Ontario Remediation Services Ltd.

07/12/2015

An abandoned mansion becomes home to multiple families of raccoons.

We take a look back at one of our biggest and most unique jobs of 2015.

Most of the time, raccoon jobs are small and simple. A family of raccoons has broken into someone’s attic. There are a couple piles of waste to clean up, a

26/11/2015

Working around flies, bed bugs, ticks, like, roaches, and other unfriendly workmates.

There’s an odd backwards relationship between people and insects: all the worst places for us are also the best places for them. They thrive in the unclean,

16/11/2015

A message to anyone considering cleaning up a loved one themselves: please don't.

This goes out as a bit of a public service announcement. It goes out to the many people we’ve talked to who, after the death of a loved one ( or indeed after

23/10/2015

Police cruisers, moving vans, and motorcycles.

How ORS problem solves and gets the job done in challenging environments.

It may not be the first thing you think of when you think of the skills of a good cleaner, but this work requires a lot of problem solving. Each new job site we

14/10/2015

Over 80 cats in a small one-bedroom apartment.

Read all about it in our latest blog post.

This past summer, these heartbreaking images of a cat named Puff, her long fur gnarled and matted with filth, spread wide on Facebook. Her story even made

27/08/2015

Looking at where odours come from, to know how to fight them - on the job and at home.

Every odour comes from somewhere. That may sound obvious, but it’s an essential truth when it comes to understanding odour and how to fight it. If your

21/08/2015

Did you know hoarder homes account for 1 in 4 preventable house fires?

We take a look at this epidemic - what you can do to reduce the risk, and how communities are fighting back.

On this blog, we’ve looked at the problem of hoarding in a number of different ways, discussing how it hurts hoarders, the people and pets around them, and

05/08/2015

Family photos, liquor bottles, dirty magazines, and a birthday cake.

The fascinating things we see on jobs, and what they us about the people who left them behind.

Warning: the post contains content that may be upsetting to some. Reader discretion is advised. It was a double homicide, but the first thing we saw when

23/07/2015

How neighbours, landlords, pest control companies, and ORS come together to fight bed bug outbreaks in the city.

Big-city life can be pretty isolating. It’s hard to find a familiar face in the crowds. In a high-rise, even your next-door neighbours are often just random

15/07/2015

Taking a broad look at infectious disease: How do foreign invaders make it into our bodies? How can ORS (and you) keep them out?

Our bodies are a fortress, custom-built to fend off foreign invaders. We surround ourselves with a thick, impenetrable wall, called skin, and train a complex

25/06/2015

Read part 2 of our Substance Abuse series, all about , and the damage it can do to your body, your life, and the people around you.

This job exposes us to many parts of the world most people don’t see. It’s not so much that they don’t know – we all know crime and death exist – but

17/06/2015

We explore the difficult issue of illegal drugs, and all their effects in society.

(Watch next week for Part 2, on alcohol.)

In this job, we are forever coming in late, right at the end of things. We see the effects, but never the causes. We see the pool of blood, but not the gun that

03/06/2015

Our new blog post is all about anger, destruction, and bodily fluids in police and court custody.

People will go to strange lengths when they’re angry. At ORS, we see the effects that anger can have, in many different ways. A particularly concentrated

14/05/2015

It's almost Victoria Day weekend!

This weekend, thousands will head up to the cottage for the first time in 2015 - but after months sitting empty, a range of problems can pop up: animals, odours, mould, and more.

This weekend is Victoria Day weekend (or if you prefer, simply May Two-Four), and that means you may be joining the thousands of people heading into cottage

06/05/2015

An unlikely cleanup, but one that comes up surprisingly often. Today, we're talking about cleaning up stolen moving trucks that have been used as 'party vans'.

According to the man at the rental agency that we spoke to, the truck had been missing for 18 days before they found it, and the only reason they did find

22/04/2015

We offer a wide range of services for people selling their homes, landlords, and real estate agents - from minor fixes, like dealing with odours and stains, to major bio-cleaning.

