In each edition of ANSI/IICRC’s S500 Standard and Reference Guide for Professional Water Damage Restoration, dating back to 1994, the mitigation contractor’s stated first priority on a loss site has remained clear: “Eliminate safety hazards”. I am certain that SARS-CoV-2 (the virus) or COVID-19 (the disease) are not what the authors of the standard had in mind.

To better understand how toxic TCDD is, one needs to understand how it and other toxins are measured. In toxicology, the median lethal dose is identified as LD₅₀ (abbreviation for “lethal dose, 50%”).

Have you ever stopped to wonder what role chemistry plays in our professional lives as cleaners and restorers? To get a sense, all you have to do is go out to your shop or warehouse and stop in front of the shelf, cabinets, or storage room that has all your miscellaneous bottles, cans, bags and containers of miscellaneous chemicals.