A North York insurance adjuster called us on a Thursday afternoon. A policyholder had passed in their home near Sheppard and Bayview, and the discovery timeline meant the property was in Level 4 biohazard condition. The family was displaced to a hotel, the policy covered biohazard remediation, and the adjuster wanted a crew who could handle the OSHA 1910.1030 protocol and deliver a claim-ready file inside a week.
The Situation
The adjuster needed a single-source vendor: HEPA negative-air, porous material removal, hospital-grade disinfection, ATP verification, licensed-carrier manifested disposal and documentation that would clear the adjuster’s own review in one pass. The family was ready to proceed as soon as scope was approved. Discretion mattered to the family - they were in grief, and no one wanted biohazard-decal vehicles in the driveway or neighbours asking questions.
We dispatched a four-person crew Friday morning in unmarked white vans, Tyvek suits donned inside the garage, and had HEPA negative-air set within 90 minutes of arrival.
The Scope
Scope landed at $8,500 to $18,000 for a Level 4 biohazard of this size and material load. Final invoice came in at $14,200, direct-billed to the insurer and approved within 72 hours of submission. ICD Level 4 classification. Service type: biohazard remediation under OSHA 1910.1030, porous material removal, sodium hypochlorite then quaternary ammonium disinfection cycle, HEPA negative-air verification, licensed carrier manifested disposal.
Timeline: 5 days on site plus 48 hours for claim-file preparation and delivery.
The Process
- Day 1 - Assessment, containment, documentation. Dated photos of every affected area before anything was touched. HEPA negative-air set at the room door. Family’s keep list (photo albums, documents, framed photos from unaffected rooms) catalogued and sealed in clean totes.
- Days 2 and 3 - Porous removal and primary disinfection. Mattress, carpet, underpad, subfloor and drywall below the affected plane removed. All sealed, double-bagged and manifested for licensed-carrier disposal. First disinfection cycle with sodium hypochlorite at 0.5% on all hard surfaces.
- Day 4 - Secondary disinfection and ATP verification. Quaternary ammonium disinfection applied, dwelled, ATP tested. Readings documented. Where ATP exceeded threshold, treatment repeated and re-tested.
- Day 5 - HEPA cycling and handoff. HEPA negative-air cycled 24 hours. Final ATP sweep. Family walkthrough with crew lead by appointment, documentation package delivered to the adjuster within 48 hours.
Written workmanship warranty, WSIB registered, $2M CGL, IICRC S540 certified, OSHA 1910.1030 trained. Licensed biohazard carrier for manifested disposal.
The Outcome
Family returned home nine days after discovery. The adjuster closed the biohazard portion of the claim three days after our documentation package arrived - well inside the carrier’s SLA. The claim file included a scope-of-work summary, dated progress photos, ATP verification report, HEPA cycle logs and licensed-carrier manifests. The adjuster asked for our contact details to be added to the insurer’s preferred-vendor list for Ontario biohazard claims and has since referred four additional direct-bill claims to us.
Biohazard jobs fail in quiet ways - surface clean looks acceptable, but residual contamination lingers in subfloor and drywall. The ATP verification step is what separates a cleanup that looks right from a cleanup that reads right in a claim file.
