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NTCSC What’s the Difference Between A Forensic Cleaner And A Regular Cleaner?

What’s The Difference Between A Forensic Cleaner And A Regular Cleaner?

If it’s your first time hearing about forensic cleaners, one of your first questions might be – why do you need them? Are regular cleaners not enough to clean up any kind of situation?

So what is the difference between a forensic cleaner and a regular cleaner? Forensic cleaners should be called in for more serious situations in which absolute sterilisation is required after a violent or traumatic incident has taken place. Forensic cleaners have the equipment, skills, and mental preparedness to tackle the worst situations out there, which regular cleaners can’t always handle.


Why Are There Forensic Cleaners?  

NTCSC Why Are There Forensic Cleaners

The professional forensic cleaner is only a few decades old. As recently as the early 80s, families who experienced violent events such as homicides, suicides, or unattended deaths were required to clean up the scene of the event on their own.

However, murder rates grew over the last few decades, meaning more and more families required assistance with specialised sanitation services. The popularity of TV shows featuring forensic cleaners also increased the association of forensic cleaners with scenes of violent events, making the demand for forensic cleaners grow.

Forensic cleaning is also commonly referred to as:

  • Crime scene cleaning
  • Trauma cleaning
  • Blood cleanup
  • Bio recovery
  • Trauma and crime scene decontamination
  • Bio cleaning
  • CTS Decon

So why exactly do you need the extreme sanitation skills and equipment when dealing with these kinds of scenes? The problem is that bodily fluids can make a place very dangerous for other people, and to return a place to a clean state of living in which people can enter and use with a sound state of mind, complete sanitary cleaning is required.


What Is The Major Difference Between A Forensic Cleaner And A Regular Cleaner?  

NTCSC What Is The Major Difference

Regular cleaners do not need any special skills, equipment, or mental preparedness before going into their job. They only have to deal with messes that don’t involve any situation that might cause extreme psychological stress or require medical-grade sanitation equipment. Anyone can be a regular cleaner, as long as they understand the basics of cleaning.

Forensic cleaners are called in for more serious situations. In the event of a crime, suicide, unattended death, or any other violent event that leads to bodily fluids and other biohazardous materials, a forensic cleaner must be called to ensure that the scene becomes completely livable once again.

The most important part of a forensic cleaner’s role is ensuring that an area returns to a state of being hazard and infection free. To do this properly, forensic cleaners must have the training, experience, and equipment possible to make sure that blood-borne pathogens and bodily fluids are completely eliminated from the area.

Forensic cleaners must also remove all indications of the event, making sure that it goes back to looking like it did before the event occurred. This can sometimes take long hours of work and decontamination, depending on the degree of spillage and contamination in the scene of the event.

The events that would require a forensic cleaner include:

  • Death cleanup
  • Blood cleanup
  • Unattended death cleanup
  • Suicide related cleanup
  • Debris cleanup
  • Tragedy cleanup
  • Murder cleanup
  • Hoarding cleanup
  • Tear gas cleanup
  • Filth cleanup
  • Biohazard cleanup
  • Hazardous material cleanup
  • Homicide cleanup
  • Trauma cleanup
  • Decomposed body cleanup
  • Meth lab and meth lab death cleanup
  • Accident cleanup

If an event is too much for a regular cleaner to clean up, psychologically and with their level of skill and equipment, then it is best to call in a team of forensic cleaners to do the job right.


What Are The Requirements To Become A Forensic Cleaner?  

NTCSC What Are The Requirements

Becoming a forensic cleaner requires more training and involvement than becoming a regular cleaner, which generally has little to no prerequisites. Forensic cleaning companies generally require the following requirements from their cleaners:

  • Biohazard Waste Training: Knowing how to deal with biohazard waste properly is an essential part of the job. Biohazard waste comes in the form of chemicals, blood, and other bodily fluids. Forensic cleaners must identify the contaminated areas and decontaminate them properly.
  • Physical Fitness: Trauma cleaning can be very physically demanding, with long hours of work on single scenes in high-tense situations. You will also be required to work in a hazmat suit, which is no easy feat.
  • Police Clearance: Forensic cleaners must have police clearance to apply for the job. This is so that they can be allowed to enter crime scenes and access disposal and health facilities without issue.
  • Psychological Strength: The mental stress of a forensic cleaner can be too much for most people to bear, so psychological strength is an important requirement for the job. The individual must be able to see the worst-case scenarios of the most violent events, and be able to clean it up successfully.
  • Medical-Grade Chemicals Experience: Working with medical-grade chemicals is more serious than regular household cleaning items. Forensic cleaners must know how to deal with these chemicals without causing harm to themselves.

Need Forensic Cleaners In Australia? Call NTCSC Today 

NTCSC Call NTCSC Today

NTCSC or National Trauma & Crime Scene Cleaning is home to the top forensic cleaners in Australia, and we are ready to tackle any situation you might have on your hands.

If you are looking for a compassionate and discreet professional forensic cleaning company in Australia, call NTCSC on 0488 077 675, where our lines are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Or email us at info@ntcsc.com.au and we will get back to you as soon as possible.