by Alex Lickerman, MD
Though I’ve never lost a friend or family member to suicide, I have lost a patient.
I have known a number of people left behind by the suicide of people close to them, however. Given how much losing my patient affected me, I’ve only been able to guess at the devastation these people have experienced. Pain mixed with guilt, anger, and regret makes for a bitter drink, the taste of which I’ve seen take many months or even years to wash out of some mouths.
The one question everyone has asked without exception, that they ache to have answered more than any other, is simply, why?
Why did their friend, child, parent, spouse, or sibling take their own life? Even when a note explaining the reasons is found, lingering questions usually remain: yes, they felt enough despair to want to die, but why did they feel that? A person’s suicide often takes the people it leaves behind by surprise (only accentuating survivor’s guilt for failing to see it coming).
People who’ve survived suicide attempts have reported wanting not so much to die as to stop living, a strange dichotomy but a valid one nevertheless. If some in-between state existed, some other alternative to death, I suspect many suicidal people would take it. For the sake of all those reading this who might have been left behind by someone’s suicide, I wanted to describe how I was trained to think about the reasons people kill themselves. They’re not as intuitive as most think.
In general, people try to kill themselves for six reasons:
1. They’re depressed. This is without question the most common reason people commit suicide. Severe depression is always accompanied by a pervasive sense of suffering as well as the belief that escape from it is hopeless. The pain of existence often becomes too much for severely depressed people to bear. The state of depression warps their thinking, allowing ideas like “Everyone would all be better off without me” to make rational sense. They shouldn’t be blamed for falling prey to such distorted thoughts any more than a heart patient should be blamed for experiencing chest pain: it’s simply the nature of their disease.
Because depression, as we all know, is almost always treatable, we should all seek to recognize its presence in our close friends and loved ones. Often people suffer with it silently, planning suicide without anyone ever knowing. Despite making both parties uncomfortable, inquiring directly about suicidal thoughts in my experience almost always yields an honest response. If you suspect someone might be depressed, don’t allow your tendency to deny the possibility of suicidal ideation prevent you from asking about it.
2. They’re psychotic. Malevolent inner voices often command self-destruction for unintelligible reasons. Psychosis is much harder to mask than depression — and arguably even more tragic. The worldwide incidence of schizophrenia is 1% and often strikes otherwise healthy, high-performing individuals, whose lives, though manageable with medication, never fulfill their original promise.
Schizophrenics are just as likely to talk freely about the voices commanding them to kill themselves as not, and also, in my experience, give honest answers about thoughts of suicide when asked directly. Psychosis, too, is treatable, and usually must be for a schizophrenic to be able to function at all. Untreated or poorly treated psychosis almost always requires hospital admission to a locked ward until the voices lose their commanding power.
3. They’re impulsive. Often related to drugs and alcohol, some people become maudlin and impulsively attempt to end their own lives. Once sobered and calmed, these people usually feel emphatically ashamed. The remorse is usually genuine, and whether or not they’ll ever attempt suicide again is unpredictable. They may try it again the very next time they become drunk or high, or never again in their lifetime. Hospital admission is therefore not usually indicated. Substance abuse and the underlying reasons for it are generally a greater concern in these people and should be addressed as aggressively as possible.
4. They’re crying out for help, and don’t know how else to get it. These people don’t usually want to die but do want to alert those around them that something is seriously wrong. They often don’t believe they will die, frequently choosing methods they don’t think can kill them in order to strike out at someone who’s hurt them—but are sometimes tragically misinformed. The prototypical example of this is a young teenage girl suffering genuine angst because of a relationship, either with a friend, boyfriend, or parent who swallows a bottle of Tylenol—not realizing that in high enough doses Tylenol causes irreversible liver damage.
I’ve watched more than one teenager die a horrible death in an ICU days after such an ingestion when remorse has already cured them of their desire to die and their true goal of alerting those close to them of their distress has been achieved.
5. They have a philosophical desire to die. The decision to commit suicide for some is based on a reasoned decision often motivated by the presence of a painful terminal illness from which little to no hope of reprieve exists. These people aren’t depressed, psychotic, maudlin, or crying out for help. They’re trying to take control of their destiny and alleviate their own suffering, which usually can only be done in death. They often look at their choice to commit suicide as a way to shorten a dying that will happen regardless. In my personal view, if such people are evaluated by a qualified professional who can reliably exclude the other possibilities for why suicide is desired, these people should be allowed to die at their own hands.
6. They’ve made a mistake. This is a recent, tragic phenomenon in which typically young people flirt with oxygen deprivation for the high it brings and simply go too far. The only defense against this, it seems to me, is education.
The wounds suicide leaves in the lives of those left behind by it are often deep and long lasting. The apparent senselessness of suicide often fuels the most significant pain survivors feel. Thinking we all deal better with tragedy when we understand its underpinnings, I’ve offered the preceding paragraphs in hopes that anyone reading this who’s been left behind by a suicide might be able to more easily find a way to move on, to relinquish their guilt and anger, and find closure. Despite the abrupt way you may have been left, those don’t have to be the only two emotions you’re doomed to feel about the one who left you.
Alex Lickerman is an internal medicine physician at the University of Chicago who blogs at Happiness in this World.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Delaware firm cleans up gore from bloody crime scenes
This April 27, 2009 photo shows Bryon Brainard, supervisor of trauma scene cleanup for Diamond Chemical and Supply Company, wearing the protective suit and N95 mask that he uses when assessing a scene before cleanup begins in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/The Wilmington News-Journal, Jennifer Corbett)
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
An insight into crime scenes clean up services
Crime scene cleanup companies also clean unattended deaths, damaged environments due to tear gas, and other crime and distress scenes. The larger crime scenes that involve mass murder scenes, terrorist attacks and anthrax and other biochemical damage is also taken care by these companies. Crime Scene Cleanup services may also include bird and rodent infested areas. The cleaners in this case require special experience and equipment than a typical cleaning company’s experience and equipment.
Typically, crime scene cleanups start taking place only after the coroner’s office and other government bodies releases the “scene” back to the owner or some other responsible person concerned with it. The cleaning task can not begin till the police investigation is completely finished on the contaminated scene.
In most cases crime scene cleanup is a small business activity. Mostly, small cleaning services like carpet cleaning or water damage companies add services for Crime Scene Cleanup for diversifying their activities. The prominent and recognized organizations in this field of cleaning consist of the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning, and Restoration Certification (IICRC) and the American Bio-recovery Association (ABRA).
Earlier crime scene cleanup was a loathsome job but today it has become a lucrative business. Crime scene cleanup companies can charge anywhere between $100 to $600 per hour depending on the “level of trauma” and the quantity of hazardous material that the cleaners have to deal with and dispose of.
While a crime clean up service is ultimately a business like any other, advertising and marketing your services can be tricky. In a job that involves tragic death; most companies avoid mainstream methods of advertisement. Some choose the standard phone-book route while many others advertise on the side of their vans. Most of these companies largely depend on discreet options like passing out their business cards at service-industry gatherings, police stations and funeral homes.
An important requirement for success in this industry involves being considerate towards the sensitive nature of the work. There are certain crime scene clean-up companies that provide a grief counselor to the families at no cost while others offer discount to needy people. There are many countries where this type of service is funded by government or by religious organizations.
