Crime Scene Cleanup Explained

Crime Scene Cleanup is a phrase denoting a type of professional trauma cleaning. Popular culture plays a part in the term's usage. Television productions like Crime Scene Investigation add to the popularity of Crime Scene Cleanup. Australia, Canada, and England have added Crime Scene Cleanup to their professional cleaning terminology.

The generic terms for Crime Scene Cleanup include trauma cleaning, biohazard recovery, decontamination, and blood cleanup. The crime scene cleaners' work begins when the coroner's office or other official, government body releases the "scene" to the owner or other responsible parties. Only when the police investigation has completely terminated on the contaminated scene may the cleaning companies begin their task.

A crime scene cleanup may involve a single blood loss event following a burglary, battery, or homicide. Companies also clean suicides, unattended deaths, teargas damaged environments, and other crime and trauma scenes. Larger crime scenes involve terrorist attacks, mass murder scenes, and the cleanup of anthrax and other biochemicals. Blood-borne disease is always a safety concern and medical-like standards are invoked when cleaning soiled scenes. Minimal safety standards for cleaning crime scenes are set by OSHA because of employment considerations as well as health issues. Besides the Federal Government's OSHA standards, many state OSHA departments have created similar standards and regulations. Similarly, the Center for Disease Control establishes standards and regulations for working with blood soiled environments as well as exposure reporting.

Crime Scene Cleanup companies may also clean bird and rodent infested areas. Their experience and equipment lends itself to decontaminating areas frequented by potentially deadly viruses.

Standard operating procedures for the crime scene cleanup field often include military-like methods for the decontamination of internal and external environments. Universal precautions recognized World-wide are the cautionary rule-of-thumb for this field of professional cleaning.

Crime Scene Cleanup is a small business activity in most cases. At times small businesses, such as carpet cleaning and water damage companies add Crime Scene Cleanup to diversify their activities. Some franchise opportunities are available through Servpro and other nation-wide franchisers.

Noted authors for the field of Crime Scene Cleanup include Kent Burg and Patrick Moffett. Kent Burg's publications include Crime Scene Cleanup, a how-to paperback. Patrick Moffett's publications are often produced as academic essays and treatises. Moffett defines Crime Scene Cleanup in The Blue Book and lists general price guidelines for cleaning crime scenes. Moffett's activities are generally related to indoor environmental inspection.

Generally recognized organizations for this field of cleaning include the American Bio-recovery Association, ABRA, and the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning, and Restoration Certification, IICRC. ABRA is the largest membership organization in the USA for trauma cleaners. The IICRC is a certifying body for the cleaning trades in general.