Waste Management: Cleaning Up Disasters Without Touching

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Last New Year's Eve, a private plane crashed into a Charlotte, North Carolina neighborhood and killed all four passengers. Debris, including body parts, was scattered over several houses, which had to be collected and removed as quickly as possible.

“We've cleaned up after all kinds of accidents and disasters,” says Jeff Darr, president of Charlotte-based Crime Scene Services Inc., a company that specializes in crime scene cleanup and was called in to clean the area, “but, this was certainly one of the largest and most gruesome.”

According to Darr, the first thing he and his crew did was clean-up and remove obvious biohazards from the scene.

“Federal regulations deem all bodily fluids as biohazards,” says Darr. “It's considered a serious health threat and potential source of infection.”
To begin the process, the cleaners assess the scene and the crash damage. Then, they must determine what tools and gear are needed to return the site to the pre-incident condition.

“We wear protective clothing, of course,” says Darr. “As [for] tools, we no longer use buckets, mops, and cleaning clothes. We've replaced them all with the No-Touch Cleaning system developed by Kaivac Inc.”

With the no-touch system, Green and conventional detergents and disinfectants are applied to walls, floors and other surfaces and then power rinsed-blasted clean-with water. A final step is vacuuming up the residue to completely remove contaminants from the area.

“Without question, this is the most effective way to clean-up disasters and crime scenes,” Darr says. “I simply could not imagine returning to mops and buckets, now that I have cleaned the no-touch way.”