Under what conditions may a damaged record be destroyed?

• A. They may be destroyed if the records are in good condition
• B. They may be destroyed when they have been so badly damaged by fire, water, or insect or rodent infestation that they are unreadable
• C. They may be destroyed if the records have a permanent retention period and are digitized
• D. They may be destroyed only after a court order

Answer: (B)

Damaged records that are unreadable have no practical value to preserve, so they may be destroyed under standard records-retention practices. When a document is so badly damaged by fire, water, or pests that you cannot read its contents, there’s no meaningful way to retrieve or use the information, making destruction appropriate and consistent with managing storage and records integrity.

The other options don’t fit because:

• Destroying because the record is in good condition isn’t sensible; good-condition records are usually kept according to retention schedules.

• Digitizing a permanently retained record is a separate process from handling a damaged unreadable item; unreadable content cannot be relied on even if a digitized copy exists, and permanent retention plus digitization doesn’t by itself authorize destruction of the original just because it’s damaged.

• A court order is not typically required for destruction of unreadable records when allowed by the retention policy; court intervention would generally be unnecessary for this situation.