Whether it’s responding to a hurricane or furnishing supplies for the perfect wedding, the Service Group of Louisiana in Lafayette, Louisiana, has the people and equipment to handle the job through their three service lines — party supplies, portable sanitation and roll-off containers.

Their inventory includes a few specialty trailers for these events — Wells Cargo shower trailers and company-built laundry trailers — but they started providing a very different type of trailer when they were asked by an industrial plant customer if they would bring in a decontamination shower trailer.

The company agreed and had one built by Advanced Containment Systems. The unit is used to cleanse and decontaminate workers exposed to lead or asbestos.

“It’s used wherever there’s hazardous material at industrial sites or chemical facilities or construction sites,” says co-owner Frank Gerami III. “It’s an OSHA-compliant trailer that basically removes hazardous contaminants. It’s got a dirty room, shower room and clean room.”

Features include lead and asbestos filtration equipment, a negative air unit with HEPA filtration and three-flap airlock curtains to prevent contamination between rooms. The units are also outfitted with water heaters, air conditioning and heating systems, washer and dryer connections, and personnel lockers.

The trailers are typically available in two-, four- and eight-shower configurations, although custom design requests can also be accommodated.

An employee enters the trailer from the “dirty” side and removes their contaminated clothes then heads into the shower room. After showering, they pass through the airlock curtain to the clean room to dry off and put on clean clothes before exiting on that side of the trailer.

As is often the case, once a company starts offering something new, word gets out and pretty soon someone needs the same thing. Not long after its first request, the company purchased a second trailer when another customer, an aircraft manufacturer, requested one. Those trailers are now on long-term rental with both companies.

Read more about the Service Group of Louisiana in this month’s issue of Pumper magazine.