Friday, June 1, 2007

Cleaning after a violent explosion - An Observation

The first thing to remember when cleaning after a violent explosion is to double the cleaning perimeter once it is established. Too often something turns up. The coroner's employees are going to miss matter, and they are not going to leave yellow sticky notes for everything that they remove. So count on cleaning and disinfecting way out there following a violent explosion.

Of course, the human remains and cleaning needs will depend upon the number of victims and their proximity to the explosion. Usually, at least one victim will be standing near-by the exploding object because they set if off, usually unknowingly.

If shrapnel is involved the debris field will have a more highly dispersed bio-load. Without shrapnel, say an exploding natural gas tank, expect the debris field to contain fewer cleaning areas, and larger object cleaning areas. If outdoors, expect insect life, especially ants.

Eddie Evans

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