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How Not to Wreck Your Record Keeping

Business owners need to follow best practices in essential record-keeping. That fact would seem to need no discussion. But, key statistical research findings indicate that today’s business owners need to increase their knowledge of standard record-keeping and legal requirements for business records. For some examples, in one business industry survey of 400 employers, 92% of employers did not know how long to retain employment records (1 year), and only 16% said they keep employee timesheets for the required 2 years. Only a third knew payroll records must be kept for 3 years, and 87% didn’t know how long employment tax records must be kept (4 years). Only 36% knew that FMLA records must be retained for 3 years, and only 39% of employers knew they must keep records of workplace injuries for 5 years. And, 78% of the business owners didn’t know tax returns must be kept for 3 years. Creating and retaining good records starts with understanding certain basic elements that all business records should include as well as requirements for controlling access to certain records. There are even some potential long-term issues that can result from inappropriately organizing file types, which are not necessarily obvious at the time of file creation. Here are some tips for to help b2b septic, sewer and portable restroom contractors and related industry businesses enhance your record-keeping processes. If you’ve already wrecked some of your records, you can use this information to help guide the clean-up.

What Constitutes a Record? You’ve probably noticed that most business records fit into one of the following categories: • Business Transaction Records — Documentation of business activities that are documented, such as sales, purchases, inventory counts, invoice creation, training attendance, etc. • Legal or Regulatory Compliance Records — Records of business activities that are subject to regulatory or legal requirements. • Historical Records — Documents that are needed in order to maintain the business memory, such as policy documents, meeting minutes, systemic or process modifications. The majority of business records are paper or digital, but audio, visual, and other types of media files can also constitute records.

Controlling Access to Records Managing file access is a top priority in record-keeping best practices. Remember that having a policy of controlling access to certain sensitive records does not ensure that access will be appropriately withheld as a routine. To strengthen your document control system, label confidential files as “CONFIDENTIAL”. And, put in place whatever additional systems, storage arrangements, and other measures that may be necessary to ensure continual protection of sensitive paper and electronic files (including email, video and audio files) from unauthorized access. When disposing of confidential files, make sure that these are destroyed in a manner that ensures confidentiality.

Keeping Thorough and Streamlined Records. Make sure that all documentation is completed before it is filed. Include all relevant evidence of decisions to act and of actions taken. Include date, time (if applicable), description of the activity, identification of involved parties, and signature(s) of the record-keeper(s). Search available resources to find any missing critical information, and make sure it is included in the record. Don’t add superfluous information, such as personal opinions or other comments, or questions. Rewrite the record to make it as verbally economical as possible. Modify Notes sections, to eliminate subjective comments, unneeded references or other unnecessary verbiage.

Meeting Legal Requirements Some record types must be created and/or maintained in a manner that meets local, state, and/or federal requirements. Determine which of the basic purposes for a record applies to the record you are going to create. Then, create it based on your business needs or the legal requirements for the type of record you’re building. That means, simply include all of the data fields needed to capture all information that is normally useful for either the business purposes or legal requirements that the record must serve: • Business Needs • Accountability (internal or external) • Legal or Regulatory Requirements Make sure the information is correct in the record and that it fully documents 1) decisions made, 2) actions taken, 3) and reasons for the decisions and actions.

Timeliness in Creating a Record Don’t delay in creating a necessary record of an action that should be documented. Do not rely on your own memory to retain information for documenting later, at some more convenient time. The whole purpose of a record is to save business managers from depending upon memory. Generally, the longer it takes to generate documentation after an event occurs, the less accurate the record is likely to be. So, by all means, take the time needed to make critical notes for proper documentation as quickly as possible after a business transaction, safety incident, or other event, to ensure that the record you create is as accurate and complete as possible.

Avoiding Information Duplication Copying documents for use as temporary references to information can cause issues down the road. Duplicates can end up being put into the file and later mistaken for originals. This can cause originals to be behind copies and be overlooked, while users start updating the copy, assuming it’s the original. Later, the original is found to be missing the necessary updates as well as the required original signatures or initials of people who made the updates (who may have already left the company). Trying to copy over the missing information from the copy can cause updates that were already on the original to be out of sequence with the additional ones copied over. So, in lieu of that strategy, often the offending copy simply is stapled to the back of the original, to preserve the integrity of the record by accurately reflecting the actions taken to correct the file maintenance errors. The result is a rather confusing and poorly managed record.

Naming Records Efficiently For paper file labels, digital folder names and easily searchable email subject lines alike—think before you assign it a name. It may seem unimportant while you’re labeling the first few files of a type within a particular category. However, after you accumulate several dozens or even hundreds of these, it becomes a clearer priority to have all of the file names consistently coded, using naming language that is practical for the purpose of retrieving the files quickly and conveniently. Takeaway Thorough or not, perfectly accurate or not, such deficiencies may be much less troublesome than throwing away some records prematurely. The latter mistake can lead to serious legal consequences. Over the past 23 years, FLSA lawsuits have increased by a shocking 456%. So, above all, be aware of the legal requirements for record-keeping in your business, and maintain files accordingly. On the other hand, accumulating growing masses of unnecessary records is not efficient. So, purge as much and as often as it is reasonable to do.

