Hoarding Cleanup and Dirty Needles
Hoarding cleanup can be tough. But what happens if you discover that the environment you are working in has dirty, used, uncapped needles? The job becomes much more difficult and is now considered a biohazard cleanup. If you are an employee, you must complete several educational classes before you engage in biohazard cleanup, including Bloodborne Pathogen Training, offered Hepatitus A or Hep B vaccinations, and wear proper protective equipment. If you are helping a friend or family member, you should still be familiar with the basics, or hire a professional biohazard remediation company.
If you are aware of the needles before you start, you should get a sharps container. You can generally find these containers at most drug stores. Get a container large enough to hold all of the needles safely, or purchase more than one container. You should also get an extendable grabber, so as not to come in contact with the needles. This will be a slow and tedious process, so you should plan your time accordingly and do not rush the process. Use the extendable grabber to pick up trash and place the trash into a 45 – 55 gallon trash bag. Once the bag is 75% full, tie the bag carefully and remove the bag from the area, preferably outside. Once a majority of the trash is addressed, you can begin to collect the needles.
Next, address the needles. Uncapped needles are generally the most dangerous part of a hoarding cleanup. Even if the needles are capped, you should be extremely cautious when dealing with them. Under no circumstance should you attempt to re-cap an uncapped needle, as this can be dangerous and unnecessary. If possible, use the extendable grabber to pick up one needle at a time and place it into a sharps container. Do not reach into the container or attempt to touch the needles. Puncture-resistant gloves are difficult to find and tough to work in, but if you can find them, they will give you much more protection than general work gloves. Once the sharps container is sufficiently full, put it to the side and use an additional sharp container. Continue this process until all of the needles are inside the containers. If you find caps without the needles, it is not necessary to place these caps in the sharps containers.
Biohazard education isn’t easy to locate, but there are some courses available. For more information on locating and advanced biohazard remediation company specializing in hoarding cleanup, visit ABRA at https://www.americanbiorecovery.org/. Basic house cleaning companies and office cleaning companies generally do not have sufficient training to complete this type of work. If uncapped needles are found during an estate cleanup, an experienced estate cleanup company may be able to assist. If a pest infestation accompanies the hoarded environment, a professional pest control company should be able to help and companies that perform bed bug pre-cleanings may be able to assist. For additional information on advanced biohazard remediation company specializing in hoarding cleanup in Columbia, South Carolina, visit https://www.palmettocommercialservices.com.
