Bio-Hazard: Safety First!

6/24/2022 (Permalink)

Bio-Hazard cleanup requires careful planning.

What is a Bio-Hazard? Well the dictionary definition is "a biological substance that's dangerous to people or the environment."

It often comes to our attention as a result of a serious injury or death. Cleaning up a Bio-Hazard has many aspects to it. Our primary concern is to make sure our employees and others in the vicinity do not become injured as a result of working in that environment. Blood and any associated blood borne pathogens need to be properly handled due to their inherent risk to humans.

Proper personal protective equipment is just the start. Anyone working with bio-hazards needs proper training in procedures, respirator protection, health and safety and hazard communications. Items such as needles, broken glass or other sharp objects need to be handled very carefully and preferably with a tool that limits our need to contact it.

Materials that have come in direct contact with blood need to be properly disposed with a licensed waste hauler. This may include PPE, clothing, items used to actually do the cleanup such as paper products and rags, and any cloth material that needed to be removed from the affected site such as cushions, carpeting, bedding, etc.

This work is not particularly difficult, but being able to do the work properly takes a lot of training, planning, careful following of procedures.

Blood Everywhere

10/23/2018 (Permalink)

i am the owner of an apartment building in a college town. My tenants are always locking themselves out or giving keys to others and then not having them when they need to get in. I had a gentleman try to "remove" a window to get into his apartment. Well as you can imagine this didn't go well and he cut himself very badly! I had a neighbor call me and say "there is blood everywhere" I thought he might be a bit dramtic but when I got there I saw that he was not! This young man had indeed gotten blood everywhere before he was taking to the local hospital. I asked the emergency personal if they had anything to clean it with and they suggested that I call SERVPRO of DeKalb County, They explained that they are certified in trauma clean up and would get it done quickly for me while also being able to board up the window until I could get it repaired. The crew from SERVPRO came out and helped me. They cleaned the blood and made sure it was safe for the tenants to go back into the apartment. They also boarded up the window and gave me the name of a glass company they recommended. All of this was done in a short time frame and got me home in time for dinner.