Hazmat Emergency Response

Hazmat has qualified staff with years of experience in emergency response working alongside councils, project managers, insurers, loss assessors, insurance industry service providers and building controllers/owners.

Services include the assessment of properties affected by natural disasters such as flooding and hail storms, fires and industrial/commercial accidents and vehicle accidents to determine the presence of hazards such as asbestos, hazardous chemicals and mould that may affect access and clean-up. Our team can then manage the ‘make-safe’ works followed by small and large-scale decontamination and clean-up works and finally, provide clearances for re-occupation or further remediation.

In order to ensure that the occupational health impact of unavoidable emergencies or catastrophic events is minimised, all action should take place as soon as possible after the event and the first priority is to stabilise the situation and to prevent further hazard or employee exposure.

Emergencies or catastrophic events may include but not be limited to:

• Explosion;
• Industrial Accident;
• Vehicle accident;
• Failure of construction structures;
• Earthquake;
• Flood; and
• Fire.

Catastrophic events involving buildings and structures can create hazards that must be assessed prior to allowing access to the facility. Access must be restricted to all personnel immediately following clearance by the emergency services until the hazards are identified and the risks to personnel and the facility risks are determined. The hazards will include the damage caused by the catastrophic event and the effect on the structural integrity of the facility as well as the presence of hazardous materials. Hazardous materials associated with the construction and use of a typical building can include but are not limited to asbestos, synthetic mineral fibre (SMF) and polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) materials. Other hazardous substances such as unknown volumes and types of chemicals, gas, fuels may also be present or stored in the facility. Existing services such as electricity, gas and water may also be present and live. Toxic mould can occur following fires and flooding events.

We provide a first response assessment of, in particular, fire, flood and hail damaged structures for the presence of hazards.

The hazards of most concern for exposure of people and the environment are asbestos and hazardous chemicals. Hazmat first undertakes a risk assessment and inspection to determine the presence or absence of asbestos and hazardous chemicals associated with building elements or stored/carted. If confirmed, our experienced consultants can advise those involved in the clean-up works, assist in the management of the removal/remediation, provide air monitoring and issue the final clearance following the removal of all accessible hazardous materials contamination.

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