Preservation of archival documents: storage mode and features of archiving

The preservation of archival documents plays an important role and offers a whole system of various measures, which include the rational distribution of all documents, provides traffic control and allows you to copy them in order to create an insurance fund and recovery. In order to prevent improper storage of papers, certain storage standards must be followed. Otherwise, the person who is responsible will be held administratively, and in some special cases, criminally liable.

How are documents stored in the archive?

To ensure the safety of documents, the following measures are carried out:

1. First of all, a special set of measures is taken into account to ensure storage, which provides for the creation of material and technical facilities.
2. A set of measures is being taken to create and comply with regulatory conditions, that is, temperature, humidity, and mode are taken into account.

The system of measures to ensure the preservation of archival documents plays an important role not only in storage, but also in the transfer of documents for storage.

How documents are saved

When storing documents, the following standards are observed:

1. The temperature and humidity conditions are taken into account.
2. Light mode.
3. Sanitary and hygienic.
4. The guard.

In order to ensure optimal storage conditions for documents, the following points are additionally taken into account:

1. A special archive room is being built or reconstructed.
2. The archive should be equipped with fire extinguishing equipment and an alarm system.
3. The rules for the preservation of archival storage of documents provide for the use of technical means to create special regulatory conditions for temperature and humidity.
4. When moving documents, special tools are also used.

If all the precautions are followed, then no storage problems will occur.

What are the requirements for the buildings where the archive is located

In order for documents to be stored correctly, the appropriate building must be selected. It must comply with the following standards:

1. The archive should be located in a separate room, which is tested by a special expert commission. This commission includes all representatives of the archive, representatives of the fire and security services. At the end of the audit, an act is drawn up which indicates whether the premises are accepted or not.
2. Accounting and preservation of archival documents cannot be made in a building that was not taken into operation due to a violation of the document storage mode.
3. The archive should have a burglar alarm, bars on the windows, if it is located on the lower floor.
4. The archive should include several rooms, among them there are rooms for certain types of documents, for example, it can be papers that require temporary storage, a reading room, a room for employees. If it is a state archive, then there will be much more rooms.
5. The system of measures to ensure the preservation of archival documents, which are of particular importance, includes separate isolated rooms with iron doors and swinging bars on the windows.
6. In no case should the water supply and sewage pipes be laid in the archive. There must be no gas pipeline or open wiring system.
7. The storage is equipped in such a way that there is no large accumulation of dust and the room itself is well ventilated.
8. As a rule, the windows of the building where the papers are stored should face north, this is necessary in order to protect the paper from direct sunlight.
9. Particular attention is paid specifically to fire safety, so the building provides not only an internal alarm, but also an emergency exit.
10. Outside business hours, the storage doors and windows are sealed. Ensuring the preservation of archival documents implies that the keys are kept by one person responsible for this.
11. Smoking is strictly prohibited in the room with the papers. Do not use water-heating and explosive objects, store food.

It is necessary to take into account the fact that not everyone can get into the store. Access is available to employees who work there, and unauthorized persons are not allowed there.

The role of the light mode

Archival storage and preservation of documents necessarily imply taking into account the light regime, which includes the following points:

1. If documents are stored for a long time, then they must be in complete darkness.
2. Of course, lighting can be used in the store, but most often it is artificial light, in most cases they try to make it scattered.
3. When using exclusively natural light, special light diffusers should be available on the windows. If the lighting is artificial, then it is allowed to use in the archive only incandescent lamps in the ceiling, which will be closed on all sides, with a smooth outer surface.
4. There are special lighting standards, for example, in no case should the illumination level exceed 20-50 lux on the vertical surface of the rack at a meter height from the floor, and 100 lux on desktops.

In the archive itself, penetration and contact with documents in direct sunlight are not allowed, as this can harm important papers.

