Trauma training for cleaning firm

Staff at Edinburgh-based Perfect Clean are undergoing specialist training to help them cope with trauma.

The firm has been providing Covid-19 decontamination services since the onset of the pandemic but has now expanded into trauma cleaning.

Technicians are sent on intensive training courses in Bristol and have to complete various virtual sessions before they are ready to go out into the field.

The expansion has seen the firm, formed in 2013, establish a rapid response team, which is accredited by the National Academy of Crime Scene Cleaners (NACSC).

The pivot now sees the company primed to utilise its expertise in new areas such as crime scenes, suicide and contaminated houses across Scotland.

Emilia Ferenc, Managing Director of Perfect Clean, invested £20,000 in the move and said: “Covid was the main reason we expanded into this area.

“I wasn’t sure what to do when we were in the middle of the pandemic so decided to take the Covid deep cleaning a step further.

“The staff have been very supportive, have embraced it and are looking to further their experience and development.

“It’s not an every-day job, and maybe not for everyone. It can be very challenging mentally but I have been very proud of how the team has adapted.”

Investment in new technology such as state-of-the-art foggers, some of the latest pressure washers, plus specialist PPE equipment, has Perfect Clean well equipped for all scenarios.

“We will act quickly and effectively, using safe cleaning and disposal techniques as well as state-of-the-art decontamination equipment to restore what may be a distressing scene to a clean, safe living or working environment,” said Ferenc.

“By deploying ATP (adenosine triphosphate) swab testing to the cleaned area we give clients the confidence that it not only looks clean but has been made hygienically safe at a micro biological level.

“We were decontaminating offices and other workplaces long before Covid-19 arrived on the scene and have adapted our decontamination procedures to make them both Covid-secure and effective against the Covid-19 virus with special electrostatic spraying equipment.”

As well as trauma cleaning, the newly-formed rapid response team of technicians also has responsibility for prison cells, police vehicles and drug and meth labs.

Ferenc added: “Our fully qualified professionals have the skills, knowledge and equipment to deliver the best possible experience for our clients.”

Perfect Clean is working in partnership with Hitachi’s Train Maintenance Centre at Craigentinny, while earlier this year the company agreed a three-year contract to prove enhanced cleaning to Glasgow University, and already provides a similar service to Edinburgh University and Heriot-Watt University in the Capital.