You could contact BICS - they may have a publication for that.

From my perspective, that seems unlikely -think positive though!

We have teams working in house clearances, often involving drug users or people with other conditions which might impact on cleaning their premises.

Before arriving we'll seek info on expected hazards, availability of power / lighting / water etc and any security arrangements. We'll check whether the property's been fumigated, or if it's likely to need so. Our cleaners doing this kind of work have some (basic) training in identifying dodgy meter modifications and will check this before starting any work.

If needles are known to be likely, we'll sweep the property before any other cleaning, removing refuse, foodstuffs, clothing, etc in the process.

There's processes for dealing with human & animal waste, heavy or awkward items, unexpected intruders, managing on-street skips which may contain hazardous waste, work at height, hygiene, chemicals, and other issues - you get the picture. Cleaners may need to work in awkward spaces to complete the task - kneepads are essential, but so is a completely clear understanding of what you and the client expect (eg, if kickboards underneath kitchen units show signs of tampering, we'll remove them and sweep for needles, etc but we won't if they don't - same with bath panels. Obviously different clients may agree different scopes.)

Dealing with needles is a time multiplier, but equally one needle-free property may be chock full of filth compared to another.

David
I strongly advise you to consider creating the wheel yourself as all the info then becomes yours and it should fit your circumstances - having a guide will help but thats all it will do as its not yours

Having undertaken such exercises myself I would argue that one [1] hour would be all it takes in most situations to complete an adequate MHSW risk assessment, undertake the safety task talk and that includes working with the staff concerned

David

Here are several aspects to add to gramsay's advice based on experience and information gained during my previous employment:

1. Not all needles discarded by drug users are left lying loose. Some are deliberately placed, e.g. with the aid of chewing gum, so that their sharp ends protrude and can cause injury to others, especially if located where they are not readily visible. This doesn't just occur in dwellings and derelict buildings; I've seen reports of instances where used needles have been placed as 'booby traps' on children's play equipment in parks and at schools. Therefore, in areas where such locations are known or suspected to be used by drug dealers/users outside normal houres, it's appropriate for such equipment to be visually checked for needles by staff early each morning. Though some people may think this information is derogatory to drug users, there's no escaping the fact that some of them are malevolent and evidently have no qualms about placing needles with intent to harm others.

2. In properties with chronic rainwater penetration and/or significant deposits of organic waste, e.g. food, pigeon poo (alias guano) there's a risk that wooden floorboards have become weakened through rot. This was the case with parts of the ground floor of the pigeon infested house I visited some years ago while shadowing hygiene action employees from a local authority engaged in clearing the house. (as mentioned in the 'yucky jobs' thread earlier this year) Though I thought at the time that the circumstances of the 'pigeon house' were quite unique, it's become evident from TV documentaries I've seen that they are not especially rare.

3. In premises with old wiring installations, say pre-WW2, and rotten floorboards there may be also be a risk of electric shock or electrocution through inadvertent contact with live wires because the rubber insulation for cables has become perished and brittle and readily falls off. I've also heard/read about cable insulation being damaged through being gnawed by rodents, e.g. squirrels when they infest loft spaces. Rodents need to regularly gnaw things in order to abrade their teeth. If they can't do this, their teeth become too long and eventually kill them through puncturing the roofs of their mouths - a charming scenario! Also, I guess that some rodents die through electrocution while gnawing mains voltage cables.

4. Have just thought of another scenario while writing about squirrels: They can also gnaw roof timbers and weaken them. In some cases the weakening over time is considerable and can result in roof collapses. Also, they can cause fires through chewing cables, and floods through chewing water pipes, presumably plastic ones.

It's pertinent to add that the villains in the above scenarios are grey squirrels, nasty aliens which have become established throughout most of the UK. They might look cute and cuddly but have been the main factor in driving the native red squirrel to the edge of extinction. In addition to causing damage inside properties they ransack bird nests by eating eggs and young chicks, they harm native trees by eating bark and compete for food with native endangered creatures such as the dormouse!

As those involved with pest control work will know, grey squirrels which are caught live in traps must be killed (by a humane method) and should not be released into the wild. According to an internet source this is because. grey squirrels are listed on Schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. This Act makes it an offence for animals on that list to be released or allowed to escape into the wild. Also, an Order made under the Destructive Imported Animals Act 1932 forbids the keeping or importing of grey squirrels into the UK except under licence.

Grey squirrels are nasty creatures. My loathing of them stems in part from being bitten by one many years ago when I was a student. The circumstances began when I was mystified to discover that some of my books in my room in the top of a large old house had nibbled edges. The mystery was solved a few days later when I saw a squirrel dart behind a cupboard as I entered the room. I tried to coax it to move from behind the cupboard using my long-handled ice axe. The squirrel promptly interpreted this action as hostile because it lunged at my axe-wielding hand and bit the index finger. As squirrels have long razor-sharp front teeth, the bite could be described as akin to having 2 red hot needles inserted into my finger from opposing directions. The bite led to sharp another insertion, a tetanus jab as a precautionary measure at the student health centre.

It transpired that the squirrel, a juvenile one, was entering my room down a chimney and through an elderly gas fire. Therefore, leaving the gas fire running was found to be effective as a temporary exclusion method until crumpled chicken wire could be fitted behind the gas fire elements as a more permanent method.

To summarise, the lessons for work and home situations from the above experience are that squirrels and no doubt other rodents i) cause damage, ii) can be vicious, especially if they think they are cornered, and iii) may carry disease.

p.s. I quite like red squirrels - cute with tufty ears and nice fur colouring, provided of course that they don't invade and damage property! :-)

Blonde Bandit - Glad to know I managed to do something useful yesterday even though I didn't expect it. Also, while phrasing my description of the squirrel encounter, I was thinking of a report of a case regarding compensation claimed by a man who suffered injury from overhead machinery while climbing up to try and catch a pigeon in a factory. As the claimant had apparently been trying to catch and kill the pigeon for food, the judge commented, among other things, that the claimant's actions regarding the pigeon were not out of benevolence towards it! When I first saw the report in a university library I struggled to restrain myself from having a laugh out loud (LOL) when I came across the judge’s comment! Though the case is fairly well-known in OS&H circles I couldn’t remember its full name, so I’ve just checked and found that it was Uddin -v- Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers Ltd (Court of Appeal 1965).

Also, after mentioning yesterday the fact that it’s illegal to release captured grey squirrels into the wild, I thought of the scene from “Fawlty Towers” where Basil Fawlty discovers that Manuel has a pet rat (sold to him as a ‘Filigree Siberian Hamster’). Basil was anxious to get the rat out of the hotel and set it free because he feared closure of the hotel during an impending check visit by an inspector who had earlier found numerous shortcomings. These included ‘two dead pigeons in the water tank’. If the type of rat involved was on the same list as grey squirrels and had been set free (with a possible risk of being “mugged by a gang of field mice”), presumably Basil would have broken the law!

David Bannister - My apologies regarding my digressions above from the main theme of your thread. However, at least they help to keep the thread on forum page 1 where it might attract further responses of a more useful nature.

Also, in the absence of any disclaimer for this forum, I’ve better also apologise to IOSH just in case any of my responses above have the effect of tarnishing its reputation! :-)

Ah Bilbo, one sympathises with the hooligan in your loft. My ‘close encounter’ was more from a Beatrix Potter book. The squirrel used to come and tap on the window, I’d open it and pass it a nut and it would disappear up the tree (or if you’re in the Littleborough area, perhaps it went straight over to your house)!

(Apologies to David for hi-jacking his thread with squirrels and nuts)