Vol. 1 No. 7
November / December 2008

MilcoSafetyRental.com Newsletter 

Milco Safety Rental is pleased to provide its monthly e-mail newsletter, featuring specials, tips and information that will enhance your "hassle-free" service experience. Please send your questions, comments and feedback to tim.beyer@milcosafetyrental.com.

***WEB SITE ONLY ORDER SPECIAL*** 
(The following offer is available through December 31, 2008)

Milco Safety Rental is offering BEST Nitril gloves for $10.75/box. To take advantage of this special order you must order online. We stock BEST Nitril gloves in small, medium, large, Xlarge and XXlarge. They are available in "powder free" and "low powder." XXlarge is available only in “powder free.” Place your order today using our “hassle-free” Rental Form. Remember, we will ship rentals 2nd day delivery, when possible, with a negotiated rental start date. This means that we will ship on Wednesday for Friday delivery and start your rental on Monday.

PhoCheck and FirstCheck PIDs for Rent or Purchase

If you are considering buying a PID, consider the ION PhoCheck. ION also manufactures the FirstCheck PID.

The PhoCheck is a basic model that is used more frequently in the environmental market. If you use a PID mainly for scanning soil samples and bag samples, the PhoCheck is ideal. It is more accurate than other PIDs and it is manufactured to greatly reduce the affect of humidity on your readings. It does not use "correction factors" to adjust readings to compensate for humidity.

The FirstCheck is also a PID, but it includes LEL, O2, CO and H2S sensors. For those who are accustomed to using the MultiRAE, the FirstCheck is a perfect fit and it is also designed to greatly reduce the affect of humidity on your readings.

MSR, Inc. has both the PhoCheck and the FirstCheck available for rent and purchase. Please contact us at 800-775-1738 for purchase pricing. Rental fees are posted on our web site.

Reliability: Milco Safety Rental’s Hallmark

Reliability is always important in the environmental industry. And if you are renting an instrument, it’s imperative that your equipment is operable throughout the job. A failed instrument results in non-productive time and that impacts your bottom line. If you are not currently using our services, give us an opportunity to show you how we can reduce your non-productive time. We provide thoroughly inspected, tested and calibrated instruments. If one of our units fails, we will replace it at our cost — the next day. If you are in Houston, we will deliver another instrument to you at no cost immediately.

Three Impressions Left By Hurricane Ike
People, Roofing and Electricity Take on New Meaning

We were spared. Our employees, their property and our business were spared the destruction of Hurricane Ike. That is not to say that everyone escaped totally unblemished, but by and large we were only inconvenienced. Others were not as fortunate, but having only been lightly brushed by the destruction of Ike I find myself ruminating on three areas that impressed me most by this experience:

People: We had the most gracious offers of help and concern from our customers, vendors and even a competitor. For this I am both proud and humbled. Customers called to find out how we were doing, and one of them even offered a monetary donation to help our employees. A competitor from Dallas called and offered to assist us in any way possible. The offer included help servicing our customers and the provision of a generator for Milco’s office, if needed. During this disaster we weren’t competitors, we were a group of people that may need help. How wonderful all of that was.

Roofs: How important they are! I’ve had my house flooded in the past as a result of heavy storms. The experience was stressful and the repairs were lengthy and unpleasant, but we survived. Nevertheless, I am constantly concerned about rising waters. Although we did not personally sustain flood waters with Ike, we know first-hand that flooding is one of the worst things that can happen to your property other than fire. Some of our neighbors sustained incredible damage.

Water-soaked ceiling panels collapsed onto desks, computers, carpet, and open filing cabinet drawers. Destroyed roofs in apartment complexes ruined carpeting mattresses, clothes, pictures and furniture. Many of us will no longer consider a roof as just an enclosure that covers our heads. It may well be the most important aspect of one's home or business.

Electricity: I used to take it for granted. But when electricity is lost for an extended period of time across a large metropolitan area, we’re reminded just how much we rely on it. Everything from getting money from the ATM to street lights and traffic signals are affected. Not to mention getting gasoline from the electronic pump. Generators and adequate drinking water became staples.

Although my family evacuated before Hurricane Ike hit, we were reminded that we should never take people, roofs or electricity for granted.

The above summary is trivial and absolutely meaningless to many who lived along the coast and bays. They lost everything, even land they had owned. This is only a personal perspective, not intended to reflect on the entire Ike aftermath. Fortunately, I am not reporting on the devastation of  Galveston and associated coastal areas.