Red Cross employees were surprised to find their personal records sitting in a hallway marked trash. The files containing names, addresses and social security numbers sat out for over six hours waiting for the cleaning crew before they were secured.

The Red Cross spokesperson said they were supposed to shred old personnel files but they didn't have a shredding service. Once again an organization using the "I hope they are shredding" approach makes the news.

Patient files belonging to Doctor Jeffrey Mueller were discovered today in the Casselberry Commons strip mall. The files contained the patients name, addresses and social security numbers. The files were discovered and reported to local media so no theft should result from the doctors negligence.

Dr. Mueller's attorney said it was done without his permission. If he buys an office shredder and expects his staff to assign themselves the extra work he is a bigger fool than most.

If you don't want your practice listed in the same breath with Jeffry Mueller we can help you find a shredding service.

According to this story from CBS 11, a business in McKinney "acted quickly" when they discovered that an employee had thrown away personal information of its clients in the trash.

While it is good they "acted quickly" the question remains why they had to act at all. The answer is simple. They purchased a shredder and then told the lowest level employee to assign themselves the extra work of shredding. Not surprisingly the records ended up in the trash.

They only secure way to dispose of business documents is with a shredding service.

Mellon Bank had a contract with the IRS to process tax returns. However back in 2001 as the deadline to process returns drew near it became apparent the company wouldn't meet their deadline. To hide their shortcomings they shredded more than 77,000 returns. Lynn Kling has been given one year of probation for her part in the shredding and subsequent follow up.

If you expect your lawyer to do the proper thing and shred your personal information then buyer beware. W. Dan Mahoney not only throws his clients information in the dumpster he doesn't know the law enough to know that trash is open for anyone to look through.

This just another example of a shredder collecting dust as personal information gets casually thrown away. Before you let a lawyer ask to see the bins from his shredding service or a log of their shredding for the last six months. If they really are shredding they should have history to that effect.

Hernando County disclosed how they dispose of personal information this week. They just throw it in the recycling bin at the end of the street for public viewing. If you are a resident of the county you might want to talk to them about why they don't shred cancelled checks, Medicare payments, old ambulance bills and other county documents with your personal information.

A spokesperson for the county said they should have been shredded and didn't know why they weren't. Odds are high they counted on low level employees to assign themselves the extra task of shredding. A paper shredder and a prayer is no document destruction policy. If they really cared about their residents they would employ a shredding service.

If you want to steal the identities of the students at the Dallas Independent School District just look in their dumpsters. The school is kind enough to leave anyone who wants it the names, addresses and social security numbers of students.

The shredding was left to an employee who saved himself some time and just dumped the material behind the Meadow View Church of Christ in Mesquite. Paper shredders continue to be the biggest security risk at many businesses.

To have real security at your business visit Shred Nations.

Royal Management in Boerne, TX has decided they don't need a shredder or even a shredding service. They simply dumped boxes of their customers personal information into the trash.

A spokesperson for the company said that they were going to review their process but I am guessing I can tell you what it was: tell lowest paid employee to shred then hope they do it. Once again unsupervised, undocumented shredding didn't take place. Perhaps they should review why shredders are security risk.

Private information has been discovered in the dumpster that belonged to the Spruce Grove Child and Family Services Centre in Edmonton. The files were discovered by a man looking for bottles to recycle. The files included allegations of abuse in foster homes, financial statements of foster parents and information about parents whose kids were seized. Police are investigating why the files were dumped into the trash.

I hope the remember to dust of their shredder since the obviously don't bother using it.