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Business Owners Failed This Record Keeping Quiz — But Failing to Comply Is a Much Bigger Offense

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from Septic Tank Pumping Pros https://septictankpumpingpros.wordpress.com/2018/08/11/how-not-to-wreck-your-record-keeping/

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Enrichment 6

water quality and the health of the environment 

 In the modern world the problem of the reliable water supply is extremely important because the water resources are widely exploited and water is used in different fields of human activities. In fact, the life of human beings is impossible without water but nowadays water is used not only simply to provide people with the essential substance they consume to survive but it is also widely used in agriculture and different industries. As a result, the water, being widely used, is naturally deteriorating in quality and decreasing in quantity because the water used in agriculture and industries is often impossible to recycle or filter to make it drinkable. In such a situation, the problem of scarcity of water as the vitally important product seems to be quite real. In this respect, it is necessary to underline that the US undertake various steps to improve the current situation and one of the strategic directions in the development of the federal and state policy is the effective treatment of wastewater. Despite the exiting differences in the water supply and water quality in different states, the high level of standards is equally important in all of the states.

First of all, it should be said that the water quality is extremely important to human health. It is not a secret that the current problem of the water pollution is a serious threat to the health of the entire nation since if the existing standards were lower the national health would be under a threat. The reason is quite obvious since nowadays it is practically impossible to consume water without any artificial treatment being applied (Anon 1998). What is meant here is the fact that nowadays water cannot be used in its original form as it is taken from the nature. In stark contrast, water needs to undergo various stages of special treatment that make it really pure and prepared for the consumption by people without any harm to their health.

Nowadays, due to the development of modern technologies, water undergoes various treatment that make the water purer and closer to its natural and practically ideal consistency. However, the latter is quite difficult to achieve because of the current environmental situation since the development of industries and water pollution undermine the natural potential of the effective water treatment so that the wastewater needs to be specifically treated to avoid the further pollution of natural water (Anon 1998). At this point, it should be said that various states may have different standards concerning the quality of water but, nonetheless, these standards should guarantee the safety of water consumed by people. This means that all states need to supply water which is really safe to human health and is close to its natural consistency without any pollutants.

By the way, it should be said that the water supply is another serious problem since it is getting to be more and more difficult to provide a permanent and ample supply of water to the population. In fact, in the result of the pollution and the increasing costs of its treatment the supply of water may vary depending on states (Bartram 2005). For instance, the states with larger natural resources of water and lower level of pollution could supply more water to consumers compared to the states where the water is naturally scarce and the situation is deteriorated by the high level of the pollution of water.

As a result, the states which are in a disadvantageous position in relation to the water supply need to invest more in the effective treatment of the wastewater and the reliable supply it to consumers. At the same time, these states face a serious problem of the lack of water. In such a situation, the water supply is really a great challenge since it is necessary to provide population with water of possibly higher quality regardless the resources of water and its initial quality. However, the state with larger water resources also need to pay a particular attention to the quality of water since it is the major condition of the supply of water to consumers.

Thus, taking into consideration all above mentioned, it is possible to conclude that nowadays states are in different positions since some states have larger resources of water and have better environmental situation, while others have scarce resources of water and the level of pollution is dangerously high. Nevertheless, regardless all these factors, the states need to provide population with the sufficient amount of water which should be of a high quality in order to guarantee the national health since the low quality of water or its insufficient supply threatens to the health of people and may provoke infectious diseases. This is why the quality of water and high standards remain the major factors that unite all the states in relation to the water supply.

Works cited

Anon. (1998, Jun). Use of reclaimed water in municipal drinking-water supplies. Journal of Environmental Health. 60(10):39-41.

National Resources Defense Council (2003). What’s on Tap? Grading Drinking Water in U.S. Cities. Retrieved from the web on 11/16/06 at http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/uscities/contents.asp

Bartram, J, Lewis, K, Lentron R. et al. (2005, Feb.-Mar.). Focusing on improved water and sanitation for health. The Lancet. 365(9461): 810-812.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Public Health Concerns About Infectious Diseases. In: The Use of Reclaimed Water and Sludge in Food Crop Productions. Retrieved from the Web

Cooperative Extension Service, University of North Carolina, Soil Science, Septic Systems and Their Maintenance. Retrieved from the Web at http://ces.soil.ncsu.edu/soilscience/publications/Soilfacts/AG-439-13/

East Bay Municipal Utilities District (EBMUD). Retrieved from the Web at http://www.ebmud.com/services/waterquality/plants.html

National Resources Defense Council (2003). What’s on Tap? Grading Drinking Water in U.S. Cities. Retrieved from the web on 11/16/06 at http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/uscities/contents.asp

Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, Characteristics of Effluents from Small Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants in 1993. Retrieved from the Web at http://www.sccwrp.org/pubs/annrpt/93-94/art02.htm

Schiff E. Municipal Wastewater Treatment Process. Retrieved from the Web at http://members.aol.com/ErikSchiff/prelim.htm

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Public Health Concerns About Infectious Diseases. In: The Use of Reclaimed Water and Sludge in Food Crop Productions. Retrieved from the Web

U. S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (2002). Bottled Water Regulation and the FDA. Retrieved from the web at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/botwatr.html