Temperature effect

Ensuring the safety of archival documents necessarily implies compliance with a certain temperature and humidity regime:

1. Important documents cannot be stored in places where there is no regulated climate. As a rule, in the archive the air temperature should be 17-19 degrees. Particular attention is also paid to air humidity; it cannot exceed 60%. If it is not possible to regulate the climate in the room, then a temperature of 20 degrees and a humidity of 60% are maintained.
2. For important documents, sudden fluctuations in air humidity can be dangerous.
3. Premises that have an unregulated climate must have installed devices for draining or, conversely, humidifying the air.
4. The organization of ensuring the safety of archival documents includes the installation of thermometers, psychrometers, hygrometers in such rooms. These measures are necessary in order to record the temperature and humidity.
5. In the archive there is constant monitoring, therefore, where the climate can be regulated, the check is carried out once a week, where it is not regulated, twice. If a violation of the temperature regime is recorded, monitoring should be carried out daily.

It is worth noting that any archive where important documents are stored has a special journal in which all data on the temperature regime are entered.

Sanitary standards

The technology for the preservation of archival documents is carried out taking into account sanitary and hygienic standards, which are worth considering in more detail:

1. The storage facilities where the archive is located are without fail kept clean and tidy. In no case can insects, rodents, mold or a lot of dust be wound up.
2. Wet cleaning and dust removal are carried out every week, for this it is allowed to use aqueous solutions with a certain amount of antiseptics.
3. Nobody has the right to go into the storehouse in outer clothing, nor is it allowed for things to be wet and shoes to be dirty.
4. Ensuring the safety of documents of the archive fund is carried out due to air circulation, therefore there should not be unventilated zones.
5. Do not place documents on the floor, window sills and in piles.
6. In the warm season, special nets are put on the windows, while ventilation can be carried out by ventilation.

Each year, a special commission is additionally created, which at the very beginning and at the end of the heating season checks the store for insects and mold. If deviations are found, then special measures are taken for disinfection and disinsection.

How the archive is equipped

Ensuring the safety of documents of the archive fund of the Russian Federation is necessarily carried out using the security regime:

1. First of all, the technical strength of the archive is carried out, a security system is organized, an alarm system is installed, there is an access control mode that provides access to the storage. If required, the room can be sealed or sealed.
2. It is allowed to take out documents from the archive exclusively to employees for permits and in the established manner.
3. For the storage of documentation, metal and wooden racks are used, which are additionally equipped with fire alarms. Particularly important documents are stored in metal cabinets, safes, special compartments - boxes.
4. All equipment should be placed taking into account all the features of the room, for example, racks are installed perpendicular to the walls and openings of windows.
5. You can not put racks to the outer walls and heat sources, the distance should be at least half a meter.
6. Between the rows of shelves, a distance of 120 cm must be maintained.

Particular attention should be paid to the placement of documents, they must be in a certain order:

1. Documents are arranged so that they can not only be comprehensively stored, but also quickly find.
2. All papers are placed on racks, taking into account the fact that in the future, upon receipt of additional documents, there will be a reserve for their placement.
3. Documents that are designed for long-term storage, and paper short-term storage should be placed separately.
4. Separately, documents can be stored that go under the heading "secretly" or have precious metals in the design.
5. Accounting documents must be separately in the archive.
6. In the departmental archive, documents must be stored in special boxes or folders. Long-term securities are in bonds.
7. Boxes on racks are placed so that the gap does not exceed 5 centimeters.
8. Documents cannot go beyond the shelving.
9. One bunch of papers cannot be more than 20 centimeters thick.
10. Boxes should be on the shelves in an upright position, this is important under the right storage conditions.
11. Each box or bundle must have labels on which the name and number of the fund are written, the inventory number is indicated.

It is such a preservation of archival documents that allows you to quickly find the paper that is required.

What are topographic pointers?

