Acumen Called in By Regulatory Body to Deal with Drum Containing Unknown Substance

Acumen was recently contacted by a Governmental agency with regards to a drum of unknown liquid that had washed down river and subsequently came to rest on private residential land. Unsure of the best action to take the resident contacted their local authority and it was at this point that the team at Acumen was called for assistance.

Acumen immediately mobilised a team of experts to the drum’s location to ascertain the best course of action. The first step was to check the integrity of the drum and to then correctly classify the waste held within the container. Onsite analysis found that the drum contained a mixture of oil and water which the team at Acumen managed to safely secure within the drum despite its dilapidated state. Finally the drum was safely packed, labelled and all required paperwork was completed onsite. This negated the immediate risk of contaminating the water course in the event of further increases in the river’s water levels at a time that was susceptible to heavy downpours.

The final challenge came in the shape of moving the drum as its location was not accessible to vehicles of any size. However, with the drum safely sealed the Acumen team were able to manually transport the drum without any spillages occurring and without any negative impact to the local environment.

Due to our ability to assess, categorise and secure the drum at its resting location Acumen was able to complete the entire process in one visit thus saving a huge amount of time and money for the regulatory body as well as minimising the impact and inconvenience felt by the resident.