While some people call this emerging field a social trend of commercializing death, others call it plain capitalism. But for many others it still remains an essential service, a godsend. The fact is that whether you like it or loathe it but if you ever end up with blood and brains splashed all over your bedroom walls, you will definitely be relieved that there is someone you can call to clean it up.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Trauma Cleaning: Without Standards, The Pain Can Keep Coming
by Kent Berg
National Institute Decontamination Specialist
As an instructor in crime and trauma-scene recovery and a board member of the American Bio-Recovery Association, I am often approached by attorneys, the public and insurance adjusters to evaluate the service they or their clients received from other crime-scene cleanup companies.
For the most part, these are just routine questions from people who want to make sure that the service they received was within the normal parameters of good practice. But a few times each month I receive calls that just cause my stomach to knot up and my blood to boil.
With the bio-recovery industry in its 14th year, it is mind-boggling to find individuals who still decide that they are going to start-up a new company and declare themselves “experts” in crime and trauma scene cleanup without any research or training.
It is even more outrageous to find that, although they know almost nothing about the science, chemistry, biology or laws of our industry, they are charging fees that are often four or five times the industry average.
The majority of those operating in the industry today are honest, ethical professionals. It’s the few bad apples in the bio-recovery barrel, so to speak, that amplify the problems tainting our industry.
Example 1: The Hit-and-Run Guys
A husband argues with his wife in their kitchen. As she prepares supper, he grabs a shotgun and, standing in the doorway between the kitchen and dining room, blows his head off.
It is still daylight when the police arrive. In order to see better, they open the brain-splattered dining room drapes. Splatter is on the dining room and kitchen walls, but since the body fell onto the vinyl tile floor of the kitchen, the largest amount of blood pooled there.
The family asks the police about scene cleanup, and is directed to a local company. The company tells the family that payment will have to be made in cash prior to starting the job, and that the family will not be allowed inside of the house while the cleaning process takes place.
The family agrees and stays with relatives until they get the call that the job is complete and they can return. The company is long gone, and upon cursory inspection, the rooms look contaminant-free.
It is now night and, in an effort to keep neighbors from seeing into the dining room, the wife pulls the drapes closed. To the horror of the family, the drapes had apparently never been checked and still have blood and brain matter clinging to the material.
The kitchen floor appears to be clean but, when the wife walks across the floor, bright red blood spurts up between the tiles, making little puddles and polka-dotting her shoes.
If this isn’t enough to re-traumatize the family, the wife goes to remove the now-cold pot of chili from the stove and promptly throws up when she sees a 3-inch piece of her husband’s skull nestled neatly atop the pot.
The family contacted the attorney general for their state, who then called me to review the family’s statements prior to a decision on prosecution.
Example 2: The Little-Extra-on-the-Side Guys
A man who lived alone died in his bed of natural causes, but wasn’t found for several weeks. When the authorities were finally called, the decomposition could be smelled from the street.
When a crime-scene-cleanup company was called in, the man’s relatives were told that the odor had permeated everything in the house with disease. Their recommendation was that everything in the house should be removed and destroyed.
The family, already nauseated from the smell, relied on the “professional opinion” of the technicians and agreed to let them remove everything from the good silver and china to the appliances.
In short, every piece of furniture, appliance, electronic component and fixture was removed because they were declared “not salvageable.”
The relatives were then presented with a bill for approximately $40,000! If this wasn’t obscene enough, a few weeks later the family found many of the home’s contents that were supposedly “not salvageable” being sold at a local flea market.
Example 3: The Cutting-Down-on-Overhead Guys
It is standard practice for crime and trauma-scene cleanup companies to dispose of human-blood-contaminated items that can’t be salvaged. They do this by red-bagging and boxing these items and sending them to a medical waste processing facility. This includes dismantling recliners, mattresses, and other large items to fit in these containers.
In this case, a company responded to a gunshot suicide in an apartment. The victim had sat in his favorite recliner and put a pistol in his mouth. The subsequent wound bled profusely until there was no more blood for the heart to pump. This resulted in the complete saturation of the recliner.
In an apparent effort to save on labor and disposal fees, the crew decided that they would dispose of the recliner by wrapping it in plastic, putting it in the back of their truck and then dumping it in the woods of a neighboring county.
All seemed to go well until a few days later, when hunters found the chair and called police. Thinking that they had stumbled upon evidence of a homicide, the police launched a full-scale investigation that lasted for weeks and logged many detective hours before they were actually able to review the crime scene photos of every police department in the surrounding counties.
When the mystery was finally attributed to this particular crime-scene-cleanup company, not only were they slapped with fines for littering, they were saddled with reimbursing the cost of the investigation. Every law enforcement agency that heard about this dropped the company like a hot potato, and the subsequent media attention tarnished the reputation of crime-scene-cleanup companies everywhere.
I would like to emphasize the fact that these complaints are not clients disappointed with a poorly painted wall or an out-of-true vanity top. These are abuses by unscrupulous companies that are subjecting their clients to financial greed, improper disinfection, and re-traumatizing that no one should have to endure.
Could training and certification eliminate these types of abuse? Perhaps a good portion of them, but in the end, it is the honesty and character of the companies themselves that should be monitored. I believe the way to do that is to pursue standards, as well as meeting with our state legislators to create specific regulations for our industry.
National Institute Decontamination Specialist
As an instructor in crime and trauma-scene recovery and a board member of the American Bio-Recovery Association, I am often approached by attorneys, the public and insurance adjusters to evaluate the service they or their clients received from other crime-scene cleanup companies.
For the most part, these are just routine questions from people who want to make sure that the service they received was within the normal parameters of good practice. But a few times each month I receive calls that just cause my stomach to knot up and my blood to boil.
With the bio-recovery industry in its 14th year, it is mind-boggling to find individuals who still decide that they are going to start-up a new company and declare themselves “experts” in crime and trauma scene cleanup without any research or training.
It is even more outrageous to find that, although they know almost nothing about the science, chemistry, biology or laws of our industry, they are charging fees that are often four or five times the industry average.
The majority of those operating in the industry today are honest, ethical professionals. It’s the few bad apples in the bio-recovery barrel, so to speak, that amplify the problems tainting our industry.
Example 1: The Hit-and-Run Guys
A husband argues with his wife in their kitchen. As she prepares supper, he grabs a shotgun and, standing in the doorway between the kitchen and dining room, blows his head off.
It is still daylight when the police arrive. In order to see better, they open the brain-splattered dining room drapes. Splatter is on the dining room and kitchen walls, but since the body fell onto the vinyl tile floor of the kitchen, the largest amount of blood pooled there.
The family asks the police about scene cleanup, and is directed to a local company. The company tells the family that payment will have to be made in cash prior to starting the job, and that the family will not be allowed inside of the house while the cleaning process takes place.
The family agrees and stays with relatives until they get the call that the job is complete and they can return. The company is long gone, and upon cursory inspection, the rooms look contaminant-free.
It is now night and, in an effort to keep neighbors from seeing into the dining room, the wife pulls the drapes closed. To the horror of the family, the drapes had apparently never been checked and still have blood and brain matter clinging to the material.
The kitchen floor appears to be clean but, when the wife walks across the floor, bright red blood spurts up between the tiles, making little puddles and polka-dotting her shoes.
If this isn’t enough to re-traumatize the family, the wife goes to remove the now-cold pot of chili from the stove and promptly throws up when she sees a 3-inch piece of her husband’s skull nestled neatly atop the pot.
The family contacted the attorney general for their state, who then called me to review the family’s statements prior to a decision on prosecution.
