Rise in anti-social behaviour due to Covid-19

Anti-social behaviour has seen a rise in recent months due to the Covid-19 pandemic according to the BBC.

According to a recent report, such incidents have risen by a fifth compared to the previous 12 months.

Most believe this to be because of educational settings being closed, leaving individuals with more time on their hands to fill and choosing to fill it with anti-social behaviour. Although some anti-social behaviour happens in the dark, this cannot be used as an explanation.

Antisocial behaviour is defined as ‘behaviour by a person which causes, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress to persons not of the same household as the person’ (Antisocial Behaviour Act 2003 and Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011).

At ServiceMaster Restore, we deal with the after effects of anti-social behaviour, such as the damage caused from such incidents. We see fire damage, graffiti and substance abuse to name a few.

Prevention is always better than the cure and here are some tips to help prevent damage occurring to your property from anti-social behaviour:

  • CCTV to deter damage in the first place, or record it should it happen
  • Privacy screens and glass to prevent intruders from looking in to the property/vehicles
  • Security monitoring including security guards or close monitoring by a security firm
  • Gates, fencing, walls 0r trees to enclose the perimeter of your property
  • Lighting both indoors and outdoors to startle potential offenders

However, if you are unfortunate enough to be the victim of this kind of damage, you can call us as the experts at ServiceMaster Restore to remove graffiti, unwanted waste and restore fire or other related damage to return your property back to its former state.

Contact us at 0845 762 6828 for our expert disaster restoration help if and when you need it 

What to do with paper possessions and valuables after a flood

Being affected by a flood is terrible in itself, but then to have to worry about your paper possessions after a flood is another worry. 

There are things that you can do to help save as many of your paper possessions as possible before they become too badly damaged through stagnant water and waste. Paper is extremely fragile, so here are some tips that may work.

Photographs 

Consider what photos that you’d be able to reprint and prioritise the ones that you won’t. For those that you can’t reprint, rinse them in fresh water and set them out to dry. It’s important to handle photographs by the corners where possible as they will be particularly fragile.

Artwork 

Any heirloom or artist pieces of value should be assessed. Anything that you’d like to try and save for yourself should be carefully removed from it’s frame and air dried.

Books

Go through what you have and decide what’s worth keeping (i.e. can’t be replaced). Carefully dry groups of pages by placing paper towels between them or putting the book on the edge that is the driest.

Prevention better than the cure

Being affected by flooding is a very distressing time for all involved. Particularly if you lose any treasured contents. Prevention is often better than the cure and in protecting valuable items by careful packaging or storage, you could avoid losing any treasured possessions. You should also remember for anything that is worth considerable value to replace, that you should get it professionally valued and outlined in your insurance policy. There are often costs associated with valuations and insuring additional items, but it is well worth it should the worst happen.

If you’d like professional help in drying your premises or restoring your valuables, give ServiceMaster Restore a call on 0845 762 6828

Cleaning in non-healthcare settings

The effects of Covid-19 will be felt for some time, particularly in our cleaning regimes at home and in business. Here’s some useful information on cleaning in non-healthcare settings.

According to the .gov website the risk of coronavirus (COVID-19) infection depends on many factors, including:

  • the type of surface contaminated
  • the amount of virus shed from the individual
  • the time the individual spent in the setting
  • the time since the individual was last in the setting

Surfaces and belongings can be contaminated with COVID-19 when people who are infectious cough or sneeze or touch them. Transmission of COVID-19 can occur when someone else then touches the contaminated surface or item.

At ServiceMaster Restore, we work with businesses to provide one-off deep cleaning and sanitisation to premises both in a preventative measure and in cases where a customer or staff member have tested positive to the virus. 

Whilst we work with healthcare settings on their cleaning regimes, we also provide cleaning in non-healthcare settings too.

We use a specialist decontamination product, along with our professional cleaning techniques help to eradicate germs, viruses and bacteria from the premises making it safe once again for staff and customers alike.

Our specialist product, SaniMaster 6 is an appropriate and effective sanitising/decontamination product which is widely used within hospitals, food preparation areas, schools etc, to help combat and kills 99% of viruses such as Cdiff, HiV.  SaniMaster 6 is effective against enveloped viruses.

Among the services we provide to support our clients in improving disinfection & hygiene control measures, are:

  • Room Decontamination
  • Building Decontamination
  • Fogging
  • Surface Sanitising

Do remember that cleaning and disinfection plays a vital role in reducing the spread of Coronavirus to help keep everyone safe.

To enquire regarding any of our specialist deep cleaning and decontamination services above, call 0845 762 6828