Hazmat

Biohazard and Hazmat Cleanup

Who do you call to clean up dangerous chemicals on your property? What is the correct cleaning and disinfection techniques after someone has died and not been found for several days? Who has the right licenses and permits to transport the hazards to clean these types of dangerous materials with experience in the specific situation you’re dealing with?

In an online search, you will find there are 2 types of cleaning companies when looking for hazardous material cleanup, they are biohazard and hazmat. While these terms are often used interchangeably, they actually are quite different with their own specialties requiring different licenses.

Biohazard Cleanup

A biohazard cleanup team is used when we need someone to pick up the pieces in some of our darkest moments such as, cleaning up after suicides, violent crimes, cleaning out hoarded homes, and disinfecting properties infected with infectious diseases. These are the services that biohazard cleanup companies know how to clean and disinfect.

Biohazard cleanup companies will clean any property contaminated with the following hazards

• Blood
• Bodily fluids
• Urine
• Feces
• Infectious diseases
• Odors

Cleaning and disinfecting bodily fluids require a company to strictly follow all local and federal rules and regulations covering how a material is cleaned, what cleaners can be used, and how the resulting infected materials are transported and disposed of. Without these strict guidelines, you can leave yourself open to legal liability if improper cleanup of the materials leads to someone becoming sick in the future.

Hazmat Cleanup

Hazmat cleanup companies are needed whenever you are dealing with situations involving hazardous materials that pose a threat to either people, animals or the environment but aren’t a body fluid. Hazmat materials can include:

• Dangerous chemicals
• Asbestos
• Lead
• Fuel
• Oil
• Nuclear waste products

There are special cleaning techniques for the above materials that need to be stringently followed to make an area safe to enter afterward when a hazmat team is cleaning an area. Each type of hazard material has its own specific containment needs and the company needs to be well-versed in what they are and how to address the resulting waste.

Rodent Droppings Removal

Rodent Droppings

Hantavirus infections have happened recently in Yosemite National Park  and that infection was cause by rodent droppings.

Any type of rodent droppings is not a laughing matter or something you should clean and forget. When you find rodent droppings, chances are that the animal that produced them is somewhere around and likely to return.

If you hear scurrying noises from the attic, in your walls or when you enter another room or your garage then that’s a clear indication that rodents took residence in your home.

Besides the droppings being dangerous, rodents can also cause significant damage to objects stored away by gnawing on fabrics and even electrical cables.

The nests and droppings of the rodents can become a favorite breeding site for insects which carry the diseases into you house

Rodent Droppings Can Cause

• Hantavirus – As was seen in Yosemite national Park case
• Bubonic Plague – Is not yet eradicated and spread by the bite of a rodent infected flea.
• Salmonellosis – Food poisoning through consumption of contaminated food.
• Rat-Bite Fever – RBF is spread by infected rodents or consuming food contaminated by them.

You not only have to trap and remove the rodents from your premises, but also need to clean and disinfect the area to ensure there are no more hazards, as well as close the opening through which the rodents got in. Droppings from pigeons, rate, mice or other vermin should only be cleaned by professionals, providing you with peace of mind knowing that you have done everything you can – including professional disinfection – to keep your family and yourself safe.

Illegal drug labs

Production of illegal drugs involves a number of very hazardous chemicals and toxicity from these chemicals can remain in the environment around a drug production lab long after the lab has been shut down, causing a wide range of health problems for people living in the area.

Properties (including houses, apartments, duplexes and hotel/motel rooms) where some illegal drugs are manufactured are considered uninhabitable until they are properly decontaminated per state law (Title 318 IAC 1 (PDF)). The process to test and clean can be expensive.

The property where a drug lab was used must be cleaned before it is reoccupied or sold. Failing to remove all toxic substances from drug labs will leave the property owner open to liability for injuries caused from exposure to the substances.

Illegal Drug Lab Cleanup contractors are required to use an IDEM Qualified inspector, who will then perform an initial assessment to determine the level of contamination to the building.

The inspector will work with you to find the most efficient, cost effective way for to clean the property to ensure it meets the approved cleanup level. Once the contractor completes decontamination, the property is tested for compliance, and after passing a test, will grant you a "Certificate of Decontamination" which states that the property has been thoroughly cleaned.

Serving Mesa, Gilbert & Apache Junction, AZ