There are a number of measures in place to prevent electronic data breaches occurring, but don’t forget hardcopy containing personal data is equally important. Please see below for actions that we all can take to protect the privacy of our residents and customers:
- Take care when printing and photocopying – If you’re printing or photocopying on a shared printer, check you’ve left nothing behind before returning to your desk. Make sure you only use your own code to release documents in the print queue – if you do accidently print something for someone else make sure you take the documents to them as soon as possible without reading them.
- Double-check letters before posting them – Picking up two letters instead of one is an easy mistake to make if you’re working your way through a stack of them. Ask a colleague to double-check that the right letter is in the right envelope before you post them. Or you could use place-markers to help you spot where one letter ends and the next one starts.
- Include a return address on your envelopes – If you send a letter and it ends up at the wrong address, the person who receives it by mistake can return it without opening it if you put a return address on the back.