Below are some examples of laws and regulations mandated by the government and other legal bodies:
OSHA Standard – 29 CFR
For businesses with more than 10 employees, OSHA requires that a record be kept for keeping account of serious work-related injuries and illnesses, with the exception of minor injuries requiring first aid only. Information from this record helps employers, workers, and OSHA to implement safety protocols to reduce and eliminate hazards by evaluating and understanding identified industry hazards. This becomes valuable for preventing workplace injury and illnesses in the future. Records of injury and illnesses must be maintained for at least five years.
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
HIPAA’s major goal is to ensure that an individual’s information is protected whilst also providing and promoting high-quality health care through collection of needed health information. Therefore it requires health care providers to have a system in place for properly collecting patient information whilst also applying security standards such as providing an audit trail, isolating health data and thus making it inaccessible to unauthorized people, placing controls for who may access health information, ensuring confidentiality, and safeguarding health information.
Sarbanes–Oxley Act
This act aims to prevent deceptive business conduct that could eventually lead to millions of dollars in fines and even criminal conviction. One of the key provisions of the SOX Act is to have a documented financial control and risk mitigation process that’s verified by independent auditors. It also requires that business records be kept for not less than five years.