An Emergency Hydraulic Spill Cleanup – They Wouldn’t Let Us Clean
We got a call for an emergency hydraulic spill cleanup at a large apartment complex.
The trash company that services the complex was the one who called. They said one of their trucks blew a hydraulic line around the dumpster area.
But when we got there, the property manager wouldn’t let us do the work!
The apartments are managed by a large national property management company. And most large companies know about the laws concerning EPA water recovery of the waste water from pressure washing. And large companies in all industries are the ones most concerned with following the laws to avoid penalties.
This particular management company has a policy that doesn’t allow pressure washing on their sites unless someone from upper management is there to supervise. Since they don’t know anything about our company in their out of state corporate office, its understandable.
They don’t want to gamble on some little pressure washing company.
Because if the water recovery isn’t done the right way, they could get in hot water with the EPA. Environmental fines are usually assessed against the pressure washing company and the company that hired them.
This property management company obviously knows the penalties for allowing waste water to get to a storm drain can be pretty steep. In Colorado they often start at $1000/day. Six figure penalties are not uncommon.
And the large national companies are much more likely to be fined.
They’re expected to know the rules and make sure they’re followed. Some of the largest companies we do work for have their own environmental specialist on staff to make sure all the different environmental regulations are complied with.
Smaller companies might get a warning first – but they shouldn’t count on it. Since the rules have been out for a few years now, it becomes more difficult for even the little guys to claim they didn’t know any better.
Our company spends a lot of time researching regulations, techniques and materials to stay on top of our industry. It’s important for us to be able to do the best job possible.
Our clients count on us to make sure things are done right – on a hydraulic spill cleanup or any other job – even if they don’t know just what “right” is.
We take that responsibility seriously.
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