Document storage is essential for any organization that creates lots of physical records on a regular basis and are required to store and maintain for many years. Records rooms are used for storing documents. But are these records rooms weatherproof? Physical records are vulnerable to weather caused damages whether it is extreme winter or extreme summer. Relative Humidity and Moisture needs to be balanced throughout all weather conditions in order to protect years of business records consistently. Let’s understand how to make your records room all-season weatherproof. Construct of The Records Room It is important to carefully consider weather protection details while constructing or designating rooms specifically for storing records. The size of the records room in proportion to the amount of records to be stored, paving way for movement of people to reach out and access indexed records. From the roof to the floor, walls, windows and doors are well insulated to maintain regulated temperature conditions inside the building. Controlled aeration is very important to rotate the air and avoiding any infestation. Elevation of the records room should be way above the ground level to avoid water flooding during extreme rainy seasons. A well-functioning drainage system must be deployed to protect stored files from wall dampness, mold attacks and pests. Climate-Controlled Storage Keeping Your Records at an Ideal Temperature. Installing weather-proof locks could be a first and important step. The locks will be integral with the walls and other pavements to maintain uniform weather. There are climate controlling devices we can consider to install within records room. They give you control over the climate inside your records room. They maintain optimal temperature, humidity control, seasoned air conditioning heating. This could be a great start in your ambitious weather proof storage journey. Keeping Records Free from Mold - Mold can bring irreparable damage to valuable records. Climate-controlled record rooms helps in preventing mold growth that can happen via open doors, wall dampness and other contaminations. Climate-controlled record rooms maintain the humidity and freezing stopping the mold growth. Light Control - Lighting is a crucial factor in determining the health and life of a record. If exposed to too much light, the colour and structure of the paper will be affected. Keeping the documents in light-tight containers is the best way to prevent damage. Other ways are, covering the windows such that the sunlight will not enter the room. Further, if there are any skylights, block them to keep the light away from the records. Illumination in the room must be kept low as possible and fluorescent light must be covered by UV filters to keep the paper documents safe from UV rays. Air Quality – Often businesses overlook air quality when it comes to storing business records. Records room are not sealed in the same way other rooms are constructed in a business property. Climate controlled units need to have specialized locks, ventilation systems to circulate the air to keep the indoor air clean. Inspection and maintenance Unattended records room for a longer time is one of the primary mistakes many organizations do. If left without timely inspections, there are high chances of damages on stored records to the tune of losing them forever. The records governance policy should enforce actions and audit regularly so that potential threats can be addressed at the earliest than fire-fighting. Along with that, regular preventive maintenance should be done at the records room to avoid faulty working of any equipment and other tools used in the record storage facility. Security & Regulation Monitoring the storage room is essential for having an all-season weather proof record storage. This will help in monitoring the records room and making sure all the systems installed are working optimally. Also, a monitoring system will be beneficial in acting immediately if any accidents happened in the storage room. Beyond all these, physical security guards must ensure monitoring people and file movement closely to analyze any possible exposure to bad weather. Maintaining year old records, that too protecting them across all weather seasons is indeed a complex management – the true unison of arts and science. It is not everyone’s cup of tea. Businesses need to take professional assistance when it comes to either constructing in-house records rooms or outsourcing the records management to record storage facilities. Consult KAYMAN Records Management – The Trusted Records Storage and Management player in Chennai serving clients across multiple industries and helping them in meeting record-keeping compliance.