A Meth Lab in Your Complex?
Guest Blog: Lee Surgener, President, Ohio Biohazardous Recovery
The laundry list of poisons used to make street-grade methamphetamine (including acetone, methanol, ammonia, benzene, iodine and hydrochloric acid) leaves a toxic residue that coats and infuses every surface and stays in the air. Most of these poisonous substances are absorbed through the skin, making a meth lab one of the most dangerous places a person can walk into. Exposure to a meth lab can cause reproductive disorders, birth defects, blindness, lung damage, liver damage and kidney damage, and that’s just for starters. The scene remains toxic indefinitely unless it’s properly cleaned — an apartment that housed a meth lab can make its tenants sick a decade after the lab has been removed.
Proper clean-up of a meth lab involves disposing of everything porous and everything that can’t be submerged in detoxification chemicals (several times). Crime-scene cleaners get rid of all furniture, cabinetry, light fixtures, carpeting and electronics … basically everything that isn’t part of the structure. And in the worst cases, they also dispose of most of the structure — they sometimes have to pull up all of the flooring and gut the walls, removing all of the drywall until nothing remains but studs.
Regardless of the type of scene, the final step in any clean-up is disposing of the evidence (unless the owners of the apartment or house have contracted the cleaners to do restoration work as well). This is actually a more complicated task than it may seem. You can’t put hazardous or bio hazardous waste in regular trash dump. Crime-scene cleaners need a special permit to transport it.
To dispose of it, in the case of the blood and gore they have to pay (typically by the pound) to burn it in a medical-waste incinerator. Some incinerators have minimum amounts they’ll burn, so the cleaning company might have to pay to store the refuse in a sealed, refrigerated area until they’ve collected the minimum amount. In the case of poisonous chemical waste, you can only dump it in special areas not accessible to the public, which costs additional cash. Transporting and disposing of waste can be a big percentage of a clean-up bill.
Drug labs are considered dangerous and should only be entered by trained professionals. Never handle items that you suspect were used for meth production because contact could result in poisoning or burns, and exposing certain chemicals to water or air could cause an explosion. Only trained professionals will be allowed on the property until it is properly cleaned up and receives a Certificate of Fitness. If you suspect a meth lab, call your local sheriff’s office or police department.
In an emergency, call 911. DO NOT ENTER a site that you think is being used, or was used, to cook meth. Drug labs are considered dangerous and should only be entered by trained professionals. Never handle items that you suspect were used for meth production because contact could result in poisoning or burns, and exposing certain chemicals to water or air could cause an explosion. Only trained professionals will be allowed on the property until it is properly cleaned up and receives a Certificate of Fitness.
Visit the Ohio Department of Health to get more information on what is being done in Ohio.
Never hire a company to perform testing and cleanup. This presents a conflict of interest. There is a company called Safety Elements based in Akron Ohio that performs onsite testing at a very fair price.
Ohio Biohazardous Recovery is an official meth lab cleanup company and is a member of NOAA.
You can visit them online at www.ohiobiohaz.com.
