Paper conservation techniques can restore important documents using methods to repair physical damage such as tears and missing areas. Paper conservation considerably slows down the environmental degradation process which attacks paper such as acid attacks and discolouration. Document S.O.S highly trained paper conservation team are able to teat all document types such as parchment, artwork and historical documents. Each paper conservation project needs to be analysed and assed, taking into account of things such as inks, pigments and paper types.
Subsequently Document SOS was first to introduce business continuity management
paper conservation and training programs exclusively for hard copy. Leo Vesey set up this department having completed a International Disaster Engineering and Management degree at Coventry University this enabled us to have the skill and knowledge to have the best paper conservation team around. Sam Brown joined Document SOS in 2001 as our Operations Coordinator. She is responsible for the smooth running of the Document SOS systems and procedures and quality control for every assignment. She updates our clients on a weekly basis as to the progress of the assignment. She is in charge of a team of up to fifty technicians.
Operating a 24 hour response worldwide paper conservation team, Document S.O.S implement immediate disaster control measures and coordinate precision disaster recovery and electronic tracking to ensure maximum business continuity in the aftermath of an incident, whilst greatly mitigating insurance claims.
Labels: paper conservation, paper restoration
Here at Document SoS we have a freeze/vacuum drying chamber, which is reputedly the largest in Europe especially made for vacuum packing archives, the project was commissioned in 2000 and was fitted with state-of-the-art Eurotherm monitors. This allows the client to have accurate details of the drying process which is of particular interest to antiquarian collections. The vacuum packing archives are closely monitored and will ensure all archives are kept safely.
The Document S.O.S vacuum packing archives Operations Headquarters are near Dartford in Kent. There they have over 300,000 cubic feet of chilled and frozen storage perfect for vacuum packing. John Kirby and Georgine joined technical and precision expertise to build and develop the Dryfast Chamber in 1995. This has the largest capacity for document drying in the world and has revolutionised the process of drying waterlogged paper. Cutting edge treatments for sewage and mould damaged paper are part of the continuous product development by John Kirby, Document S.O.S's technical manager who is also a microbiologist.
Salvage experts traditionally came from an industrial cleaning or fire brigade background and had no in-depth knowledge of paper; its structure, composition and subsequent reaction to fire and water. Such knowledge is vital for swift and effective restoration following disaster.
85-90% of fire damaged paper is restorable up to 100% of water damaged paper can be restored. Paper is a much more stable medium on which to store information in the long term. Contrary to popular belief it does not burn easily in a fire and it can withstand considerable water damage.
Labels: document recovery, Vacuum Packing Archives
One of our earliest cases of document disaster recovery, was for the housing benefits office at Ealing, they had their building to the ground due to an angry customer, so they really needed our document disaster recovery services.
The Insurance Manager for Ealing Borough Council explained that it was impossible to put a value on the irreplaceable records that were damaged in the fire. So we explained to him how our document disaster recovery services worked and this made him a very happy man.
There was so many security files affected by smoke damage that the council thought all their work would be lost forever. A small quantity were charred and needed to be trimmed. Over 4,600 damaged files were identified and packed into 187 crates. 80% of the files were both wet and charred and these were immediately transported into chilled storage, and kept at a constant temperature just above freezing point to prevent mold formation this is one of the first stages of document disaster recovery.
Document disaster recovery S.O.S. used its select air drying Dryfast chamber to ensure fast quality results. A combination of air circulation and dehumidification for the first two days removed the bulk of the moisture. The temperature was increased to a specific ambient temperature to complete the drying process.
Files were carefully logged when they were packed to keep them in the correct order. As the batches of documents were dried, they were re-filed, re-labelled and returned. Document disaster recovery S.O.S. provided new stationery for the documents as appropriate; the job was completed in 5 months.
Document SOS can restore original paper documents within as little as one hour, so business resumption is quick and productivity uninterrupted.
Labels: disaster recovery, document recovery
