Covid-19 (Coronavirus) Decontamination and Hazardous Waste Management

Ambipar undertook the decontamination of a train that was suspected to be contaminated with Covid-19. The train was on-route to Pembroke when a passenger was observed to be coughing and looking unwell. When approached by emergency services the passenger acted erratically and fled from the train. Upon notification from the emergency services, Transport for Wales (TfW) took the positive preventative measure and contacted Ambipar Response, their contracted emergency response specialist, to undertake Covid-19 decontamination of the train and management of all hazardous waste.

Within 2 hours, the Ambipar Response team was onsite to assess the situation, develop a safe site working plan to protect all Transport for Wales employees, and then undertake the comprehensive decontamination process.

Project Works:

Ambipar undertook a dynamic risk assessment upon arrival, establishing a safe working environment to protect all within the TfW facility, including setting up hot, warm and green zones and then completing a three-phase Covid-19 decontamination process as follows:

Phase 1:

Removal of all waste from the train.

Phase 2:

Hoovering all soft surfaces with a specialist HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) system.

Wiping all hard surfaces with a specialised cleaning product; and

Moping all hard surface floors with the specialised cleaning product.

Phase 3:

Hand application of Quaternary Ammonia solution on all hard surfaces; and

Dispersed application of Quaternary Ammonia solution on all soft surfaces.

Result:

The train was returned to service the next operational day, ensuring that the incident caused minimum disruption to TfW as a transport provider and operator of Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) providing essential travel services to key workers during their commute to the front line response against Covid-19.