could mean being faced with enormous costs of having the records recreated or, worse, some form of legal action for not maintaining them correctly for the required period of time. I personally like to think of each box as being worth at least $1,000,000. Yes, that's correct: one million dollars. Because, that's what it might cost to go through the process of obtaining new copies of the original contents of a missing box from third parties. In addition, with the new age of occupational health and safety (OH&S), it is essential that all potential hazards, such as those that are caused by archive boxes being left lying around an office, are eradicated. CHOOSING THE RIGHT BOX Hopefully, you can now appreciate the value of a company's archives. With this newfound appreciation, let's look at how you can protect your archives and always have them easily accessible. The first, and by far the most important, item to look at is the archive box where these significant documents will reside. To most, it's all about price. How much are the boxes going to cost? It is also, however, worth considering how long you require the box to last for. If you only need to keep the records for a year or two, you may be able to get away with a cheap box that has a loose lid and a folding bottom, but if you need the records for any longer than two years, you need to consider several things. These include: