Scenes where a crime or accident has occurred are not scenes we witness every day, which is why we oftentimes only see them as they are depicted in shows like CSI, NCIS, or some other cheesy TV crime drama. Because of this, a lot of people tend to form a few misguided assumptions about the cleanup that occurs afterwards. These misconceptions are what we will be tackling today.
Myth 1: Law enforcement and emergency responders clean up after crime scenes.
As it turns out, police officers and crime scene investigators usually do not have the qualifications for handling and disposing of blood and similar biohazards, and they are rarely, if ever, given such training. Now, you might also say that medical response teams might have the experience and equipment when dealing with these sorts of situations, and you’d be right. However, they don’t clean up after crime scenes or other similar trauma scenes, because that is not their job. Medical response teams are there to give immediate medical attention to any survivors and take them to the hospital for further care; likewise, the job of the police investigator is to poke about the crime scene for evidence to be processed and used to solve the case later. Neither of them have any obligation to clean up what is left of the accident or crime scene afterwards. That is where biohazard cleanup comes in.
Myth 2: Taxpayers pay for trauma scene cleanups.
If you are under the impression that your precious tax dollars are being wasted on cleaning up after a dead person, you don’t need to worry. Your taxes are never used to pay for crime scene cleanup; instead, the cost of the cleanup is often passed down to the owner of the establishment or home where the accident occurred, or the closest company involved in the incident. However, even then these people do not need to shell out money from their own pockets to pay for the cleanup, as most home or business insurance policies will be more than capable of covering said costs.
Myth 3: Biohazard cleanup services are only available for businesses and law enforcement.
We’ve already established earlier that biohazard cleanup firms aren’t actually paid by taxes. As a matter of fact, just about every biohazard cleanup firm around the world is privately owned just like any other business. And although most of their clients may come from the law enforcement or medical sectors, that does not necessarily mean that their doors are closed to everyone else; most, if not all professional cleaners extend their services to everyone in need of such services, including individual clients.
Myth 4: You can perform biohazard cleanup by yourself.
This is by far the most common misconception people have about biohazard cleanup, particularly with regards to blood. Many people tend to think that cleaning up blood is – beyond the fact that it is a bit unsettling to look at – not too big of a deal to clean, and believe that it can be done with some bleach and a bit of elbow grease. Unfortunately, there are several problems with this notion, which we will break down one by one.
It is generally unsafe for you to handle blood if you do not have the proper equipment and training. Blood is classified as a biohazard due to the way it allows dangerous pathogens to survive outside the body, which in some cases can be for as long as 7 days. Besides the well-known and well-feared HIV, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C viruses, there are a host of other dangerous microorganisms that can cause fatal diseases if one comes into contact with the blood it is on.
Attempting to clean the blood yourself is also potentially dangerous for a variety of reasons. First off, cleaning out blood without the proper equipment and safety precautions will leave you open to exposure, which can come into direct contact with you through any splash or splatter. You have to remember, however, that the lack of visible blood splatter doesn’t keep you in the clear – microscopic molecules of blood will have less trouble making their way into your system without you knowing, and these pathogens can actually survive even if the blood has dried up. Second, although bleach is a powerful cleaning chemical on its own, it is not the best one to use. Sure, bleach is strong enough to kill off all sorts of pathogens; however, bleach can’t kill all of them. And when we are dealing with blood – a biohazard which, again, is still very hazardous even when dry – one has to be sure beyond all reasonable doubt that all hazardous microorganisms on the affected area have been killed. Professional biohazard cleaning services like The Aftercare were founded and created for this purpose.
The Aftercare is one of the most trusted names in the biohazard cleanup industry, having served homes, businesses, and local police departments throughout North Carolina and Virginia for nearly 20 years. Our job is to clean up after messes that are either too large, too dangerous, or otherwise too nasty for anyone else so that they won’t ever have to. We specialise primarily in the handling, storage, and disposal of blood and other human-based biohazards from crime and accident scenes, but we also offer remediation services for a variety of residential or industrial applications, like cleaning out animal waste in home attics and basements, crawl spaces, removing hazardous waste from industrial sewage spaces, and cleaning out homes with hoarding problems. We pride ourselves on rapid response and efficient service, with our highly-trained cleanup teams capable of arriving on the scene in under 2 hours. Our services are always open to everyone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year – and even on holidays.
Accidents can happen at any time, so if ever the time comes that you will need to make use of our services, keep the number (757) 535-4367 so we can get to where you need us as soon as possible.
