Posted By Paul Patrick Gildernew I am finalising a safety method statement for a demolition job, part of which will require the removal of pigeon droppings from the first floor of a derelict building. The HSENI advised that full PPE- disposable overalls, gloves,glases, boots and disposable FFP 3 grade respirators should be worn. I felt this was a bit ott however i had not been involved in this actvity before so was going to follow this advice,. However last night I watched an old episode of life of grime on sky. In the episode a council employee ( from a london borough)was removing pigeon droppings from a flat 7 or 8 storeis up. He was not wearing any ppe apart from wellies, he just scrapped the droppings up using a garden hoe or similar and was put them into the drain of the flat and washed the area down with water. The employee did this activity on a regular basis apparently. Can someone advise why our staff cannot follow this method of work to remove the droppings, whcih are not present in large amounts estimated 10 kilos spread over a timber floorboards covered with old carpet.

Posted By Lynne Ratcliffe http://www.state.nj.us/h.../eoh/peoshweb/pigeon.pdf also see earlier thread of August 05 on same subject. Bird droppings are nasty (not technical but true!)full PPE should be worn as advised by HELA and HSE see also RR006 on chronic health problems caused by exposure to biological agents.

Posted By Paul Patrick Gildernew Thanks for all the advice I did fully intend to issue all the PPE I mentioned earlier including the FFP 3 grade resp. I was fully aware of what I witnessed on TV was poor practice that's why I mentioned it.

Posted By TBC What the Local Councils do and what the Local (their) EHOs advise are often worlds apart anyway. Your doing it the correct way - well done.