though they have fire suppression equipment, the fires still destroyed everything in the building. If you have digital records, would it make sense to store with a company that does not store paper records?
What about underground facilities such as salt mines, converted mine tunnels or old missile silos? A few years ago there was a salt mine that actually dug into an underground spring and the mine started to fill with water and could not be stopped. Outside of Kansas City a few years ago a converted limestone mine used for offsite storage had a fire and all the records inside were destroyed. It had stored flammable items and a fire started that could not be put out. How about old missile silos, they certainly are secure, right? Well, maybe for missiles but do they have the correct temperature and humidity levels for the storage of sensitive digital records and do they store a lot of flammable paper records? Are they close enough to offer courier services?
With all of these dangers and vulnerabilities mentioned above, is there an offsite storage facility that can properly protect your irreplaceable records? There is!!! The Perpetual Storage, Inc. vault is located inside of a solid granite mountain in Little Cottonwood Canyon a few miles south of Salt Lake City. It is not in a flood plain or liquefaction zone or on an earthquake fault. It is not a tilt up constructed building that stores paper records or other flammable items. It is not a converted mine or tunnel but was purposely built to be an offsite storage vault for the proper protection of digital records and microfilm. It has armed guards on site, the latest in intrusion and detection equipment and a six ton stainless steel door protecting the vault itself. It has the proper temperature and humidity levels for the storage of digital records and microfilm and it has three separate sources of power.
So, where is your “comfort level” when it comes to the proper protection of your irreplaceable digital records and film – a tilt up constructed building that stores a lot of paper, a salt mine or a converted mine that was never constructed originally for the storage of sensitive digital records and film or a vault inside of a solid granite mountain that was designed for the storage of digital records and film with all of the advantages mentioned above? What does common sense tell you?