Example 2: The Little-Extra-on-the-Side Guys
A man who lived alone died in his bed of natural causes, but wasn’t found for several weeks. When the authorities were finally called, the decomposition could be smelled from the street.
When a crime-scene-cleanup company was called in, the man’s relatives were told that the odor had permeated everything in the house with disease. Their recommendation was that everything in the house should be removed and destroyed.
The family, already nauseated from the smell, relied on the “professional opinion” of the technicians and agreed to let them remove everything from the good silver and china to the appliances.
In short, every piece of furniture, appliance, electronic component and fixture was removed because they were declared “not salvageable.”
The relatives were then presented with a bill for approximately $40,000! If this wasn’t obscene enough, a few weeks later the family found many of the home’s contents that were supposedly “not salvageable” being sold at a local flea market.
Example 3: The Cutting-Down-on-Overhead Guys
It is standard practice for crime and trauma-scene cleanup companies to dispose of human-blood-contaminated items that can’t be salvaged. They do this by red-bagging and boxing these items and sending them to a medical waste processing facility. This includes dismantling recliners, mattresses, and other large items to fit in these containers.
In this case, a company responded to a gunshot suicide in an apartment. The victim had sat in his favorite recliner and put a pistol in his mouth. The subsequent wound bled profusely until there was no more blood for the heart to pump. This resulted in the complete saturation of the recliner.
In an apparent effort to save on labor and disposal fees, the crew decided that they would dispose of the recliner by wrapping it in plastic, putting it in the back of their truck and then dumping it in the woods of a neighboring county.
All seemed to go well until a few days later, when hunters found the chair and called police. Thinking that they had stumbled upon evidence of a homicide, the police launched a full-scale investigation that lasted for weeks and logged many detective hours before they were actually able to review the crime scene photos of every police department in the surrounding counties.
When the mystery was finally attributed to this particular crime-scene-cleanup company, not only were they slapped with fines for littering, they were saddled with reimbursing the cost of the investigation. Every law enforcement agency that heard about this dropped the company like a hot potato, and the subsequent media attention tarnished the reputation of crime-scene-cleanup companies everywhere.
I would like to emphasize the fact that these complaints are not clients disappointed with a poorly painted wall or an out-of-true vanity top. These are abuses by unscrupulous companies that are subjecting their clients to financial greed, improper disinfection, and re-traumatizing that no one should have to endure.
Could training and certification eliminate these types of abuse? Perhaps a good portion of them, but in the end, it is the honesty and character of the companies themselves that should be monitored. I believe the way to do that is to pursue standards, as well as meeting with our state legislators to create specific regulations for our industry.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Teen Suicide Risk Factors: Parents Are Too Often Clueless
By Nancy Shute
Suicide is the third leading cause of death among teenagers, and it's a tragedy that can be prevented. Given that almost 15 percent of high school students say they've seriously considered suicide in the past year, parents and friends need to know how to recognize when a teenager is in trouble and how to help.
Parents can be clueless when it comes to recognizing suicide risk factors, or at least more clueless than teens. In a new survey of teenagers and parents in Chicago and in the Kansas City, Kan., area, which appears online in Pediatrics, both parents and teenagers said that teen suicide was a problem, but not in their community. Alas, teen suicide is a universal problem; no area is immune.
The teenagers correctly said that drug and alcohol use was a big risk factor for suicide, with some even noting that drinking and drug use could be a form of self-medication or self-harm. By contrast, many of the parents shrugged off substance abuse as acceptable adolescent behavior. As one parent told the researchers: "Some parents smoke pot with their kids or allow their kids to drink."
Both teenagers and parents said that guns should be kept away from a suicidal teen. But since parents said they didn't think they could determine when a teenager was suicidal, parents should routinely lock up firearms, the researchers suggest. That makes sense. Firearms are used in 43.1 percent of teen suicides, according to 2006 data, while suffocation or hanging accounts for 44.9 percent.
The good news: Both parents and teenagers in this small survey (66 teenagers and 30 parents) said they'd like more help learning how to know when someone is at risk of committing suicide and what to do. Schools and pediatricians should be able to help, but we can all become better educated through reliable resources on the Web. These authoritative sites list typical signs of suicide risk, and they also provide questions a parent or a friend can ask a teenager to find out if he is considering killing himself. Here are good places to start:
The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry lists signs and symptoms of suicidal thinking, such as saying things like "I won't be a problem for you much longer."
The American Academy of Pediatrics urges parents to ask the child directly about suicide. "Getting the word out in the open may help your teenager think someone has heard his cries for help."
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provides free advice to someone considering suicide, as well as to friends and relatives, at 800-273-TALK.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness's teenage suicide page makes the point that talking with someone about suicide will not "give them the idea." "Bringing up the question of suicide and discussing it without showing shock or disapproval is one of the most helpful things you can do," the NAMI site says. "This openness shows that you are taking the individual seriously and responding to the severity of his or her distress."
Suicide is the third leading cause of death among teenagers, and it's a tragedy that can be prevented. Given that almost 15 percent of high school students say they've seriously considered suicide in the past year, parents and friends need to know how to recognize when a teenager is in trouble and how to help.
Parents can be clueless when it comes to recognizing suicide risk factors, or at least more clueless than teens. In a new survey of teenagers and parents in Chicago and in the Kansas City, Kan., area, which appears online in Pediatrics, both parents and teenagers said that teen suicide was a problem, but not in their community. Alas, teen suicide is a universal problem; no area is immune.
The teenagers correctly said that drug and alcohol use was a big risk factor for suicide, with some even noting that drinking and drug use could be a form of self-medication or self-harm. By contrast, many of the parents shrugged off substance abuse as acceptable adolescent behavior. As one parent told the researchers: "Some parents smoke pot with their kids or allow their kids to drink."
Both teenagers and parents said that guns should be kept away from a suicidal teen. But since parents said they didn't think they could determine when a teenager was suicidal, parents should routinely lock up firearms, the researchers suggest. That makes sense. Firearms are used in 43.1 percent of teen suicides, according to 2006 data, while suffocation or hanging accounts for 44.9 percent.
The good news: Both parents and teenagers in this small survey (66 teenagers and 30 parents) said they'd like more help learning how to know when someone is at risk of committing suicide and what to do. Schools and pediatricians should be able to help, but we can all become better educated through reliable resources on the Web. These authoritative sites list typical signs of suicide risk, and they also provide questions a parent or a friend can ask a teenager to find out if he is considering killing himself. Here are good places to start:
The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry lists signs and symptoms of suicidal thinking, such as saying things like "I won't be a problem for you much longer."
The American Academy of Pediatrics urges parents to ask the child directly about suicide. "Getting the word out in the open may help your teenager think someone has heard his cries for help."
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provides free advice to someone considering suicide, as well as to friends and relatives, at 800-273-TALK.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness's teenage suicide page makes the point that talking with someone about suicide will not "give them the idea." "Bringing up the question of suicide and discussing it without showing shock or disapproval is one of the most helpful things you can do," the NAMI site says. "This openness shows that you are taking the individual seriously and responding to the severity of his or her distress."
Friday, January 1, 2010
Teen depression and suicide risk linked to late bedtimes and chronic sleep deprivation
A report from the Jan. 1, 2010 issue of the journal Sleep found a surprising link between the typically late bedtimes of teenagers and teen depression and suicide.
Parent-set bedtimes affect teen's mental state
Adolescents with parent-set bedtimes after midnight had a 24% increased incidence of depression and a 20% increase in suicidal thoughts compared to teens with a bedtime before 10 pm.
