Recent General Posts

Prioritizing Fire Safety With Your Employees | SERVPRO® of Southern Washington County

3/27/2023 (Permalink)

img src =”extinguisher” alt = "two fire extinguisher hanging on a tan interior wall  ” > Dealing with the aftermath of a commercial fire? SERVPRO of Southern Washington County is your local restoration expert.

Disasters can occur at any point, and if you aren’t prepared to react quickly, it can be disastrous to you and your business. When it comes to fires, this is especially true!

If you and your employees are not trained properly on how to react to fire, it can leave you with widespread damages and can be dangerous to your staff.

No matter where your business is located, Fire can break out in any place at any time, so teaching your employees about fire safety and the importance of fire extinguishers is crucial.

Check out our tips on how to introduce fire safety below so you can create and implement your own plan with your crew.

Start Fresh

According to OSHA guidelines, all businesses that have a fire extinguisher on property are required to provide training on it to their employees. This includes training on how to use it, when to use it and how to tell the difference between types of extinguishers.

One of the best ways to do this is to encourage hands-on learning. Get out your fire extinguisher and let your employees practice putting out a fake fire. Teach how to aim, pull the pin and how to sweep over the flames. It is also important to enforce a six to eight foot distance between your employees and the fire.

A helpful way to get your employees to remember the steps is to introduce the acronym PASS. This can help your employees remember the steps can help stop a fire in its tracks, which in turn reduces the risk of widespread damage.

Introducing these concepts as you hire new employees is crucial, but don’t forget about your veteran employees! This training should be done annually for all members of your staff.

In addition, it is important to have a few trusted team members hold responsibilities for when a fire starts. Someone should be chosen to call 911, someone to fight the fire and someone to help usher out anyone in the building.

Prioritizing Safety

No matter what kind of business you run, the risk of fire is always present. Teach your employees the different kinds of fire situations they could be exposed to, ranging from a simple kitchen fire to a chemical fire. Ensure that your employees understand when to stop and seek safety as well.

Their safety should always be your top priority, so encourage your employees to make the right safety decisions during an emergency situation. Fires can get out of hand quickly, so it is OK to back away and head for the exit whenever your employees are not comfortable or don’t feel safe.

Protect your employees by giving them the knowledge they need to react appropriately in the face of a fire emergency. Check your fire extinguishers’ expiration dates, review training accordingly and be ready for anything that comes your way!

Dealing with the aftermath of a commercial fire? Our SERVPRO Specialists can restore your losses and return your workplace to its pre-fire condition.

Addressing Odor Problems in Your Home | SERVPRO® of Southern Washington county

1/3/2023 (Permalink)

< img src =”cleaning.jpg” alt = "a SERVPRO crew setting up machines to clean a kitchen " > If you experience an odor or any other damage inside your home, call SERVPRO of Pewaukee & Sussex day or night.

No job is too big for our highly trained restoration technicians, and that includes tackling any odor problems that you have in your home. Recovering from damages after a disaster can be frustrating enough without having to worry about any lingering issues like odor. That’s where we come in!

Every kind of home damage has the ability to cause lingering odors, from water damage to soot left behind from a fire.

Thankfully, we know how to successfully remove any odor from any surface! Check out our odor removal process below to learn more.

Odor Removal Methods

Each odor is different and comes with different cleanup challenges, so we follow our step-by-step procedure to ensure that we fully understand your specific situation. We can tackle airborne chemicals, gasses or tiny particles in the air.

Some of our removal agents are:

Masking agents. This is a method we can use to help make your home more pleasant to live in while we work on preparing a more in-depth method. Masking agents can be a good first step!

Filtration agents. Our absorption agents work on pulling the odor out of the carpet, floors and furniture. They can also suck the odor right out of the tiny particles in the air.

Disinfectants and sanitizers. A simple cleaning won’t always be effective, so we make sure to completely sanitize the area to prevent any fungus or bacteria from growing back.

Our Four Step Removal Process

When you call us to remove an odor in your home, here’s how it will go:

1. Remove the source. We jump into action to remove the source of the smell. If the cause is unknown, we work hard to identify it right away and remove it, along with anything else that was compromised near it.

2. Clean residue from surfaces. A thorough cleaning comes next! This ensures that every odor particle has been removed and every surface has been sanitized.

3. Recreate the odor-causing conditions. This is a special step that gives us the reassurance that we got everything out. A deodorizer is employed to recreate the environment where the odor originally occurred. For example, if smoke was your issue, we will use “deodorizing smoke.”

4. Seal exposed surfaces. If the odor is proving to be troublesome or isn’t responding to our initial efforts, we can seal off the affected area while we reassess and work on implementing other odor removal methods.

No matter what is causing your odor, we can get rid of it! Your SERVPRO of Southern Washington County team is here for you and your family day or night.

If you experience an odor or other damage inside your home or business, call us at any time, 247. We have the training and equipment to quickly get your property back in operation.