Topographic signs are used to make it easier to find the necessary paper. Consider exactly how they are placed in the repository:

1. Each archive room, shelf and shelf is numbered. It is important to note that letters are used to indicate the premises, and numbers are used for shelving and shelves.
2. Archive rooms are numbered from left to right of the entrance.
3. Racks and shelves are indicated from the entrance to the archive from left to right.
4. Circular racks are marked in a circle.
5. In order to secure the place of storage of documents, stock and rack indicators can be compiled additionally.
6. The card, which is located on the shelf, helps to quickly determine the place of the document, as it is specially prepared for each shelf. Such cards should be arranged in order and act only in one, specific room.
7. A fund card can help you find a document quickly only because its main requisite is the fund number. Such cards are located within the same archive.
8. Accounting for the preservation of archival documents using topographic indexes is considered uniform, which helps to quickly determine the location of papers.

Given all these nuances, any employee of the archive, using special permission, will quickly be able to find the right security.

Safety documents in emergency situations

There are certain reservations in the law, which clearly spell out the moments when the archive may not always fulfill the duties assigned to it, for example, if there is a threat to the life and health of people. Let us consider how the preservation of archival documents in emergency situations is implemented.

Such emergencies include:

1. Announcement of preparation for civil defense, if this happens at the state level.
2. Implementation of a civil defense plan.
3. If a state of emergency has been declared in the area, the district administration may give such an order.
4. When there is a threat of a man-made disaster or any other natural disaster that could affect the integrity of the archive.
5. An emergency can also include damage to archival papers, for example, theft as a result of the penetration of unknown people or damage to documents due to problems with the water supply or heating system.
6. In the event that an accident occurred in the archive building or a security alarm was removed.
7. In addition, there are other circumstances that may force the management of the archive to take measures that affect the work. But making decisions without the knowledge of state bodies is not worth it.

Given all possible unusual situations, the archive management is obliged to develop a plan to provide for the preservation of archival documents in emergency situations. All mobilization plans are developed in a specific order, which is established by the state. All archive events in case of a special situation are coordinated taking into account organizational and administrative documents. Each employee must know how to act in such situations, and comply with all requirements, especially in relation to securities that contain state secrets.

Shelf life and liability

The organization of the preservation of archival documents implies their full protection against unauthorized actions. If any corrections are made to the documents, then everything must be confirmed by the signature of the person who makes them, and the date is indicated. Particular attention is paid to the design and storage of primary documents, which may contain important information and sometimes even state secrets. It should be noted that if all the norms of the Russian Federation are not met, then the person who violates the rule will be punished.

Responsibility for the preservation of archival documents rests entirely with the head of the manager himself, and the official who is responsible for the preservation of securities will also bear responsibility. If the institution has a stationary archive, then papers with a long period of time, for example, for 10 years, can be stored in it. Such an archive can be a room where there are racks with file folders that are in chronological order.

It is important to remember that all documents cannot be stored forever, so for some papers there are certain periods of savings. There is a certain list of model management documents of the archive, which were formed in the process of activity of local authorities and organizations, indicating the storage time. There is not only responsibility for the preservation of archival documents, but also the rules for their destruction after they expire. Since 1983, the Ministry of Finance of the USSR approved the provision on documents, which clearly spells out the storage periods of primary securities. The manager can be held liable if the documents are missing or have been damaged.

It is important to remember that the authorized body, which served as the founder, will have to create a commission that will investigate the cause of the damage to the documents. If the founder considers it necessary to include investigative bodies in the commission, then he will be able to attract even security and state fire control without any problems. The commission will necessarily draw up an act as a result of its work.

All this is filed in a folder, which is considered a case and stored.It should be noted that if the administration of the institution respected the safety of archival documents, then there would be no reason to apply liability measures to the head or the archive employees. But at the same time, each employee must fulfill their duties: to create lists, receive documents from various organizations, carefully keep records of all important papers, give all the necessary information to the managers who deposited the paper, take part in examinations, and make recommendations for filling out the papers.

Basically, all documents are stored for ten years, but there are those that are destroyed in five years. The most important and valuable securities can be stored from fifty to seventy-five years. Such documents are stored in special safes, and a certain circle of persons has access to them. It should be borne in mind that if an archive employee does not perform his duties well enough, then he may even face criminal liability for violation during verification.