1. Plan the move with great care.
2. Inform the owner of the building that you are moving out and inform the owner of the new building that you are moving in. This way arrangements can then be made with regard to the use of lifts; other occupants of the building warned beforehand and keys handed over.
3. Inform all officials in your office timeously of a date when all records should be returned to registry in order to enable you to pack.
4. List all records before moving to the new office.
5. Box records to protect and prevent them from being damaged during the move.
6. Box the files in numerical sequence.
7. Mark the boxes sequentially. This will enable the boxes to be easily unpacked into the new location.
8. Do not destroy any records without the written approval of the National Archives and Records Service of South Africa.
9. Do not transfer any records to the National Archives Repository without prior arrangement with the Head of the National Archives Repository.
10. Confidentiality of information should be borne in mind. When packing the records secret files should be kept under security.
11. Let the driver of the vehicle transporting the records sign for them when moving the records to the new office. On arrival at the new office a responsible official should check that all the boxes have arrived at their location and sign for them.
12. Check that there is adequate parking for the truck when loading and off-loading. It might be necessary to arrange with the traffic department for the use of parking for this purpose.
13. The vehicle should not be left unattended.
14. The removal company must supply their own supervisors to ensure that the responsibility of the packers does not lie with the office personnel.
15. Tea and lunch times must be cleared with the removal company in order to ensure that they correspond with those of the office personnel.
16. Determine whether the removal company will work after hours. This could have could have implications, like the building having to remain open and arrangements being needed with office personnel to supervise.
17. The removal company must keep to the agreed dates. The contract must include penalties that the company will have to pay should they not keep to the dates.
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18. Removal companies are usually not accustomed to moving records. The importance and value of the records must be explained to them.
19. A contact person at the removal company’s office must be obtained, in case problems are encountered.
20. Packers cannot eat, drink or smoke near the boxes.
21. No-one should sit on the boxes containing the records.
22. Before the move, it is essential to make sure that there is adequate space for the records in the other building.
23. A register must be compiled to indicate which records must go to which room or office. The same information must be written on the boxes.
24. Records that cannot be boxed (perhaps large registers or cartographic material) should also be marked clearly.
25. The removal company must supply their own pens, pencils and labels. (These should be included in the contract.)
26. Office staff members should be:
(a) at the building where you are moving from;
(b) at the building to receive the move; and
(c) there should be additional staff in case of absence.
These officials must make sure that everything is running smoothly. It should not be their task to supervise the packers.
27. The shelves on which the records are to be packed must be cleaned beforehand.
28. The removal company usually charges for the boxes, but once unpacked the company takes the boxes back. It is thus essential that the number of boxes unpacked in a day is closely monitored. (Keep track of how many boxes have been packed, unpacked and empty boxes returned to the removal company. You can get discount on the return of the boxes.) Make sure that it is written in your tender document.
29. Training of the packers and their supervisors is important. This should be done on the very first day and it should include the following:
(a) The order in which the records must be removed from the shelves;
(b) The order in which the must be packed in the boxes;
(c) The labeling of the boxes;
(d) The order in which the boxes must be taken to the truck;
(e) The order in which the truck must be packed. Determine beforehand how many boxes can be packed in the truck. If the truck can take 200 boxes, start loading the truck with box 200, then 199, 198 … so that when the truck is full, box no. 1 is right in front and ready to be unloaded and immediately go to the correct office.
(f) The order in which the truck must be unpacked;
(g) The order in which the boxes must be moved to the offices;
(h) The order in which the boxes must be unpacked on the shelves.
(i) Explain the value of the records and that no eating, drinking or smoking is allowed near them.
(j) Explain that no-one should sit on the boxes because this could damage the records inside the boxes.
Records Management Policy Manual
1st Edition Version 1.2 April 2004