[Cleaning Resource]

Hi all,

  I have just started a contract for the council, cleaning the stairwells of their multi story carparks, we did the first one the other night. did everything properly all the safety gear and what ave u, then the next day when I went to meet the council fella I saw a small bit of crap we had left on the floor at the bottom of one of the stairwells and picked it up, PRICK.

I thought I would take the opportunity to remind everyone how important it is that if you do this type of work you are, a. vaccinated against hepatitis
                                                      b. taking the necessary precautions

The doc has said I should be fine as I was vaccinated a couple of years ago against hepetitis, and hiv requires more fluid transfer and the hiv virus can not survive outside of the human body for long periods but its still a bit of a worry
and I won`t get the all clear for 6 months.   

If anyone does prick them selves it`s important that you squeeze as much blood as you can out of the puncture hole, then get up the hospital quicksmart for some nasty jabs that give you headaches and make you throw up, take the needle with you as they can test it to see if it is infected with anything.

Remember a moments lapse is all it takes, as I have found out :

[pro-clean]

sorry to hear it, we've been carrying out this type of work for 20 years, about 4 years ago after spending almost 2 weeks of cleaning and clearing a booby trapped property of needles, furnishing, clothing, digging up a garden and replacing soil and turf i returned on me own to the property on a friday morning just to double search it and pick up a couple of bags of waste that we hadn't put in the van the night before, I was putting the last bag in the van (take into account when we carry out this type of work every item form the property is checked prior to disposal including all pockets of clothing, soft furnishing etc and up until this point and since to this day we have a 100% record of non call back) when i felt the inevitable even more worrying was we were on a speech with a drug agency just a few days before, their client who occupied this property was a know HIV carrier and out of almost 2000 needles removed from the property around about 80% of them had the needle tips removed cos they were no longer able to inject into their body so he would stick it up his backside which is common, although they are introducing different needles now.

Frightening experience change my attitude to the way we work, I never rush a job, never pre price a job and if it's safer to take a wall down at great expense to the client i'd rather do that than put myself and my staff at risk.

As for HIV not living outside the body, it can live outside the body in both dry and wet form, a little proceed that i went through at home when i got caught, protected sex despite i've been married for years, no sharing of razors, towels, cups, cutlery etc a little extreme but worth thinking about in this type of work.

Good luck 

[Bertie Boo]

Hi

Why wouldnt you share towels, cups, and cutlery ?

Stephen

[Lizzy]

Gleam, I had a very similar contract with my local Council.   Money was FABULOUS but the risks involved were too high a price for me.  I eventually knocked it on the head.
I cleaned communal blocks in Council estates that were inhabited by drug dealers & druggies.    The druggies would visit the dealers and inject as they were leaving.   Needles, broken cans (used to liquify the powder), etc were daily occurances.
As it was a team of 2 girls, we also got alot of hassle of the blokes there.   One stole my Van keys.  I had to pin the little blighter up against my door & make him remove them from his pocket.  I certainly wasnt going to put my hand in a druggies pocket......would have walked home first.  They constantly pestered us for fAgs, money, etc.
I had a very close shave once but never actually got stabbed by a needle.  That was enough for me.  My life is more important than money!
Thats the biggest reason I got rid of the contract & business.

[pro-clean]

Hi

Why wouldnt you share towels, cups, and cutlery ?

Stephen

Hi ya Stephen

Cross contamination, Towels especially after shaving, cups and cutlery not that i rarely ever do get them but chapped lips, ulcers, cuts through sport etc simular sort of thing when the children were growing up we carry out Xtreme cleaning despite having PPE on when working when returning home from work we would have to clean up before we could cuddle our children not easy at the time trying to explain to 3 small children, just precautions worth thinking about 

[parisjames]

hi

after reading your story it makes realise that this business isnot gonna be easier at all.
Thou like in all businesses u have to very precotios and careful/

 :

Paris

[Bertie Boo]

..............what made you think cleaning WOULD be easy....?

cheers

stephen

[parisjames]

well.. i still enjoy it ...its very competitive tho...

 

[nice-n-white.co.uk]

Good lesson,
vaccinations are imperative ,not read all the replies but heavy gloves should be a part of your arsenal ,at least until you're in your van.

[BDCS]

Where did you dig this up from - its over five years old. If you rely on a hep b jab and your needle gloves you need to examine your rams because your doing things wrong. Was that old git from Wolverhampton your trainer ?

[Katy Radcliffe]

Hi all,

  I have just started a contract for the council, cleaning the stairwells of their multi story carparks, we did the first one the other night. did everything properly all the safety gear and what ave u, then the next day when I went to meet the council fella I saw a small bit of crap we had left on the floor at the bottom of one of the stairwells and picked it up, PRICK.

I thought I would take the opportunity to remind everyone how important it is that if you do this type of work you are, a. vaccinated against hepatitis
                                                      b. taking the necessary precautions

The doc has said I should be fine as I was vaccinated a couple of years ago against hepetitis, and hiv requires more fluid transfer and the hiv virus can not survive outside of the human body for long periods but its still a bit of a worry
and I won`t get the all clear for 6 months.   

If anyone does prick them selves it`s important that you squeeze as much blood as you can out of the puncture hole, then get up the hospital quicksmart for some nasty jabs that give you headaches and make you throw up, take the needle with you as they can test it to see if it is infected with anything.

Remember a moments lapse is all it takes, as I have found out :

I'm not trying to frighten you but...

there is no vaccination for Hepatitis C. I'm not sure how long it can live on a needle, but it's more hardy than HIV.

You will need to be tested for Hep C in a few weeks (it needs time to multiply and then make antibodies which will be detected.) Please don't despair: caught early, it's extremely curable with a treatment (fairly treatable if you've had it a long time.) But, do get it checked.

I know a lot about Hep C and please feel free to PM me/email me if you have any concerns.

[Katy Radcliffe]

Oh. Just noticed that this was a very old thread. Sorry.

Still, hope my info is of use to someone who may read it.

[Richard60]

thanks katy