How To Clean Up A Crime Scene

• The dangers of crime scene cleaning
• Who cleans up crime scenes?
• The benefits of professional crime scene clean up
• What you should do if a crime occurs on your property
• Get in touch

After a crime scene occurs on your property, you will want to clean up the mess and restore it to its previous condition as quickly as possible. However, this dangerous process must be left to professional trauma cleaners for a safe, thorough clean. 

At ICE Cleaning, we offer our trauma cleaning services nationwide. Our technicians are available day and night, 365 days a year, including bank holidays. They have been accredited by the National Association of Crime Scene Cleaners.

Keep reading to learn more about how to clean a crime scene and why it must be left to crime scene cleaners.

The dangers of crime scene cleaning

Crime scene cleaning is a complex, hazardous job that is not for the faint-hearted. 

Firstly, crime scenes often contain biohazards like bodily fluids and blood. Bloodborne pathogens, for example, pose a very significant risk at these scenes. They can harbour illnesses such as HIV or hepatitis, which remain viable outside the body for days or weeks. This makes proper sanitation critical to protect the health of the people cleaning the scene and that of future occupants.

Trauma scenes may also contain hazardous materials like illegal drugs, drug paraphernalia, and weapons which need specialist handling to ensure everyone's safety.

Seeing and cleaning up such a scene can take a psychological toll, as well, particularly if the victim was someone you knew. Professionals will have the experience of such scenes and an adequate support system in place to protect their wellbeing.

Who cleans up crime scenes?

It is often incorrectly assumed that clean-up is handled by the police or emergency services that attend. Instead, this challenging task falls to professional trauma cleaners. 

Trauma cleaners have the specialist training, equipment, protective gear, and chemicals to safely and thoroughly clean up all the biohazards, restore the scene to how it was before the incident, as well as dispose of the waste. You can be sure that every trace of the incident will be erased both visually and microscopically.

You can learn more about what happens during a trauma clean in this blog. 

The benefits of professional crime scene clean up

Attempting to clean up a crime scene will not just bring you in close contact with the biohazards and risk your health - using an ineffective method could leave pathogens behind, and endanger others. 

Besides deep cleaning, these experts provide peace of mind during an emotionally taxing time because they handle everything discreetly without causing more stress for those affected by the incident.

Professional trauma cleaners will follow strict protocols to safeguard against biohazards, including bloodborne pathogens. Adhering to the regulations laid out by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), trauma cleaners ensure everyone is kept safe from potential infections, while providing assurance that no trace elements remain which could pose a health risk.

They will also be able to follow local regulations for hazardous waste disposal. This meticulous approach ensures that no trace elements remain that could pose health threats in the future, giving peace of mind to occupants returning after the clean up process.

Trauma scenes often require specialised cleaning agents and equipment, too. Professionals use industrial-grade products that are not available on consumer markets, ensuring every surface is decontaminated thoroughly. They are highly skilled at eradicating stubborn stains and odours.

In addition, these experts understand how different materials react with certain chemicals, and can prevent further damage to your property and possessions during clean up.

Professionals can quickly clean up the scene and help things return to normal as soon as possible, as well. You can learn more about the reasons why professionals are required for crime scene cleaning here. 

What you should do if a crime occurs on your property

First, contact the emergency services and wait for them to attend the scene. Don't enter the property or disturb the scene if possible as the property will need to be treated as a crime scene. 

Once the police have attended the scene, investigated the crime, and signed off on the completion of their investigation, bring in professional trauma cleaners to clean it up. To protect your health, avoid entering the property until it has been cleaned up and the waste disposed of by professionals. 

Get in touch

Alongside our crime scene cleaning services, we offer a wide range of other trauma cleaning services including forensic cleaning, road traffic accident clean up, and undiscovered death cleaning. Our biohazard decontamination experts can discreetly restore your property to a safe, clean condition. 

If it's an emergency, they be on site within several hours, no matter the time or where you are in the UK. 

To learn more, contact our friendly team today on 0208 066 0360