specialist
Biohazard and trauma cleaning
Biohazard cleaning costs £600 to £2,500 for most jobs, with a minimum callout of £300 to £600 and unattended death work running £1,000 to £3,500. It is not a harder version of deep cleaning. It is decontamination carried out in protective equipment, with everything removed travelling as clinical waste under its own paperwork.
What this covers
What it costs. Biohazard cleaning costs £600 to £2,500 for most jobs, with a minimum callout of £300 to £600. Full cost breakdown.
What the job covers
- Trauma and unattended death scenes made safe and cleaned
- Blood and body fluid decontamination
- Sharps recovery and safe disposal
- Removal of contaminated carpet, flooring and plaster
- Odour treatment once the source has gone
What is involved
The material is the reason for the price. Blood and body fluids are treated as infectious, so the operatives work in suits with respiratory protection, the room is sealed while the work is done, and everything that comes out goes into rigid clinical waste containers that are consigned and tracked rather than tipped.
Porous surfaces almost always leave with the waste. Carpet, underlay, floorboards and plasterboard absorb, cannot be verified as clean, and are cut out rather than treated, which is why a small area on the floor can become a job involving joists. Anything non-porous can be decontaminated in place and tested afterwards.
Odour is the last stage and it only works in that order. Attacking a smell before the source has been removed masks it for a few days, which is why the trade treats odour as the final step after the contaminated material has gone and the surfaces beneath it have been verified.
Choosing someone for the job
Ask how the waste is consigned. Hazardous clinical waste travels on a consignment note and you should be given a copy.
Ask what they cut out and what they treat. A company proposing to shampoo a contaminated carpet has told you what it does not know.
Ask whether they deal with insurers directly. Most of this work is claimable and the companies that do it regularly will invoice the insurer rather than you.
Common questions
Is this covered by insurance?
Often, though not always. Some buildings and contents policies cover it and some carry a specific clause for trauma, so the wording is worth reading before anybody is booked. Companies that do this work regularly are used to quoting in the form an insurer wants.
Who deals with an unattended death?
A specialist firm, once the police have released the scene. Neither the police nor the coroner clean, and there is no public service that does; it falls to the property owner or the next of kin to arrange.