West Fort Worth Biohazard Cleanup Specialists Make Homes Safe

5/13/2020 (Permalink)

Here to Help

Summary: SERVPRO of West Fort Worth cleans up biohazards quickly, safely, and according to guidelines. Highly-qualified, skilled, and well-equipped technicians make a biohazard site safe again as quickly as possible.

The Dallas-Fort Worth area is one of the fastest-growing regions in the United States. Every four minutes, a person moves to the area — around fifteen per hour, over 360 per day, and almost 2400 per week. The North Texas area includes 13 counties, over 150 cities, and 7.4 million people.

The greater Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area is also a hub of business, industry, and biotechnology. The greater Dallas-Fort Worth region is a major center of healthcare and medical innovations. The biotechnical community is estimated at over 1,100 research, development, and testing laboratories and more than 450 biomedical companies. Over 30,000 businesses from every research, technology, manufacturing, industrial, and service sector call the area home. With a growing population and one of the strongest business and investment environments in the nation and the world, the Dallas-Fort Worth area needs to have 24/7 access to professional, knowledgeable, and certified biohazard cleanup services.

What Is Biohazard Cleanup?

Biohazard is an umbrella term for biological substances, solutions, liquids, and materials that are harmful or lethal to living organisms. For homeowners, businesses, and commercial property owners around the Dallas-Fort Worth area, biohazards can present serious health and safety challenges.

Biohazards can be found almost anywhere. Commercial property owners should be acutely aware of the necessity to be cautious around biohazard situations. Failure to observe proper handling and removal procedures may lead to personal injury, death, lawsuits, and EPA and OSHA violations. These violations may result in fines, or worse.

Homeowners are not exempt from the danger of biohazards. Asbestos, lead, toxic chemical spills from a previous resident, sewage spills, animal feces or remains, and narcotic residue or paraphernalia are some examples of very toxic situations that people may encounter.

Examples of Biohazards

The decontamination of a home or business due to biohazards can be both dangerous and emotionally traumatic. Specialized training and experience are essential to consider when selecting a company to clean up the biohazard.

Whether a residence, a business, or a commercial property, it is important to know what constitutes a biohazard. Some situations present a threat of injury or death if improperly handled. Other biohazard situations present legal challenges. A competent, certified professional biohazard specialist can identify and rate a biohazard and present solutions that are safe, secure, and meet legal requirements for site management, clean up, and disposal of biohazards.

Examples of biohazards include the following:

• Sewage backups
• Crime scene residues
• Suicide/death accidents
• Homicide cleanups
• Blood cleanup
• Accident cleanup
• Hoarding scenes
• Animal bedding/waste/remains
• Chemical spills
• Vandalism cleanups involving toxic substances
• Tear gas cleanup
• Meth lab cleanup
• Microbiological cleanup
• Lab cleanup: sharps (needles), glass slides, scalpels, etc.

There are different kinds of biohazards. Some of these examples may never present themselves in a home or business. While a home or commercial property may not be exposed to as many biohazards as other places, it is still vulnerable.

Levels of Biohazard

There are four biohazard threat levels:

• Level One: This level includes E. Coli, Bacillus subtilis, and more. The danger level is low, posing only a minimal threat to people, animals, and the environment.
• Level Two: This level includes HIV, Hepatitis B, and Salmonella. Level two biohazards are contracted through contact with any infected materials and can make people extremely ill.
• Level Three: This level includes tuberculosis and other airborne pathogens which expose people to serious illnesses.
• Level Four: This level includes biohazards that pose the highest threat. Diseases they cause, such as the Ebola and Lassa viruses, have no treatments and could be life-threatening. For threats of this severity, it is recommended to contact the nearest EPA office for help. Failure to handle high-level biohazards in a manner that is safe, secure, and according to regulatory guidelines could lead to illness, injury, death, fines, or litigation.

What to Do When a Biohazard Event Occurs

If biohazard exposure occurs or is discovered in the home, business, or commercial property, it needs to be resolved immediately. Most levels need specialty cleaning services. These companies are trained to solve the problem quickly, safely, efficiently, and according to guidelines. SERVPRO of West Fort Worth is a 24/7 company that specializes in cleaning up many levels of biohazard exposure. They comply with health regulations and have the equipment needed for safe clean up, collection, removal, and disposal. They will decontaminate a home, business, or commercial property in the event of trauma, chemical spills, sewage backups, hoarding, and more.

To contact a biohazard cleanup specialist nearby, call SERVPRO of West Fort Worth, Texas, at (817) 560-3086.

Hoarding Tips - Lake Worth

6/19/2018 (Permalink)

Chances are you’ve seen the television show Hoarders. If you haven’t, the basic premise is that a psychologist, a professional organizer, and cleaners go into an individual’s home and help clean up their hoard. When help arrives, the person in question is met with a deadline of some sort, whether it’s eviction, child protective services coming, adult protective services coming, or animal welfare coming and removing their children/themselves/their pets from the home. This show is fascinating to us because we can’t imagine anyone ever living like that. Unfortunately, it’s estimated that at least 2-6 percent of the population is affected by a hoarding disorder. The average age for hoarding is around 50, though it’s suggested that hoarding can appear as early as 11 to 15 years of age.

Hoarding can cause a mess of a problems. Not only does it cause strain on relationships and mental health, it can cause an unhealthy living environment as well. Mold and mildew can become present under piles of things, especially with an unknown water leak. Piles of stuff could topple and seriously injure or even kill the individual(s) living in the home. However, one of the biggest safety concerns relating to hoarding is fire.

The possibility of a fire in a home when hoarding is involved. Cooking becomes unsafe because of items piled high on countertops or on the floor. If the individual in the home uses a heater, the heater could easily fall over and start a fire, or a pest could chew on electrical wiring.

Hoarding also hinders first responders. If exits or doors are blocked, then they can’t get in the home to help the person in need. They won’t be able to move through the home in a swift manner and can even be trapped or injured by falling objects.

When it comes to cleaning out the home, approach the situation with compassion and understanding. While some items in the home maybe trash to you, they could be valued possessions to a hoarder. Hoarding is related oftentimes to obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and anxiety. It can even be genetic.

If family or friends come in to help clear a hoarder’s home, it’s usually met with great distress because often times they don’t get to choose what or what not to keep. If not dealt with in the proper way, within a few months a home could be packed to the brim again.

So, what do you do if your loved one is a hoarder? How do you approach the situation? Here are four tips to get you started on helping your loved one.

1. Seek Professional Help – Try and find a therapist that specializes in hoarding, OCD or anxiety. They will help the individual understand how hoarding is affecting their life and how to develop healthy habits and abilities to combat it. However, make sure they are ready to make these changes. Don’t force them into seeking help if they aren’t ready.
2. Talk About Safety – Stress safety. They maybe more open to change if you express your concern for their wellbeing and safety in a hoarded home.
3. Celebrate the Small Victories – Help the individual by setting small goals. Even if they take five hours to sort through and throw away a box, celebrate it! It’ll help them feel proud of what they’ve accomplished.
4. Hoards Can Have Biohazards – Hoarding situations oftentimes have biohazards such as animal and human waste, or animal remains. You can call SERVPRO of Lake Worth/Benbrook to help handle anything biohazardous.

We are here to help, no matter the emergency. Just give us a call: 817.560.3086.