Preparing your house for sale comes with a million things to do, both major and minor. Cleaning, decluttering, painting, doing repairs – all these are simple

08/04/2015

Is this job as exciting as it sounds? What makes a good ORS employee?

Plus: why it's tough to be a bio-cleaner at a dinner party.

Exciting, no? When you start working as a bio-cleaner, suddenly the most innocent dinner party question imaginable can become a bit of a minefield: So, what

26/03/2015

Today on the blog, we're talking about working with a massive range of clients, and meeting a massive range of clients needs. We're here for you, no matter what is most important to you.

Nothing quite beats the variety of this job. On any day, we’re just as likely to be fifty floors up dealing with pigeon waste on a high-rise rooftop,

19/03/2015

It may sound simple, but cleaning up needles and other medical sharps can be complex and highly dangerous.

Find out why in our new blog post.

This may sound odd coming from a company that has literally recently been exploring options for cleaning a potential Ebola outbreak, but needles are dangerous.

11/03/2015

They're a constant part of this job - people watching us through window shades, or asking to take a peek.

Our new blog post is all about why people find our work so interesting, and what we do to maintain our clients' confidentiality.

We get to the scene of the homicide late, after dark. In many ways, this is ideal for us. A colleague once told us that a good bio-cleaner is like a ghost:

05/03/2015

Today, we present a tribute to one of our most consistent work companions: blood.

Blood is a sign of violence and danger, a storyteller, an identifier, and potentially a very large, very hazardous mess.

Aside from the work truck, the spray bottle, and the nitrile glove, we at ORS have perhaps no more consistent co-worker than blood. Blood shows up on more

26/02/2015

We come across a lot of unexpected things in this job. Some are fascinating, or bizarre, or hilarious, or sad. We try find places in this blog to include as

19/02/2015

Unattended Death: any case where someone passes away, and their body remains undiscovered so long that it begins to decompose.

Warning: this post contains material that may be upsetting to some readers. Reader discretion is advised.

Warning: this post contains material that may be upsetting to some readers. Reader discretion is advised. No one wants to die alone. That

04/02/2015

The barriers between actual bio-cleaners, and regular house cleaners and maids can be a bit vague. After all, if you get a bloody nose and a spot of blood drops

28/01/2015

It was a bit late coming this year, but winter is now in full swing, and with plummeting temperatures and rising snows comes a whole new set of challenges

22/01/2015

We all know bio-hazards are bad for people and animals, but they're also bad for homes and office buildings.

Today on the blog, we're talk about mould, rot, staining, odour, corrosion, and more.

We’ve spent a lot of time on this blog discussing the human risks of the things we clean up – how they can make you sick and put you in danger. And no

14/01/2015

Happy new year everyone.

For our first blog post of 2015, we thought we'd tell you what we did over the Christmas break. It was two weeks of rest, relaxation, family, and an ORS company dinner - with a bit of cat f***s and post-New Year holding cells.

Happy new year, everyone! Happy new year, everyone! We’ve had an excellent 2014, and are excited to continue working and continue expanding in 2015. We

11/12/2014

What's the difference between having too much stuff, and being a hoarder?

In our latest blog post, we look at when collection or clutter turns into a serious problem.

We’ve talked a number of times about hoarding, the compulsive need to collect and keep objects. It’s a highly complex condition, especially since so many of

03/12/2014

Moulds, bacteria, yeasts, toxins, bugs, and smells. Our new blog post is all about rotten food.

How dangerous is it? And when would you need a bio-cleaner to come clean it up?

Few people would ever call in a bio-cleaner to deal with some rotten food. However, we find ourselves cleaning up mouldy meat, liquefied vegetables, and burst

19/11/2014

Flu season is upon us.

Here are some simple tips you can follow to stay healthy and prevent the spread of infection.

It’s November, and flu season is upon us. Every year, the influenza virus results in 200,000 doctor’s visits, 1,000 hospitalizations and as many as 300