You can almost always guarantee that an emergency situation will fall outside normal business hours.
This is a fact of nature that we are well aware of and for this reason, the team at Industrial Cleaning Specialists operate on a 24 hour basis, ensuring we are on board when you need us most.
For a valued client this ‘open all hours’ access came into play early one week day morning.
We received the call that a container truck had reversed down an access way with its hydraulic arms extended. The result of this extra wide load was serious damage to the iron sheeting of the exterior of a raw material storage warehouse, leaving it open to the elements and exposed for birds, insects and rodents to enter.
Not a good situation to be in when you are a cereal manufacturing company.
A Industrial Cleaning Specialists representative was dispatched and on site within 35 minutes of the call (that’s a quick response time, even by the highest standards).
Once onsite, an overview of the damaged area revealed exposed and hanging live wires, in contact with the steel frame of the building. The now slightly stressed client was made aware of this serious hazard immediately. A quick phone call had an electrician on site to isolate the energy source and make the damaged area safe for work and repair.
Six full sheets on two walls of the exterior of the building had been torn open by the wayward, wide extended truck. Basically peeling it open like a soft drink can – and now this new opening beckoned nearby birds with a keen sense of curiosity. They had begun to gather on the neighbouring rooftop, checking out the newly opened and exposed site which indicated yet another issue of concern, bird infestation.
A fast succession of phone calls had the right team members and the right suppliers in place in no time at all and a firm plan was put into effect:
- A call to our head office had our Health and Safety documents prepared and emailed to the client
- Access equipment was sourced
- A team member was dispatched to collect temporary iron sheeting to seal the opening in the building. A sample of the old sheeting was taken with them to be manufactured and colour matched for permanent repairs at the earliest convenience.
By now it was just after 9 am.
- Safety barriers and an exclusion zone were set up next to the damaged area to ensure the safety of our team and the clients workers/visitors during the repair process
- A corridor was left for the fork hoists to use to eliminate the least production disruption as possible
- A knuckle boom was delivered almost immediately after the barrier was put in place, and after reviewing our safety plan at a tool box meeting, the old iron began to be removed and safely stored out of the way of pedestrian and vehicle traffic.
The team had the old iron removed by lunch time.
By this stage, the temporary sheeting and fixing screws had been sourced and brought to site.
Installation of the temporary repair began and well before the end of the day, the team had fully sealed the hole in the building.
Site clean-up and checks were then carried out, making sure no tech screws or torn pieces of iron remained to give any nasty surprises at a later time.
Nearing 5pm, after having our client view the repair with us and discussions of when a permanent repair could be made, the work area was disestablished, permits were closed off and our team headed back to the office, with the satisfaction a job well done, firmly under their belts.
It is of great credit to our highly skilled staff that the repair, from planning to completion was carried out in a fast and safe manner, with no loss of production.
If you ever find yourself in a similar situation and need a rapid and well thought through response to any situation, give our team a call.
Whether it is 6am or 6pm our team are prepared, focused and capable of pulling together an emergency response to your business needs.
