The end of this month there will be a meeting to revise the Standard on Protection of Records (NFPA 232) which includes the standards on records center design.

There will be some there who speak to represent the interests of records center managers all over the world. That any increase in fire safety is an expense that is unwarranted. One early comment that made me gag was that ...(paraphrase)...other than vital records or historical records, losing records in a fire is merely an inconvenience.!!

For all those who lost records in the fires of 1997, was it merely an inconvenience? When you watched your records being consumed in a blaze on the 11:00 PM News, did you go to bed feeling merely inconvenienced? It must of been somebody else flooding the switchboards of those companies asking if their records were in those warehouses. Are you paying for "records" storage or "bulk" warehouse storage.

When I go into the meeting and these paid consultants state that protecting records is not worth the expense, I want to hold in my hand proof that not all feel that way. Please complete this survey and email it to me, if you would like your opinion heard in committee.

If you really want to help, have some of your fellow records managers fill it out. Then no matter what happens in Phoenix, you will know it happened because of you.

Copy and Paste in a reply:

******************Records Center Design Standard Opinion Survey***********

As a professional records manager and member of ARMA, I feel that protecting 1) Active Records, 2) Permanent Records, 3) Long Term Records, 4) Important Records and 5) Vital Records from destruction is:

A. Very Important B. Important C. Not that Important D. A waste of money

As a professional records manager and member of ARMA, I feel that establishing a program which protects 1) Active Records, 2) Permanent Records, 3) Long Term Records, 4) Important Records and 5) Vital Records from destruction is:

A. One of my key job functions B. Is of some concern to me C. Is of no concern to me. D. Is important to our organization but is not my job function.

As a professional records manager and member of ARMA, I feel that when I pay an offsite storage company for storing our organization's 1) Active Records, 2) Permanent Records, 3) Long Term Records, 4) Important Records and 5) Vital Records that I expect:

A. That they will house them in the highest quality and fire protected records center facility B. That they will use "prudent man" design techniques to insure the survival of my records and to minimize loss to my records collection C. I am not concerned with the quality of my offsite records center D. I am only concerned with low costs when selecting an offsite storage vendor.

As a professional records manager and member of ARMA, I feel that record collections include 1) Active Records, 2) Permanent Records, 3) Long Term Records, 4) Important Records and 5) Vital Records. That collections also include Inactive Records, Historical Records and Unscheduled Records (e.g., email) Simplifying records into vital records which should be vaulted and all others which are merely inconvenient if they are lost is:

A. A great idea B. An oversimplification of the records classification process C. An idea which will create a deterioration in the quality of records center design as there is no hierarchical valuation of different classifications of records.

These NFPA 232 Standard is important in that it sets minimum standards for corporate records centers and insures proper fire design is part of the plan and that an architect who is unfamiliar with records center design will be guided to a good design condition. I feel this is:

A. Important for proper records center design B. Not important for our records storage center C. A waste of money for the type of records we store

******************* Merely email me your opinions at with only your name, not company name, as I ask you to speak as a professional not as an employee of XYZ. Put any disclaimers you want.

Simply delete the answers that do not fit best. If you think A. is the right answer, then delete B,C, and D. Go to the next question and pick the answer there you agree with, delete the others, etc. That way each poll stands on its own and there will be no confusion.

HERE IS A CHANCE TO MAKE A LASTING IMPACT. TAKE A STAND!

This Listserv is an important voice. Please use it and participate. For all those lurkers out there.........time to make your voice heard!

------- THESE ARE THE OPINIONS OF HUGH SMITH AND ONLY HUGH SMITH. I PRESENT THEM AS A 14 YEAR MEMBER OF ARMA, A 10 YEAR MEMBER OF PRISM AND A MEMBER OF THE LISTSERV COMMUNITY

List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html Contact RECMGMT-L-REQUEST@lists.ufl.edu for assistance

-- Anonymous, February 20, 2001