Crime/Trauma Cleanup
Before I get into specifics let me tell you why I think you might be
interested in this field. I don't want to oversell it so, first, let's look
at the downside for this type of cleaning service:
- Thankfully, in most places, this will only
be a sideline for your cleaning business. There just isn't enough tragedy to make this
full-time work.
- The nature of the work itself. You clean up after crime scenes, suicides and the like.
- It's a 24/7 job. Tragedies and crimes don't necessarily happen at convenient times.
- Dealing with blood and the like carries risk.
Now, given that it has a sizeable downside, why exactly would you want to go into
this type of cleaning work?
- It's part-time; you won't have to deal with tragic events all day everyday. You can do it
as a well-paying sideline to your regular cleaning business.
- Proper training, equipment and cleaning products minimize the risk.
- Because of the regulations you have to live with, nature of the work, etc. There is
minimal competition. Depending on where you live you may be the only cleaning company
within a hundred miles that supplies this type of service.
- Word of mouth advertising from funeral directors, religious leaders, insurance adjusters
and others will often supply 90% of your clients.
- You are paid for your knowledge and expertise in a difficult field -- which can
mean hundreds of dollars for a few hours of labor; and thousands for a few days.
There is tremendous growth potential
Even today, it's estimated that only about 20% of death/trauma scenes are cleaned by
trained professionals. The other 80% is left to family, friends or
someone else who is ill equipped, untrained and unfamiliar with the laws
covering disposing of blood and body wastes, personal protection equipment, and
industry standards.
But this is changing rapidly. In California for instance, the California
Health and Safety Code has been amended to require
any company that cleans up blood or body fluids
to register with the California Department of Health Services.
I'm from California so I'm most familiar with California
state law but this is happening in other states as well. Over the next decade of so that
80% of the work done by untrained amateurs is going to shrink way down. There
will be great growth in this field for professionals.
A Different Kind of Cleaning Business
Crime/Trauma cleanup is different from basic home or commercial cleaning and
not just for the obvious reasons. I have always promoted the cleaning field because
it's so much less expensive to get into compared to other businesses. And it allows you
to rapidly convert your labor into business capital, again unlike almost any other
business.
Crime/Trauma scene cleanup is more expensive to get into both in terms of investment
costs and knowledge needed to do this work. I do not recommend it
for people who want to "learn as they earn." But it is very worthwhile if you
have an established company and would like to add a new source of income.
I recommend it especially to people who have experience in other lines of work
or types of cleaning businesses that gives you knowledge useful in this field.
I include paramedics, firemen, nurses, and hospital cleaning staff in this list.
Cleaning business owners that service nursing homes or doctor's offices would
be well prepared for this type of work as well. And cleaning businesses that
do disaster cleanup and have experience dealing with insurance
adjusters, have a great head start.
Plus, I'm sure that are a lot of people reading this
newsletter who have personal or business experience I haven't mentioned that
would be useful in crime/trauma cleanup.
What's a realistic idea of the money involved?
I am not an expert in this field but I have seen contemporary quotes of $250 to
$500 an hour for basic cleanup work. Many trained and insured trauma
scene cleanup companies have a minimum charge. This is likely to
run from $500 to $900 for the first two hours, with additional hourly labor charges
ranging from $75 to $175, plus disposal fees. Additional charges based on hazards
may apply, with costs ranging from $75 to $225 per man-hour.
According to Don McNulty, editor of The Bio Clean Newsletter
the average invoice in the U. S. will total from $1500 to $1800.
The times they really are a-changing
Once upon a time many businesses just ignored the law and had their people
clean up blood or other residue themselves without any regard for safety, federal regulation
or state law. However, there have been big changes in attitudes about human wastes since the
advent of AIDS/HIV and other diseases that can be spread by contact with blood.
Also, OSHA now has the power to level fines
up to $7,000 for accidental violations of their rules and up to $70,000 for deliberate
violations.
As I said earlier, the 80% of the work done by amateurs is rapidly declining.
Which means that the field has the potential to grow by
up to 500% over the next decade or so.
Click here
for more information from
The American Bio-Recovery
Association which is a nationwide non-profit association of crime and trauma
scene recovery professionals.
And don't forget to read my current online article:
Summertime Tax Savings: Turning Trash Into Cash
See you next time, until then, Keep It Clean!
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