Most of the teens in the study reported adhering to the bedtimes their parents set for them, showing that it's up to parents to give appropriate guidelines for avoiding sleep deprivation.
Length of Sleep Matters for Adolescents
The length of sleep matters, too, according to the researchers. Teenagers who reported getting less than five hours of sleep a night had a 71% higher risk of depression and a 48% higher risk of suicidal thoughts than adolescents who got 8 hours or more of sleep.
The AASM (The American Academy of Sleep Medicine) recommends nine or more hours of sleep a night for adolescents.
The study was conducted by James E. Gangwisch, PhD, assistant professor at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, N.Y and colleagues and looked at over 15,000 teenagers' sleep habits and mental states. The teens in the study ranged from 12-17 years old.
Other studies indicate more benefits from increased teen sleep.
In previous studies, shorter sleep durations in children and teens have been linked to higher rates of obesity, school performance and general social well-being. And adolescents who don't get enough sleep due to insomnia are far more likely to develop mental health problems, including substance abuse.
Monday, November 30, 2009
How Suicide Cleanup is Taken Up
Suicide cleanup is a part of the broad based service of Crime Scene Cleanup which involves crime and trauma decontamination and restoring it to its previous state.
It is a a niche market in the cleaning industry and involves cleaning the biologically contaminated scene of one violent death like suicide, homicide or accidental death, or even the chemically contaminated anthrax exposed site or scene of a methamphetamine lab.
Broadly speaking, crime scene cleanup and suicide cleanup is almost same but there are few exeptions to this rule. Suicide cleanup requires some extra physical effort and psychological sensitivity that the technicians should be able to handle.
Following are some examples illustrating this. A suicide generally involves close range of weapon to body and so in-depth decontamination and thorough cleaning is required. The cleaners also have to handle family members who might be present at the scene searching for answers that why their beloved person decided to end his/her life. The technicians need to remove all traces of any evidence of a suicide so that no remains are present for family members and friends that might remind them of the tragedy. Restoring of a suicide scene also means clean and restore sentimental items that mean the lot to the family of the deceased and requires additional time and effort. On a visual inspection of any suicide scene you will generally find a lot of blood and bodily fluids, but invisible to the eye, a great amount of biohazard contamination is also bound to be there.
The suicide cleanup technicians have to search thoroughly in all areas, even those that can not be seen or accessed easily and remove all traces of them from the scene. Most suicide cleanup services have their staff trained in not only dealing up with decontaminating and cleaning up issues but also about dealing with family and friends with sensitivity and compassion. Since most of such companies work in association with leading insurance companies so they can even help you to bill the insurance company directly thus saving you all the hassles. A suicide cleanup consists of the following steps.
Firstly the scene should be evaluated. Next all contaminates should be located and decontaminated. A thorough search should me made again to decontaminate any traces of contaminates that might have been left out. All types of bio hazardous agents should be properly disposed of. Any microscopic remains should b treated with chemicals and the environment should be treated for odors.
Last but not the least all tools and equipments should be disinfected. But before you attempt to clean a suicide scene on your own it is always better to consult a trained professional first.
It is a a niche market in the cleaning industry and involves cleaning the biologically contaminated scene of one violent death like suicide, homicide or accidental death, or even the chemically contaminated anthrax exposed site or scene of a methamphetamine lab.
Broadly speaking, crime scene cleanup and suicide cleanup is almost same but there are few exeptions to this rule. Suicide cleanup requires some extra physical effort and psychological sensitivity that the technicians should be able to handle.
Following are some examples illustrating this. A suicide generally involves close range of weapon to body and so in-depth decontamination and thorough cleaning is required. The cleaners also have to handle family members who might be present at the scene searching for answers that why their beloved person decided to end his/her life. The technicians need to remove all traces of any evidence of a suicide so that no remains are present for family members and friends that might remind them of the tragedy. Restoring of a suicide scene also means clean and restore sentimental items that mean the lot to the family of the deceased and requires additional time and effort. On a visual inspection of any suicide scene you will generally find a lot of blood and bodily fluids, but invisible to the eye, a great amount of biohazard contamination is also bound to be there.
The suicide cleanup technicians have to search thoroughly in all areas, even those that can not be seen or accessed easily and remove all traces of them from the scene. Most suicide cleanup services have their staff trained in not only dealing up with decontaminating and cleaning up issues but also about dealing with family and friends with sensitivity and compassion. Since most of such companies work in association with leading insurance companies so they can even help you to bill the insurance company directly thus saving you all the hassles. A suicide cleanup consists of the following steps.
Firstly the scene should be evaluated. Next all contaminates should be located and decontaminated. A thorough search should me made again to decontaminate any traces of contaminates that might have been left out. All types of bio hazardous agents should be properly disposed of. Any microscopic remains should b treated with chemicals and the environment should be treated for odors.
Last but not the least all tools and equipments should be disinfected. But before you attempt to clean a suicide scene on your own it is always better to consult a trained professional first.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Crime Scene Leftovers Pose Problem For Sanitation
Call it the Case of the Bloody Mattress.
City sanitation workers in southwestern Kentucky were recently left with the problem of how to dispose of a bloody mattress put out with the trash.
The mattress came from a home where police say a 37-year-old man appears to have died from self-inflicted stab wounds. The problem came when trash collectors realized they couldn't pick up a potential biohazard, but didn't want to leave it by the side of the road in a residential neighborhood in Hopkinsville.
"This was an area of concern for us because blood is considered a biohazard and not only can our trash trucks not pick it up, but it could be dangerous for people in the community," said George Hampton, a route supervisor for Hopkinsville Solid Waste Authority.
The Kentucky New Era reports that the mattress disappeared by midweek, but sanitation officials didn't take it and were still trying to make sure it was properly disposed of. The location of the mattress remained a mystery at week's end.
Hopkinsville sanitation workers received an anonymous call reporting a mattress, possibly covered in blood, that had been set on a curb outside of a home. That was the concern of the anonymous caller, Hampton said, who said children in the neighborhood could start to play on the mattress and come into contact with the dried blood that might have diseases.
Because there was blood on the mattress, sanitation workers couldn't haul it off with the rest of the trash.
"It raises a question for us about where we take it from here," Hampton said. "Someone has to clean up messes like these and we can't do it."
Solid Waste Superintendent Bill Bailey said sanitation workers aren't allowed to pick up possible biohazards, including blood, from the side of the road. Instead, Bailey said, the department needs to call other landfills to see who will pick up and take the items.
"Sometimes we can process and wrap it in plastic and dispose of it that way. But other times we have to contact a company that deals with disposing of medical waste."
Charlotte Write, a spokeswoman for Stericycle, a national company that specializes in medical waste disposal, said medical waste is generally burned to kill pathogens that can live in dried blood.
"It is important to dispose of all medical waste, especially waste that comes from the body, so as not to spread diseases," Write said.
Hopkinsville Police Chief Guy Howie said the families must clean up the scene of a murder or suicide or pay to have it done.
"It doesn't sound very friendly, I know, but that's just how it has to be handled," Howie said. "Someone has to clean it up and someone has to dispose of all of this, it's just a matter of figuring out who. It's amazing that just one mattress on a curb can raise so many questions."
Someone solved sanitation's problem by taking the mattress from in front of the home. Bailey said sanitation workers didn't remove it, but finding out what became of the mattress is important. It had to be properly sterilized and disposed of.
