Privacy commissioner criticises use of chicken farm to shred care home's confidential records

A chicken farm should not be used to dispose of sensitive health documents, the privacy and information commissioner of Saskatchewan in Canada says. The matter came up in a report recently issued by commissioner Ron Kruzeniski concerning the Spruce Manor Special Care Home in Dalmeny.



The privacy office had been investigating the home earlier in the year after some of the residents' health cards ended up in a recycling bin. In the course of that investigation, it found that in May, the home had signed a deal with an undisclosed chicken farm to destroy its confidential records.



In the agreement, the farm said it would "agree to accept full responsibility to maintain the security and confidentiality of all documents" received from Spruce Manor Special Care Home. That's "unacceptable," Kruzeniski said in his report, noting that the agreement does not specify how the chicken farm is to "maintain the security and confidentiality" of the personal health information it has received.



"I recommend that Spruce Manor Special Care Home no longer use [a] chicken farm to destroy records in spite of the former administrator asserting he had no problems/concerns with the use of the chicken farm," Kruzeniski said in the report. It's not clear if any sensitive documents ever went to the farm. An administrator at Spruce Manor indicated the farm wasn't involved in destroying records. The care home has ended its contract with the chicken farm and is looking for a certified company to do future document shredding.