Illustrative case: needles found during an apartment turnover

The situation

Illustrative example. Not a real job or customer.

In a hypothetical 1980s garden-style apartment complex in the east metro, a tenant moves out without notice and leaves furniture behind. A maintenance technician begins hauling items to the dumpster. Lifting a couch cushion, he sees several uncapped syringes. A mattress in the bedroom is heavily stained with what appears to be blood and other fluids.

1. The technician stops, steps back and does not try to pick up the needles. He calls the property manager.
2. The manager confirms the tenant's departure is being handled under the complex's abandoned property procedure and that no one is still living in the unit.
3. She closes the unit, posts a no-entry notice for staff and asks maintenance not to move any more items.
4. She contacts two providers. The one chosen confirms its workers have bloodborne pathogens training, will search furniture and fixtures methodically, and will use rigid sharps containers and a medical waste transporter.
5. Workers find additional sharps inside a bathroom vanity and in a closet ceiling tile, as well as in the couch.
6. The stained mattress, couch and carpet sections beneath them are removed and packaged. Hard surfaces throughout the unit are cleaned and disinfected.
7. The manager updates the complex's turnover checklist and adds puncture-resistant gloves and tongs to the maintenance kit.

No staff member is stuck by a needle, the unit returns to the normal turnover process, and the complex has a written procedure for the next time.