A Crushing Experience Leads to Trauma Cleanup
It was the end of a big game as fans flooded the stairs and escalators leading down to the parking decks and lots. Overloaded with rowdy college students, young families with sleepy little ones, and old timers holding the railing to keep balance, the escalator suddenly halted and jerked, reversed direction, and then returned to a downward motion tripling in speed. Men, women, and children screamed as they were forced to topple on each other at the base of the escalator, crushing and trampling one another.
I was able to maintain my balance because of the people packed around me, and my plan was to hand my son off to a bystander as I quickly approached the bottom of the escalator. But when we got close to the bottom, the stairs crumbled and I fell between the floor plates of the base of the escalator. A young man tore my son from my arms as I fell, and then I felt this excruciating crushing on my lower legs. I honestly don’t know that my 2-year-old would have survived if that good Samaritan hadn’t risked his own safety to rescue my son from the exposed grinding parts of the escalator.
Ana’s injuries were among the most severe. She and seven others were transported to local hospitals while many others were treated at the trauma scene for abrasions and contusions. After a series of surgeries and law suits, the company that performed regular maintenance on the escalator settled with the eight injured victims and their families, three of whom lost fingers and limbs in the traumatic escalator mishap.
Who Cleans Up After a Trauma?
There is a common misconception that the police or first responders cleanup after a trauma, accident, or crime, but in reality the responsibility of cleanup falls on the property owner alone. Often when a victim’s family or property owner takes on the cleanup, not only is the cleanup and decontamination incomplete, the biohazard disposal is also handled improperly and even illegally. This presents significant danger to others due to the potential for bloodborne bacteria and viruses that can easily be transmitted simply through physical contact with even microscopic amounts of blood or body fluid.
The responsible and sure way to clean up after a trauma is to contact a reputable, experienced team of biohazard certified cleanup professionals. First responders recommended our team of our technicians at Advanced Bio Treatment to complete the cleanup of the grisly escalator scene and the blood and biohazards left behind. Because limbs had been pulled through the gears and moving parts of the escalator, a great deal of the escalator had to be disassembled in order to remove the entangled flesh and blood that had seeped deep within the machinery.
Advanced Bio Treatment technicians are highly trained and strictly adhere to government and industry standards to ensure that risk of exposure to and transmission of viruses and bacteria is eliminated. Hepatitis B, hepatitis C, Ebola, Zika virus, and HIV, are just a few of the many dangerous bloodborne pathogens that are destroyed by with Advanced Bio Treatment’s specialized methods and chemicals.
Advanced Bio Treatment is proud of the relationships formed with businesses and families in New Jersey and all across the United States. We offer crime scene cleanup, death cleanup, trauma cleanup, as well as murder and suicide cleanup. We are here to help you recover from the unexpected tragedies that we must all sometimes face. Call us and speak with one of our highly trained representatives any time of day, any day of the year at 1-800-295-1684.
Posted in Accident and Trauma Scene Cleanup, Biohazard Cleanup, Blood Cleanup, Business & Commercial Property Cleanup
