Clean Queens has been able to families from any corner in the world.

This week I met with ‘Greg’ who flew in from the UK. His brother Ian passed away at home not noticed for several weeks and has been at the Coroners Court Mortuary for nearly two months.

Ian was a retired man, living alone and kept very much to himself. His life had been devoted to serving his country and helping other people. As a young man he had served in the Navy in the UK. After immigrating to Australia he joined the NSW Fire Brigade and put his life on the line every shift to help others.

Ian was also a diabetic and had to keep constant watch on his health. His diet and exercise was a strong part of his daily routine.

Sadly, Ian ended up one of the many ‘unattended deaths’ in NSW.  Clean Queens has been privileged to restore order to Ian’s last environment and we were also able to help Greg locate Ian’s dentist in order to identify him at the Coroners Court.

All arrangements have been made now for Ian’s funeral and I hope he has a great send off from family and work colleagues.

When I saw this piece online I was horrified and felt physically ill.

The story is about Barton, a garbage collector, who unfortunately had to manually empty the wheelie bins from a medical clinic.

In the process:

“an improperly secured bin spilled up to two litres of medical waste – including blood, human biopsies and chemotherapy chemicals – over Mr Wallis as he tried to lift it onto the truck.”

Horrifying!

Worse still – Barton swallowed some of the waste.

What a horrible horrible situation to find yourself in. This poor man.

This is the stuff of nightmares.

As someone working every day in this industry and fully aware of the dangers biohazards pose, I am horrified this incident could have occured.  I’m not surprised at all Barton is reporting “depression, anxiety and mood swings.” I can’t imagine the horrors and fears that would be charging through his mind.

No matter what the role – especially emptying clinical waste – employers must provide basic safe working conditions.