What Does Crime Scene Cleanup Entail?

The job of a crime scene cleaner is to clean and disinfect the area where a violent crime has been committed. This can include cleaning blood, body fluids, and even tear gas. Some crime scene cleaners are also responsible for cleaning up after suicides, industrial accidents, and unattended deaths. Crime scene cleaning is a term that applies to the cleaning of blood, bodily fluids, and other potentially infectious materials (OPIM).

It is also known as biohazard remediation and forensic cleaning, because crime scenes are only part of the situations in which cleaning for biological hazards is necessary. Incidents that may require this type of cleaning include accidents, suicide (or attempted suicide), homicides and decay after an unattended death, as well as mass injuries, industrial accidents, contamination by infectious diseases, contamination by biological hazards to animals (for example, faeces or blood), or the regulated transportation, treatment and disposal of waste.A crime scene cleaner, also called a CSI cleaner, responds to the scene of a violent crime, suicide, accident, or other trauma and cleans blood, body fluids, and other biological materials. Bloodborne pathogens are a major concern. Crime scene cleaning work involves the safe removal of biological hazards, bedding, furniture, carpets, and other contaminated items.

Crime scene cleaners are hired by family members or by business owners where trauma occurred to avoid the emotional pain of having to deal with the scene themselves. Landlords are responsible for cleaning up the scene of trauma on their property.If the trauma scene is on private property, such as a residential or commercial building, the landlord or landlord must make the necessary arrangements for the trauma scene to be cleaned. While the field of crime scene cleanup is not specifically regulated as a class, most, if not all, of the activities carried out by biological hazard cleanup teams in the United States are regulated or governed by the best practice guidelines of governmental and advisory bodies such as OSHA, NIOSH, DOT and EPA.Most crime scene cleaners don't work on a fixed schedule; you'll need to be available on call at all hours of the day. Because of concern about Ebola virus contamination in the United States, the government has hired crime scene cleaning companies such as Cleaning Guys of Texas and Bio Recovery Corporation in New York to clean more than just crime scenes.The work of crime scene cleaners begins when the coroner's office or other official government body makes the scene known to the landlord or other responsible parties.

For example, staff involved in cleaning are expected to wear overshoes, liquid-impermeable coveralls, and protective goggles. Standard operating procedures for cleaning crime scenes typically include military-type methods for decontaminating internal and external environments.Crime scene cleaners cannot be squeamish and must be trained and able to separate their emotions from their job duties. They need tact and compassion when it comes to explaining the cleaning process to customers or offering project estimates. Learn more about landlord responsibilities, cleaning procedures, compensation for cleaning expenses, and cleaning companies trained in traumatic situations.

They do not need previous law enforcement experience to be able to work as crime scene cleaners and are summoned after processing the crime scene. Crime scene cleaning specialists disinfect the scene and use chemicals to break down the blood and facilitate cleaning.Here's how to become a crime scene cleaner including the necessary skills qualifications and training.