"We can't just stick it in our landfill and be done with it," Bailey said. "Whether it's on that curb or not, it's still hazardous material."
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Del. firm cleans up gore from bloody crime scenes
IRA PORTER
The Associated Press
When Bryon Brainard was called to a crime scene in Milltown, he looked like an astronaut in a lab suit and respirator.
But instead of exploring space, Brainard was recruited in March to clean up after a man fatally stabbed his wife and then himself in their home in the 2700 block of Charles Place, according to police.
"It wasn't an in-and-out job type situation," Brainard said. The wife's bloody remains were in the entrance way while the husband's were in the living room.
It also wasn't an unfamiliar scene to Brainard, the lead technician for Wilmington's Diamond Chemical & Supply Co.
"I feel like we do something good for the family, because you'll have good memories and I think that goes a long way," he said about the company's specialty-wiping away the gory reminders of violent crime.
Because of the amount of blood at the Milltown house, Brainard needed to assemble a team of technicians armed with tools ranging from scrub brushes and sponges to ozone air purifiers.
"It's typically not a pretty scene," said Cpl. Trinidad Navarro of New Castle County police. "We do not do cleanups. We take pictures, video and DNA for blood fibers, but we're not involved in the actual cleanup."
Because police focus only on evidence, companies such as Diamond Chemical & Supply are popping up all over the country to clean up after slayings, suicides and some deaths from natural causes.
Though police don't endorse any of them, they generally advise crime victims' families to let professionals eliminate the messy, bloody and potentially infectious telltale signs of a violent death.
After 12 years on the job, Brainard is no stranger to what sometimes happens when emotions turn violent.
And he's cleaned up settings that make even the most bloody horror films seem tame-the stench of decaying flesh, coagulated blood on hardwood floors, skin left behind by gunshots.
"I must have a strong stomach," said Brainard, 51, of Wilmington. "A couple of my technicians have gotten a little queasy at times."
Recently he was called to a Wilmington apartment where a man died of natural causes but wasn't discovered for days. Brainard grabbed an air purifier to remove the stench, scrubbed the floor with a deodorizer and disinfectant and then sealed it. The job was done in less than a day.
Any items made of cloth-including the sofa, clothes and shoes-were tossed, he said.
"Anytime anyone has a carpet and blood has gotten on it, I advise them to get rid of it," Brainard said.
That's because blood-and its ability to spread disease-is always a concern for Brainard and his crew, whether they have to clean up specks or pools, he said.
Though he's now a veteran, Brainard got into the business in 1997 when he needed a job and answered a newspaper ad.
At first, managers at Diamond talked to him about their air and odor division but then asked if he would be up to cleaning trauma scenes.
"They explained it to me, and I thought it would be a good experience," Brainard said recently, while dressed head to toe in a biohazard suit and full-face respirator.
"I had the stomach to do it," he added. "It's funny. My wife likes to watch TV shows with doctors in the emergency room. I can't watch that stuff, but I can do this. I guess I just don't think about it."
Before starting a job, they interview families and try to learn if the person who died had hepatitis, HIV or any other infectious disease. And because blood can get into the air, they're quick to respond.
Diamond Chemical & Supply has 27 employees, said Richard Ventresca, president of Diamond Chemical & Supply, adding that some have been with him for 28 years. The company charges anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars per job, based on its complexity, he said.
Although cleaning up trauma scenes is not a top career choice among most, the market for companies such as Diamond Chemical is growing across the country.
Firms that clean crime scenes are represented by the American Bio-Recovery Association, a trade group based in Ipswich, Mass., that was founded in 1996 and now has 75 companies as members.
President Dale Cillian said there are hundreds of other companies across the country, some that specialize in crime scene cleanup and others that also offer trauma restoration services.
"I thought about doing something else-but then I wondered, 'What else can I do?' " said Cillian, who owns a crime scene cleanup company in Phoenix.
The Associated Press
When Bryon Brainard was called to a crime scene in Milltown, he looked like an astronaut in a lab suit and respirator.
But instead of exploring space, Brainard was recruited in March to clean up after a man fatally stabbed his wife and then himself in their home in the 2700 block of Charles Place, according to police.
"It wasn't an in-and-out job type situation," Brainard said. The wife's bloody remains were in the entrance way while the husband's were in the living room.
It also wasn't an unfamiliar scene to Brainard, the lead technician for Wilmington's Diamond Chemical & Supply Co.
"I feel like we do something good for the family, because you'll have good memories and I think that goes a long way," he said about the company's specialty-wiping away the gory reminders of violent crime.
Because of the amount of blood at the Milltown house, Brainard needed to assemble a team of technicians armed with tools ranging from scrub brushes and sponges to ozone air purifiers.
"It's typically not a pretty scene," said Cpl. Trinidad Navarro of New Castle County police. "We do not do cleanups. We take pictures, video and DNA for blood fibers, but we're not involved in the actual cleanup."
Because police focus only on evidence, companies such as Diamond Chemical & Supply are popping up all over the country to clean up after slayings, suicides and some deaths from natural causes.
Though police don't endorse any of them, they generally advise crime victims' families to let professionals eliminate the messy, bloody and potentially infectious telltale signs of a violent death.
After 12 years on the job, Brainard is no stranger to what sometimes happens when emotions turn violent.
And he's cleaned up settings that make even the most bloody horror films seem tame-the stench of decaying flesh, coagulated blood on hardwood floors, skin left behind by gunshots.
"I must have a strong stomach," said Brainard, 51, of Wilmington. "A couple of my technicians have gotten a little queasy at times."
Recently he was called to a Wilmington apartment where a man died of natural causes but wasn't discovered for days. Brainard grabbed an air purifier to remove the stench, scrubbed the floor with a deodorizer and disinfectant and then sealed it. The job was done in less than a day.
Any items made of cloth-including the sofa, clothes and shoes-were tossed, he said.
"Anytime anyone has a carpet and blood has gotten on it, I advise them to get rid of it," Brainard said.
That's because blood-and its ability to spread disease-is always a concern for Brainard and his crew, whether they have to clean up specks or pools, he said.
Though he's now a veteran, Brainard got into the business in 1997 when he needed a job and answered a newspaper ad.
At first, managers at Diamond talked to him about their air and odor division but then asked if he would be up to cleaning trauma scenes.
"They explained it to me, and I thought it would be a good experience," Brainard said recently, while dressed head to toe in a biohazard suit and full-face respirator.
"I had the stomach to do it," he added. "It's funny. My wife likes to watch TV shows with doctors in the emergency room. I can't watch that stuff, but I can do this. I guess I just don't think about it."
Before starting a job, they interview families and try to learn if the person who died had hepatitis, HIV or any other infectious disease. And because blood can get into the air, they're quick to respond.
Diamond Chemical & Supply has 27 employees, said Richard Ventresca, president of Diamond Chemical & Supply, adding that some have been with him for 28 years. The company charges anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars per job, based on its complexity, he said.
Although cleaning up trauma scenes is not a top career choice among most, the market for companies such as Diamond Chemical is growing across the country.
Firms that clean crime scenes are represented by the American Bio-Recovery Association, a trade group based in Ipswich, Mass., that was founded in 1996 and now has 75 companies as members.
President Dale Cillian said there are hundreds of other companies across the country, some that specialize in crime scene cleanup and others that also offer trauma restoration services.
"I thought about doing something else-but then I wondered, 'What else can I do?' " said Cillian, who owns a crime scene cleanup company in Phoenix.
