Bio hazard cleanups no easy task
Posted January 14, 2014 9:04 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Homicides and other violent crimes get a lot of attention in the news but just because the police and paramedics have left, doesn’t mean the work is over.
Bio hazard cleanup crews arrive at the scene next and their job is not one for the weak of stomach. Even once a body is removed, it’s not as if a building or room is usable right away.
Chantel Willox with 1st Trauma Scene Clean Up Ltd. says there are a number of hazards for crews. “Even if we were to go into a scene where there was dry blood for example, if we were to step on it, if we were to move the blood, there are blood-born pathogens. And if we were to inhale them and there was a disease, then we would be prone to infecting ourselves.”
Willox is often called in when a body is discovered weeks or months after the person died. “The bio can actually travel into the sub flooring. This one job in particular, the gentleman wasn’t found for actually a few months. Along the sides of the walls wasn’t constructed properly. The laminate was a bit water-proof and the bodily fluids had actually gone into the walls. So we had to remove the base of the walls, the base of the flooring.”
She says there is no cutting corners. “You can get fined up to $40,000 or $50,000 in America for not cleaning up bios the right way.”
The whole operation can be a very time consuming process, especially while dealing with grieving family members.
