Product Recall
Not all the incidents managed by Spill Center involve spills, as in the case of a manufacturer who asked us to handle an emergency product recall campaign. Plastic pails of contaminated commercial dishwashing detergent started expanding and bursting, releasing the highly alkaline liquid. In the first four days of the recall campaign, our call center dispatched cleanup contractors to 480 locations around the U.S. to contain the potentially hazardous material.The manufacturer, a long-time Spill Center client, is a leading provider of cleaning and other products for the industrial, foodservice and healthcare markets. It was suspected that the detergent had been contaminated in the manufacturing process with hydrogen peroxide, which turns to water and oxygen when combined with an alkaline substance such as the detergent. The oxygen build-up was causing the containers to swell and burst.
Over the four days that followed the decision to initiate a recall, Spill Center dispatched cleanup contractors to pack the containers in hazmat drums and palletize and placard the loads for transportation. The detergent had been distributed to customers throughout the country, including nursing homes, hospitals, restaurants, and college facilities. Once the company instructed its customers to contact Spill Center, our call center was answering about 60 calls an hour for the first six hours of the event.
The manufacturer did its due diligence, contacting several companies for advice on how to conduct the recall and how much to budget for it. As a result, they expected the effort to cost nearly $1.5 million. But since Spill Center had been called in early, we were able to reduce the actual costs to $879,000. We did that by anticipating the disposal, product handling, transportation and return process at the outset.
We determined the quantity of product at each loss location, names of the personnel on the scene and what they needed. Our call center, which worked around the clock, also identified the closest available cleanup contractor qualified to do the job of segregating corrosive detergent, over-packing it, properly labeling it, securing it to pallets and placarding the pallets for transportation.
Since we maintain detailed information on contractor response jurisdictions, we were able to coordinate responses by geographic location, giving some contractors multiple assignments. That eliminated mobilization and demobilization charges for the manufacturer. We directed the contractors to retain common carriers to return the product once it had been secured for transportation rather than transporting it themselves. That resulted in a significant savings. We also managed the invoice submission process – organizing invoices by location, reviewing all costs, and placing the invoices in line for payment by the manufacturer.