Board defends role in victim compensation
Proposed overhaul would put decisions in staff's hands
By GINGER GIBSON
The News Journal
DOVER -- Members of the Violent Crimes Compensation Board, a complete overhaul of which was recommended recently by a legislative oversight group, say they are not opposed to making changes in the way they operate, but they want their regulations, not their board, to be revamped.
A task force including victims and victim advocates has been lobbying the Legislature to pass a bill that would overhaul the board, changing its purpose from making decisions about financial compensation for crime victims to simply serving as an appeals board that reviews decisions made by its staff. The overhauls also would move the staff to the supervision of the Department of Justice, rather than reporting solely to the board, and change the way board members are compensated -- replacing their $10,000 to $12,000 salaries with the state's standard rate of $100 per meeting for the board's weekly meetings and eliminating for future members the state pensions current board members receive.
Those pushing for the overhaul cite a long list of problems in their encounters with the board, including delays and wrongful denials.
But members of the board say the problems aren't created by the board itself but by the regulatory restraints placed on them while trying to help victims. "It's a cumbersome process. It could be an easier process," board member Thaddeus Koston said. "We're mandated by the process that is in place."
The board is responsible for doling out funds collected from traffic tickets and fines levied against people convicted of violent crimes. Under state law, those dollars are earmarked to provide money for medical care, lost wages, counseling, crime scene cleanup, moving and other costs for the victims of violent crime, including assault, arson and vehicular crimes.
Leah Betts, vice chairwoman of the board, said often she wishes she could provide more assistance to victims who come before her, but state laws set strict limits on what she can allow.
"We cannot pay for diamond earrings," Betts said, referring to a case the board heard Tuesday in which a robbery victim asked for money to replace stolen jewelry. "We have to make sure we're accountable. Every board member would welcome changes. There are times I've gone home upset because I couldn't help someone."
Legislative delay
The Legislature's Joint Sunset Committee has proposed a complete overhaul of the committee after several victims and advocates showed up at its meetings to express objections to how the board is run. But legislation that would have implemented the changes isn't expected to be heard before the Legislature breaks for the year after June.
Thomas Castaldi, the board's chairman, said putting decisions on how to spend state dollars in the hands of staffers would reduce transparency; the board meets and makes its decisions in public, he said, while the staff would not.
This week, at its weekly Tuesday meeting, it reviewed a dozen applications for compensation one at a time.
For each application, members read a stack of paperwork provided by the board's staff, asked a few questions and then voted on three questions for each: Was the applicant an innocent victim, was the requested compensation related to the crime and would the board award the funds?
The process is done without names to keep the victims' identities confidential and sometimes votes are taken with few details discussed in the public meeting.
Those details, however, can be enough to identify certain cases.
On Tuesday, for example, the board considered an emergency application to provide funeral expenses for a 22-month-old girl from Milford who allegedly was killed by her mother's 19-year-old boyfriend, Carl E. Sewell, earlier this month.
While the board awarded the $8,000 needed for funeral expenses, it did not award the applicant's request to be compensated for lost wages because the person's pay stubs weren't provided. Board members told an investigator working with the family to have the applicant return within the next several months with the proper documentation.
Another application from the family of a man killed in Dover, also seeking funds for the funeral, was denied.
After reading the police report, the committee decided that because the man had crack cocaine on him at the time of his death and police said he was selling the crack cocaine earlier, he did not meet the requirement of being an innocent victim.
By GINGER GIBSON
The News Journal
DOVER -- Members of the Violent Crimes Compensation Board, a complete overhaul of which was recommended recently by a legislative oversight group, say they are not opposed to making changes in the way they operate, but they want their regulations, not their board, to be revamped.
A task force including victims and victim advocates has been lobbying the Legislature to pass a bill that would overhaul the board, changing its purpose from making decisions about financial compensation for crime victims to simply serving as an appeals board that reviews decisions made by its staff. The overhauls also would move the staff to the supervision of the Department of Justice, rather than reporting solely to the board, and change the way board members are compensated -- replacing their $10,000 to $12,000 salaries with the state's standard rate of $100 per meeting for the board's weekly meetings and eliminating for future members the state pensions current board members receive.
Those pushing for the overhaul cite a long list of problems in their encounters with the board, including delays and wrongful denials.
But members of the board say the problems aren't created by the board itself but by the regulatory restraints placed on them while trying to help victims. "It's a cumbersome process. It could be an easier process," board member Thaddeus Koston said. "We're mandated by the process that is in place."
The board is responsible for doling out funds collected from traffic tickets and fines levied against people convicted of violent crimes. Under state law, those dollars are earmarked to provide money for medical care, lost wages, counseling, crime scene cleanup, moving and other costs for the victims of violent crime, including assault, arson and vehicular crimes.
Leah Betts, vice chairwoman of the board, said often she wishes she could provide more assistance to victims who come before her, but state laws set strict limits on what she can allow.
"We cannot pay for diamond earrings," Betts said, referring to a case the board heard Tuesday in which a robbery victim asked for money to replace stolen jewelry. "We have to make sure we're accountable. Every board member would welcome changes. There are times I've gone home upset because I couldn't help someone."
Legislative delay
The Legislature's Joint Sunset Committee has proposed a complete overhaul of the committee after several victims and advocates showed up at its meetings to express objections to how the board is run. But legislation that would have implemented the changes isn't expected to be heard before the Legislature breaks for the year after June.
Thomas Castaldi, the board's chairman, said putting decisions on how to spend state dollars in the hands of staffers would reduce transparency; the board meets and makes its decisions in public, he said, while the staff would not.
This week, at its weekly Tuesday meeting, it reviewed a dozen applications for compensation one at a time.
For each application, members read a stack of paperwork provided by the board's staff, asked a few questions and then voted on three questions for each: Was the applicant an innocent victim, was the requested compensation related to the crime and would the board award the funds?
The process is done without names to keep the victims' identities confidential and sometimes votes are taken with few details discussed in the public meeting.
Those details, however, can be enough to identify certain cases.
On Tuesday, for example, the board considered an emergency application to provide funeral expenses for a 22-month-old girl from Milford who allegedly was killed by her mother's 19-year-old boyfriend, Carl E. Sewell, earlier this month.
While the board awarded the $8,000 needed for funeral expenses, it did not award the applicant's request to be compensated for lost wages because the person's pay stubs weren't provided. Board members told an investigator working with the family to have the applicant return within the next several months with the proper documentation.
Another application from the family of a man killed in Dover, also seeking funds for the funeral, was denied.
After reading the police report, the committee decided that because the man had crack cocaine on him at the time of his death and police said he was selling the crack cocaine earlier, he did not meet the requirement of being an innocent victim.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Why you need crime scene cleanup services
By Alex Thomson
Crime scene cleanup or trauma scene cleanup after the death of someone either violently or naturally is by and large the responsibility of the victim’s family. Even till few years ago, there were a handful of cleaning companies that specialized in trauma cleaning service. But today this niche service has emerged as a lucrative business and there are many companies who provide this service.
Trauma cleaning service requires special experience, skills, equipment and expertise to deal with different types of bio-hazardous waste and dispose them efficiently with the minimum possible emotional stress to the victim’s family.
