The Containment phase is the most dangerous and critical of the incident management phases for hazardous material/waste emergencies. It is during this phase that the life and property threat is at its highest. Also, the speed and efficiency of the containment measures taken in this phase determines the extent of the Clean-up and Long-term remediation demands. A weak response during the containment phase translates to a larger and protracted life and property threat, a larger component of environment exposed and more cleanup and long term remediation to be effected and consequently to a larger demand on resources and considerably higher cost.

Civil emergency services are responsible for the containment and threat neutralisation of chemical emergencies. EnviroServ’s Hazmat Services unit offers resources and support to emergency services during this critical phase of emergency management.

 

These services include:

The cleanup phase is in essence gross product removal from the exposed areas. During this phase the threat to life and property should be greatly reduced, provided product removal is rapidly effected.

 

Cleanup procedures may include vacuum or pumping of loose products, repacking of compromised vessels, manual collection of contaminated materials, product skimming from water bodies, utilisation of earthmoving plant to collect contaminated soil or large vacuum or pump plant to move sludge’s and liquids. Activities can also include supplementary containment, gross in-situ chemical treatment before collection, demolition and in-situ decontamination.

 

The transport of product and contaminated materials is effected by means of vacuum tankers, tippers, skip-loaders and conventional bulk material transport.

Services offered:

The above services are offered “cradle-to-grave”, i.e. EnviroServ will perform all activities associated with the product’s lifecycle from the moment of taking responsibility for a spill clean-up onwards. Responsibilities include collection, transport and safe disposal.

This phase is characterised by the fact that very little free contaminant is apparent, i.e. the pollutant has integrated into an environmental medium like soil, water, plant material or the atmosphere, typically at very low product-to-medium ratios.

Operational activities are focussed on the micro removal of the product from the medium. The solution is generally an in-situ procedure, for example “pump-and-treat” systems, soil-air extraction and volatilization systems or bio-remediation. 

 Environmental remediation services offered: