Emergency Hazardous Melbourne

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Client: Mayfield Owners Corporation Management
Industry: Strata and owners corporation management
Location: 191 Johnston Street, Fitzroy, Victoria
Regular service: Ongoing fortnightly common area cleaning
This project: Emergency hazardous waste remediation and car park restoration

Mayfield Owners Corporation Management is an established ACS client. We provide ongoing fortnightly cleaning across the Johnston Street building, covering common areas, stairwells, the entrance and the basement car park.

In this instance the call had nothing to do with the regular schedule. The client contacted us with an urgent health and safety problem in the rear car park that had escalated beyond anything a fortnightly clean could address, and which needed resolving before the building could be safely used.

ACS mobilised a specialist team within 24 hours.

THE SITUATION

The rear car park had been occupied by rough sleepers over a period of time, and the area had become heavily contaminated as a result.

The team arrived to find large volumes of accumulated rubbish, rotting food waste, human waste and urine across the concrete, and approximately 200 discarded needles distributed through the space.

The contamination had reached the point where it was no longer contained to the car park. Odours were travelling up the stairwell and into the office building above, which meant residents, tenants and visitors were being affected by a problem two levels below them.

For the owners corporation this was a genuine health and safety exposure rather than a presentation issue. Discarded sharps in a shared car park create a needlestick risk for anyone entering the space, including residents, contractors and any cleaner sent in without the right equipment and protocols. Human waste and decomposing organic matter create a biological hazard. And an odour problem carrying into occupied floors of the building affects every tenant.

It also created a practical problem. This was not work a general cleaner could safely take on, and sourcing separate contractors for sharps recovery, hazardous waste disposal, pressure washing and sanitisation would have taken days the client did not have.

Contaminated car park before deep cleaning

Graffiti covered car park before cleaning

WHAT ACS NEEDED TO ACHIEVE

Remove the hazard safely, without exposing our own staff, the residents or any contractor to unnecessary risk.
Recover and dispose of approximately 200 sharps under appropriate handling and disposal procedures.
Remove all contaminated waste and organic matter from the site.
Eliminate the odours affecting the stairwell and the office building above, rather than masking them.
Restore the concrete surfaces to a genuinely sanitised condition suitable for normal use.
Complete all of it fast enough that the building was not left unusable, and manage the entire process so the client made one phone call rather than five.

ACS'S APPROACH

ACS mobilised a specialist team to site within 24 hours of the client’s call.

Before any physical work began, the team assessed the extent of the contamination and the specific hazards present. Sharps recovery, biological waste and confined basement ventilation each carry their own risk profile, and the sequence of work matters. Staff were equipped with appropriate PPE for hazardous waste handling and the work was carried out under our ISO 45001 certified safety management system.

Approximately 200 discarded needles were located, collected and contained using appropriate sharps handling procedures and rigid puncture resistant containers, then disposed of through the correct waste stream. This was completed methodically across the full area rather than opportunistically, because a missed needle in a car park is the entire point of the exercise.

All rubbish, rotting food waste, contaminated material and organic matter was removed from the site and disposed of appropriately.

All concrete surfaces were sanitised to eliminate residual biological contamination and neutralise the source of the odours rather than covering them. Odour that has penetrated porous concrete returns within days if the surface is only cleaned rather than treated.

Throughout, ACS managed the entire process. The client did not coordinate a sharps contractor, a waste contractor and a pressure washing contractor separately. They made one call and we handled the rest.

SERVICES PROVIDED

Emergency response

Hazardous waste removal
Sharps recovery, containment and disposal
Contaminated and organic waste removal
High pressure cleaning of the full car park
Deep scrubbing of affected areas
Full sanitisation of concrete surfaces
Odour elimination

Ongoing contract

Fortnightly common area cleaning
Stairwell and entrance cleaning
Basement car park cleaning

THE RESULT

The car park was fully restored to a clean, hygienic and safe condition.

All hazardous material was removed, the sharps were recovered and disposed of correctly, and the odours affecting the stairwell and office building above were eliminated at the source. The area was returned to normal use for residents and tenants.

The client was extremely pleased with both the speed of the response and the standard of the outcome. ACS continues to provide ongoing cleaning services for the building.

The turnaround matters here as much as the work itself. A contaminated basement car park in an occupied building is not a problem that improves while quotes are being compared. Twenty four hours from phone call to specialist team on site is the difference between a resolved incident and an escalating one.

WHAT THIS DEMONSTRATES

This project shows what an ongoing cleaning relationship is actually worth when something goes wrong.

Mayfield did not have to research emergency remediation contractors, obtain multiple quotes, verify insurance and safety credentials, and coordinate three separate providers into the same basement. They called their cleaning company, because they already knew who we were and how we work.

We took responsibility for the whole problem. Assessment, sharps recovery, hazardous waste, pressure washing, sanitisation and odour elimination, all coordinated by one accountable provider and completed within 24 hours of the call.

That is the difference between a contractor who performs scheduled tasks and a cleaning partner who owns the outcome. Routine cleaning is what we do most weeks. This is what we do when a client needs considerably more than routine.

FACING AN URGENT CONTAMINATION OR HAZARDOUS CLEANING ISSUE?

If your building, car park or common property has a contamination, hazardous waste or biohazard problem, ACS can assess the site and mobilise a specialist team.

We handle sharps recovery, hazardous and contaminated waste removal, high pressure cleaning, deep scrubbing and full sanitisation, with directly employed staff working under an ISO 45001 certified safety system and full insurance cover.

Call (03) 9114 9778 for urgent response, or request a free onsite assessment for ongoing strata and common area cleaning.

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