The most traumatic form of death is violent death and leaves the victim’s family feeling both victimized and traumatized. Coming to terms with the unnatural death of a loved one is in itself an uphill task for the bereaved family, and to top it they have to deal with other practical matters like making funeral arrangements, dealing with insurance issues, contacting surviving family and friends and locating wills. Furthermore, in case of violent crimes the police and the media are also involved. This can really overwhelm any family. Here is where trauma cleaning service comes to your rescue. They lighten one of the heaviest burdens, that is of dealing with the horrid murder cleanup. They will take care of the crime scene cleanup, ensuring that the scene is restored to its pre-incidental state as far as possible and in the most quick and efficient manner thus allowing you to deal with other important matters. Most service providers work discreetly and protect the confidentiality of the sufferer and family.
Most of the times, the crime scenes are so ghastly that they can induce additional emotional trauma in victim’s friends and family. By hiring professionals for cleanup, you can reduce this emotional stress. Immediately after death the nature begins its process of breaking down the body. Unattended death scene and dead bodies can be dangerous as it gives rise to blood borne pathogens, mold spores and bacteria. You may try to clean the area by yourself but the exposure may result in flu-like diseases or direct attack on the respiratory system. So it is advisable to leave this job to professionals who specialize in bio fluid and blood remediation.
The total cost involving a trauma scene cleanup will depend on a number of factors. One of the most major factors is that how many technicians will be needed for the job, how long will the job take and the quantity of hazardous material that needs to be treated and disposed of. It can range anywhere in the range of $100 to $1000 per hour. Some people might call this business as capitalizing on death but it is still essential and indispensable in case of a death.
Crime scene cleanup or trauma scene cleanup after the death of someone either violently or naturally is by and large the responsibility of the victim’s family. Even till few years ago, there were a handful of cleaning companies that specialized in trauma cleaning service. But today this niche service has emerged as a lucrative business and there are many companies who provide this service.
Trauma cleaning service requires special experience, skills, equipment and expertise to deal with different types of bio-hazardous waste and dispose them efficiently with the minimum possible emotional stress to the victim’s family.
The most traumatic form of death is violent death and leaves the victim’s family feeling both victimized and traumatized. Coming to terms with the unnatural death of a loved one is in itself an uphill task for the bereaved family, and to top it they have to deal with other practical matters like making funeral arrangements, dealing with insurance issues, contacting surviving family and friends and locating wills. Furthermore, in case of violent crimes the police and the media are also involved. This can really overwhelm any family. Here is where trauma cleaning service comes to your rescue. They lighten one of the heaviest burdens, that is of dealing with the horrid murder cleanup. They will take care of the crime scene cleanup, ensuring that the scene is restored to its pre-incidental state as far as possible and in the most quick and efficient manner thus allowing you to deal with other important matters. Most service providers work discreetly and protect the confidentiality of the sufferer and family.
Most of the times, the crime scenes are so ghastly that they can induce additional emotional trauma in victim’s friends and family. By hiring professionals for cleanup, you can reduce this emotional stress. Immediately after death the nature begins its process of breaking down the body. Unattended death scene and dead bodies can be dangerous as it gives rise to blood borne pathogens, mold spores and bacteria. You may try to clean the area by yourself but the exposure may result in flu-like diseases or direct attack on the respiratory system. So it is advisable to leave this job to professionals who specialize in bio fluid and blood remediation.
The total cost involving a trauma scene cleanup will depend on a number of factors. One of the most major factors is that how many technicians will be needed for the job, how long will the job take and the quantity of hazardous material that needs to be treated and disposed of. It can range anywhere in the range of $100 to $1000 per hour. Some people might call this business as capitalizing on death but it is still essential and indispensable in case of a death.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Crime Scene Cleanup: What It Involves
A crime scene cleanup service is not without its complications. Crime scene cleaning encompasses restoring the crime scene to its original state. When a crime is usually discovered, crime scene cleaners are not called until after officers of the law, like the crime scene investigators, have done their jobs first and have given the go ahead for the cleaners to come in. If you intend to hire a crime scene cleanup company, you must make sure that they are well equipped and fit right to get the job done. A crime scene presents challenging conditions.
The Use Of Protective Gears:
Crime scenes can very well involve the use of hazardous or deadly substances. For safety reasons then, it has become imperative that crime scene cleaners use protective clothing, in addition to protective tools and gadgets. You must see to it that they have all the necessary protective gears and gadgets. The protective clothing can consist of disposable gloves and suits. A disposable gear is preferred nowadays since it offers the best protection against contamination. You use it one time and get rid of it. That way, the dangers of contamination is virtually brought down to zero percent. Protective clothing extends to respirators and the use of heavy-duty industrial or chemical-spill protective boots.
Among the gadgets that a crime scene cleaning company must have are special brushes, special sprayers, and wet vacuum. These special tools ensure added protection against getting into contact with the hazard could very well be present in the crime scene. There is large, special equipment such as a mounted steam injection tool that is designed to sanitize dried up biohazard materials such as scattered flesh and brain. You would also need to check if they have the specialized tank for chemical treatments and industrial strength waste containers to collect biohazard waste.
Of course, any crime scene clean up must have the usual cleaning supplies common to all cleaning service companies. There are the buckets, mops, brushes and spray bottles. For cleaning products, you should check if they use industrial cleaning products. A crime scene cleaning company must have these on their lists:
1 - Disinfectants including hydrogen peroxide and bleaches - The kinds that the hospitals used are commonly acceptable.
2 - Enzyme solvers for cleaning blood stains. It also kills viruses and bacteria.
3 - Odor removers such as foggers, ozone machines, and deodorizers
4 - Handy tools for breaking and extending such as saws, sledgehammers, and ladders
Established crime scene operators also equip themselves with cameras and take pictures of the crime scene before commencing work which. The pictures taken may prove useful for legal matters and insurance purposes. You never know which.
Needless to say, a specially fitted form of transportation and proper waste disposal is also needed. These requirements are specific. As you can imagine, crime scene cleaning is in a different category on its own. A home cleaning or janitorial service company may not be able to cope up with the demands of a crime scene. A crime scene cleanup service requires many special gears and tools that a home cleaning or a janitorial service company does not usually have or does not require. Crime scene cleaning if not done correctly can expose the public to untold hazards.
What Else To Look For In A Crime Scene Cleanup Company
You may also want to hire a company that has established itself. An experienced company with a strong reputation is always a plus but it could be expensive too. You will do well to balance your needs with what is your budget. There are several companies that offer specific prices such as for death scene clean up categories and suicide clean up categories. Most companies own a website and have round the clock customer service as receptionists.
When looking for a suitable crime scene cleaning service, among the first things you need to do is to scout for price quotes. Crime scene cleanup services usually provide quote after they have examined the crime scene and then they give you a definite quote. Factors that are usually considered include the number of personnel that will be needed to get the job done. It also includes the amount of time that might be needed. The nature and amount of the waste materials that need to be disposed will also be factored in. You can be sure that the more sophisticated equipments needed the more expensive it will get.
Crime Scene Cleanup And Your Insurance
For homeowners, the best approach is always to make sure that crime scene cleanup services clauses and provisions are written down on the contracts or policies. The inclusion of crime cleanup services clauses is very common and has become standard clause in most homeowner’s policy. Make sure that you are covered for this unforeseen event. Make sure that your policy directs the crime scene cleaning company to transact directly with the homeowner insurance company. A crime scene cleaning service is usually a standard clause in many homeowners’ insurance clause. These companies often do the paperwork in behalf of clients.
If for some reason you do not have such coverage by any policies relating to crime scene cleanup on your home, there are ways to keep your expenses controlled.
