Equipment Used for Crime Scene Cleanup
3 min read
If your home or office gets to be the site of a traumatic event or a crime scene, the cleanup of that scene is your responsibility. The authorities usually care less about cleaning up a crime scene that occurs in a residential area. Crime scenes are usually associated with blood and body fluid spills and hence require a great deal of professionalism when performing a cleanup. Because of this, it is recommended that you never attempt a crime scene cleanup. Many professionals have undergone training to properly carry out a Bio-one crime scene cleanup. These professionals use special protective and cleaning equipment to deliver an effective crime scene cleanup.
Most times, homeowners go the extra mile of attempting a cleanup themselves with basic cleaning materials such as bleach and other home disinfectants. Though a cleanup can be attempted, this is usually for very minor crime scenes with little or no blood or body fluid spills. And even as such, it is still not considered safe. For crime scenes with a considerable amount of blood spill, a do-it-yourself crime scene cleanup should be your last resort.
What Equipment Are Used for Crime Scene Cleanup?
When crime scene cleanup experts come to your home for a clean up, you should expect them to use some of this equipment.
- Personal Protective Equipment: What’s popularly called by its acronym, PPE, personal protective equipment is protective clothing that crime scene cleanup experts use when doing a cleanup. This clothing covers them from head to toe and prevents any harm from biohazards. These protective materials are used only once and disposed of after the crime scene cleanup is completed.
- Standardized Cleaning Equipment: Apart from the personal protective equipment, another distinction between your regular clean up at home and the professional cleanup done by these experts is that they use standard industry approved cleaning materials. The cleaning towels, bleach, mops, dehumidifiers, peroxide, and much more that are used are all industry approved. Most of these materials are used only once for safety purposes.
- Specialized Cleaning Equipment and Products: Special cleaning materials are used by these professionals. You won’t see these materials in your homes. For example, one special material used is solvent on blood. These solvents can liquefy blood that has been dried so that they can be identified and disinfected accordingly. Another specialized cleaning material is the Hamzat bag. These bags are specially created to hold biohazards and ensure that these biohazards do not escape to the environment to cause harm.
- Others: Other cleaning tools that cannot be appropriately placed in any of the categories above include cleaning brushes, ladders,, and knives. Box cutters and razor blades also fall under this category.
If a crime or accident occurs in your home, office, or workplace, that area where the crime occurred classifies as a crime scene and will need proper remediation. As the homeowner, it is your responsibility to ensure that the place is adequately cleaned. Don’t attempt a cleanup yourself. Instead, hire professional crime scene cleanup experts.