Who Cleans Crime Scenes In Australia?

When a crime scene is discovered, the area is blocked off for a forensic and police examination to take place. Crime scene cleaners are then called in to assess, decontaminate and sanitise the area to make it safe once again.

Generally speaking, any physical location such as a home, business or even a vehicle where a crime has taken place can be considered a crime scene.

What is Crime Scene Cleaning?  

Known as biohazard remediation or trauma and forensic cleaning, crime scene cleaning is the professional restoration of a property, home to a safe, hygienic and liveable state. It can often involve disinfecting and sanitation of a property, odour and stain removal, cleaning of fingerprint dust and removing and disposing of biohazardous material.

Crime Scene Cleaning can be a mentally and physically demanding job. Crime scene cleaners are often faced with cleaning potentially dangerous pathogens, blood spills and other bodily fluids in a wide variety of locations.

Examples of challenging scenarios crime scene cleaners deal with include:

• Trauma and blood spills
• Homicides
• Vandalism
• Meth lab testing and remediation
• Suicides and unattended deaths
• Industrial accidents
• Infectious disease contamination
• Accidents
• Biohazard clean up and disposal
• Needle and sharps pickup

Why Hire A Professional? 

Because of the nature of their role, crime scene cleaners require specialised training to ensure that they know how to carry out their tasks safely and correctly. It is important that crime scene cleaners know how to deal with safety risks, best practice techniques for equipment use and how to protect themselves using Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

Crime scene cleaners need to minimise potential health risks involved in crime scene cleaning. For example, human blood can carry deadly diseases such as HIV/Aids and Hepatitis B and C. Because of the many risks involved in crime scene cleaning, you should only hire a trained and experienced crime scene cleaner to do this type of clean up.

Who’s Responsible For Cleaning?

The responsibility for organising a crime scene cleaner often falls to family members, the property owner or the tenant.

Despite costs associated with hiring a specialist, the cleaning up of crime scenes should really be left up to qualified professionals especially due to safety reasons. Most people simply don’t have the necessary skills and knowledge on how to safely and effectively clean a crime scene and therefore shouldn’t attempt to do it on their own.

Furthermore, family members who are directly affected by a crime may find it too traumatic and difficult to clean up the crime scene themselves, which is where the professional crime scene cleaners can help by taking on that burden.

When it comes to covering the costs of hiring crime scene cleaners, be sure to check with your insurance company to see if this is something your insurance policy covers. Alternatively, reach out to your local government as they may be able to provide financial assistance to help with crime scene clean up.

How Do You Find A Good Cleaner?  

Following a crime, the police may be able to recommend a crime scene cleaner to contact. You can always do your own research and call around to determine which company is most suited for the job.

Remember, not all crime scene cleaners are the same. There are certain characteristics you should look out for when deciding on the best crime scene cleaner to hire.

Ideal traits of a good crime scene cleaner include:

• Experience – how much crime scene cleaning experience do they have? Have they been in the industry for quite a few years?
• Qualified – do they have the necessary certifications, qualifications and know-how when it comes to doing the job safely and effectively?
• Compassionate – are they patient and understanding? Can they show compassion towards people going through sadness, grief or other overwhelming emotions?
• Discreet – are they willing to respect your privacy and uphold your request for discretion?
• Good attention to detail – can they provide a detailed outline of how they will clean the area? Can they complete a thorough clean-up of the area?
• Reputable – do they have a solid reputation? Do they have positive service reviews from former clients?

Looking To Hire A Reputable, Professional?

National Trauma & Crime Scene Cleaning (NTCSC) have been trusted crime scene cleaners in Australia for over 30 years. We’ve built our solid reputation on honesty, integrity competitively priced services.

NTCSC are on call and available day or night. Speak to our team any time 24/7 for a free quote and to discuss how we can help with all your specialist crime scene cleaning needs.