Finding the right company can be very taxing, especially that you have to deal with the emotional stress stemming from the crime itself, especially with a crime scene involving death.
There are many crime scene cleanup companies in operation nowadays. There are reliable professionals that you can hire and prices are relatively competitive. As of recently, crime-scene cleanup services can cost up to $600 for an hour of their service. A homicide case alone involving a single room and a huge amount of blood can cost about $1,000 to $3,000.
In recent years, crime scene cleaning has come to be known as, "Crime and Trauma Scene Decontamination or CTS. Basically, CTS is a special form of crime scene cleaning focusing on decontamination of the crime scene from hazardous substances such as those resulting from violent crimes or those involving chemical contaminations such as methamphetamine labs or anthrax production. This type of service is particularly common when violent crimes are committed in a home. It is rare that the residents move out of the home after it has become a scene of a crime. Most often, the residents just opt to have it cleaned up. That is why, it is very important to hire the best crime scene cleaning company out there. The place needs to be totally free from contamination of any kind. You have to make sure that the company is able to remove all traces of the violent crime that took place. This includes cleaning biohazards that are sometimes invisible to the untrained eye.
Legally speaking, federal laws state that all bodily fluids are deemed biohazards and you should make sure that the cleanup service company you hire understands this and includes it in the cleanup. These things appear as blood or tissue splattered on a crime scene. You must be able to hire a company that is equipped with special knowledge to safely handle biohazard materials. The company must have the knowledge what to search for in any give biohazard crime scene. For instance, the company should be able to tell clues such that if there is a bloodstain the size of a thumbnail on a carpet, you can bet that there is about a huge bloodstain underneath. Federal and State laws have their own laws in terms of transport and disposal of biohazard waste. Make sure that the company you hire has all the permits necessary.
It will also be a huge plus if you could hire people who not only has the special trainings but also who have the nature to be sympathetic. If you are close to the victim and have the cleaning done at the behest of the victim’s relatives, it would matter that the cleaners tread the site with some level of respect. It is a common site that family members and loved ones are often there at scene. In general, when looking for a suitable crime scene cleaners, you would take into considerations the kind of situation that the crimes scene presents and the demands that it require. Crime scene cleaning companies handle a wide variety of crime scenes and prices may vary from one to the other crime scene and one to the other company.
Each type of scene requires its own particular demands not only to make the crime scene look clean and neat on the surface but to make it germ free, and clean inside and to make it free from all deadly and infectious substances. The cleanup cost for biohazards may vary depending on degree of the bio hazard(s) on the scene. There may even be a category that changes the cleanup pricing which usually involves decomposing bodies and carcasses. Likewise, a cleanup of chemical hazards vary, depending on the amount of chemical hazards as well as the grades i.e. how hazardous the substance is in terms of human contact. Prices are also determined by the number of hours and personnel that it would to get the crime scene cleaned. In addition, the "gross factor" from crime scene involving death and gore needs to be taken under consideration regarding the chemicals that will be used as opposed to those crimes' that do not have gore involved.
Monday, May 11, 2009
At bloody crime scenes, they wipe away the gore
By IRA PORTER
The News Journal
When Bryon Brainard was called to a crime scene in Milltown, he looked like an astronaut in a lab suit and respirator.
But instead of exploring space, Brainard was recruited in March to clean up after a man fatally stabbed his wife and then himself in their home in the 2700 block of Charles Place, according to police.
"It wasn't an in-and-out job type situation," Brainard recalled.
The wife's bloody remains were in the entrance way while the husband's were in the living room.
It also wasn't an unfamiliar scene to Brainard, the lead technician for Wilmington's Diamond Chemical & Supply Co.
"I feel like we do something good for the family, because you'll have good memories and I think that goes a long way," he said about the company's specialty -- wiping away the gory reminders of violent crime.
Because of the amount of blood at the Milltown house, Brainard needed to assemble a team of technicians that was armed with tools ranging from scrub brushes and sponges to ozone air purifiers.
"It's typically not a pretty scene," said Cpl. Trinidad Navarro of New Castle County police. "We do not do cleanups. We take pictures, video and DNA for blood fibers, but we're not involved in the actual cleanup."
Because police focus only on evidence, companies such as Diamond Chemical & Supply are popping up all over the country to clean up after slayings, suicides and some deaths from natural causes.
Though police don't endorse any of them, they generally advise crime victims' families to let professionals eliminate the messy, bloody and potentially infectious telltale signs of a violent death.
"I would certainly recommend to a family to have a professional company do it for all the safety reasons," Navarro said.
Not for the faint of heart
After 12 years on the job, Brainard is no stranger to what sometimes happens when emotions turn violent.
And he's cleaned up settings that make even the most bloody horror films seem tame -- the stench of decaying flesh, coagulated blood on hardwood floors, skin left behind by gunshots.
"I must have a strong stomach," said Brainard, 51, of Wilmington. "A couple of my technicians have gotten a little queasy at times."
Recently he was called to a Wilmington apartment where a man died of natural causes but wasn't discovered for days. Brainard grabbed an air purifier to remove the stench, scrubbed the floor with a deodorizer and disinfectant and then sealed it.
Any items made of cloth -- including the sofa, clothes and shoes -- were tossed, he said. The job was done in less than a day.
Though he's now a veteran, Brainard got into the business in 1997 when he needed a job and answered a newspaper ad.
At first, managers at Diamond talked to him about their air and odor division but then asked if he would be up to cleaning trauma scenes.
"They explained it to me, and I thought it would be a good experience," Brainard said recently, while dressed head to toe in a biohazard suit and full-face respirator.
"I had the stomach to do it," he added. "It's funny. My wife likes to watch TV shows with doctors in the emergency room. I can't watch that stuff, but I can do this. I guess I just don't think about it."
But he does think about the potential hazards of his job.
"Anytime anyone has a carpet and blood has gotten on it, I advise them to get rid of it," Brainard said.
That's because blood -- and its ability to spread disease -- is always a concern for Brainard and his crew, whether they have to clean up specks or pools, he said.
Before starting a job, they interview families and try to learn if the person who died had hepatitis, HIV or any other infectious disease. And because blood can get into the air, they're quick to respond.
"Our response time is immediate," said Richard Ventresca, president of Diamond Chemical & Supply. "If you call me and tell me that you have a situation, I'll try to have someone out there within an hour."
The business of it all
Diamond Chemical & Supply has 27 employees, Ventresca said, adding that some have been with him for 28 years.
The company charges anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars per job, based on its complexity, he said.
Although cleaning up trauma scenes is not a top career choice among most, the market for companies such as Diamond Chemical is growing across the country.
Firms that clean crime scenes are represented by the American Bio-Recovery Association, a trade group based in Ipswich, Mass., that was founded in 1996 and now has 75 companies as members.
President Dale Cillian said there are hundreds of other companies across the country, some that specialize in crime scene cleanup and others that also offer trauma restoration services.
"I thought about doing something else -- but then I wondered, 'What else can I do?' " said Cillian, who owns a crime scene cleanup company in Phoenix.
Though grisly to some, the work helps families who could not deal with clearing away the physical reminders of what happened to a loved one, Brainard said.
"You don't want that to be your last memory of your loved one," Ventresca said. "You want to have good memories and I think that goes a long way."
Additional Facts
DO-IT-YOURSELF TIPS
Diamond Chemical recommends that families call professionals for help after a tragedy. But if they try to clean up themselves, they should:
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