Crime Scene Cleaners: The Magicians Behind the Scenes

A messy homicide, a traumatic suicide, a vehicular accident. We see them depicted in movies and our favorite TV shows, but have you ever wondered who cleans up these scenes after investigators finish their job?

These magicians use a few different names: crime scene cleaners, forensics cleaners, or bioremediation specialists. The career field is relatively easy to enter as you typically only need a high school diploma or GED with paid on-the-job training to earn certification, making between $18 to $28 per hour. To be successful in this job, it is necessary to have high attention to detail, be able to maintain composure in grotesque situations and be compassionate and professional as you interact with surviving family members. You must also be comfortable with lifting up to 50 pounds without assistance, as it is common to need to move bodies, body parts, or soiled items from the scene.

One of the main reasons it is so critical to hire a professional crime scene cleanup crew is that if you attempt to clean up the hazards without the proper chemicals and protection, you can be exposed to life-threatening pathogens, like tuberculosis and HIV.

While workers typically deal with suicides, crime scenes, unattended deaths, or fatal/near-fatal car accidents, cleaners also advertise that they are equipped to clean up cases of severe hoarding and even meth labs. Meth labs can release toxic chemicals that coat the surrounding area and are close to impossible to neutralize with household cleaners safely. As many of the chemicals used in a lab can be absorbed through the skin, it is necessary to hire an experienced team to ensure the surfaces are cleaned thoroughly.

So aside from the health risks, why are professional cleaners necessary when hydrogen peroxide, bleach, and other cleaners can be found in a typical household? Such cleaners, while effective at the surface, cannot penetrate the leftover fluids as well as the EPA-registered disinfectants can. Instead, they tend to push the hazards around on the surface rather than neutralize them. Additionally, professional cleaners can use UV lights or a hydrogen peroxide-based disinfectant that foams when in contact with biohazards, helping pinpoint where otherwise invisible fluids may linger.

As one might imagine, the time it takes to clean up a scene can vary tremendously depending on the size of the crime scene and the level of severity of the incident. Smaller scenes can take up to 4 hours to clear, while a more traumatic scene can take several days to neutralize. When estimating the time needed to complete the job, it is also necessary to take the level of experience of the cleaning crew into consideration as a more experienced crew will take a shorter time to complete the disinfection.

Though smells can be intense and there’s a level of desensitization to the job, working as a crime scene cleaner can be rewarding to know that you are remedying an otherwise toxic and dangerous environment, allowing humans to occupy or use the area once again and preventing the location from becoming condemned and uninhabitable.