Crime scene cleaning - what would you charge?

[Neal Oxley]

I was called upon to clean a carpet and some upholstery yesterday which was covered in blood following an "incident" which is under police investigation. Obviously I can't give any details but there was a lot of blood to clean up and it had to be done pronto as the area concerned had to be brought back into use within four hours. I used a lot of stain pro, microsan and an air mover, plus it had to be up four flights of stairs didn't it. On the hottest day of the year. I drank nearly as much water as I put in the machine...
Anyway, having never done this type of work before I wondered if anyone could suggest what the going rate should be. I ask because whenever I have done subcontracting work for insurance contractors, usually flood damage, you are normally told what the charge per hour is. This isn't an insurance job as the customer has a massive excess on their policy, but had they made a claim I reckon £50-60 an hour would have been charged by the contractor. I don't feel I can charge as much as that - any opinions?

 

[Mark Roberts]

So have you done the job without setting the price?

How large was the area, obviously the price should reflect the extra time involved, solutions used and the time needed to disinfect your machine and so on.

Never be afraid to hit them with a big price, there is always someone charging more than you.
£6/m2 minimum, prob more without seeing it.

 

[geoffrey wrightson]

Neil, two weeks ago i was asked to clean a rented property as the landlord had found his tennent slumped in upstairs bedroom , a pool of blood size of dinner plate on carpet,the room was 4x5 approx.
allowing for decontamination of all machines, tools etc, return visit for any wicking back , i quoted £250. no problem booked me straight away.

the landlords reply was still alot less hassle and cheaper than buying a new one
Geoff

 

[Ken Wainwright]

Neil

As it was a crime scene, I presume you first checked with the police as to whether it was OK to clean, and not required for any further examinations or checks?

As for cleaning up, if you haven't done this sort of thing before, go on the relevant training course before you do another. Literally, your life could depend on it.

As for your invoice, you must cost in the time it has taken you to clean and sanitise ALL equipment that was taken into the building. The hoses, tools, machine (inside and out)bucket...... Dispose of all PPE used at a suitable licensed facility. Did you tip your blood.y water down the loo, drain or onto the garden? Very naughty. Are all of your jabs upto date?

£50 to £60 an hour? With all that work? You're giving credit? You're putting your own health and welfare and possibly your life at risk? These figures you are talking about are too low. I can earn more than that maintenace cleaning an office carpet. For myself, I would be looking at something more like £100 per hour minimum. Not just the hours on site, but those for the clean down too.

Extra extra safe and happy cleaning

Ken

 

[Neal Oxley]

Thanks for the prompt replies guys. Mark - yes i took the job on a "don't care what it costs" basis, and I said until I had done the job I couldn't say how much it would be anyway. Honestly, I have never seen so much blood.
The point of the post was so I can go to them and say that this is a fair price in complete confidence that fellow pros would charge something similar. In that respect your comments are very useful.
I am also going back tomorrow to post check and deal with any wicking problems. I would say the carpet area was about 20 sq m but it was an irregula shape. There was also some furniture to clean/sanitise so I was thinking £150 - 200 would be about right - until I saw geoff's reply!

 

[Neal Oxley]

Ken - thanks also, I was composing the above reply whilst you were posting yours. I take your advice absolutely about training. To be honest I naively assumed the police have their own preferred contractors for this sort of thing which is why I have never done it before. But the seemingly cavalier way in which the whole situation was dealt with - by the police, the property owner, and the health service had me wondering why I was being so apprehensive. No -one apart from me seemed to be at all concerned about the potential risks involved.
One query - are you implying that there is something wrong with disposing of blood contaminated water down a foul drain? surely that's exactly where it should go?

 

[Ken Wainwright]

Hi again Neal

I do not do this sort of work, so my knowledge is purely anecdotal.

I believe that blood soiling is considered to be a hazardous/biological waste and disposed of in the appropriate manner. To me, this means at a licensed facility and not down any type of drain.

 

[John Kelly]

Although technically blood is classed as a biohazard waste, I think when extracted out after having been adequately disinfected and diluted most contractors carrying out this work would be happy pouring it down the toilet.
It may not be the correct procedure but you have to take into account the hazardous handling required to transfer it to a suitable container for disposal at a designated waste site.
If on the other hand the carpet was disposed of, which should have been the right procedure, then the carpet, underlay etc would have to be disinfected, wrapped in polythene and taken to a designated disposal site with staff wearing adequate ppe at all times.
Fresh blood is very fluid and as such can flow like water into hidden voids, soak into concrete etc. Also the underlay would have absorbed quite a bit. Did you check all this. The carpet should really have been disposed of, however you did what you did which is probably what the client wanted. Beware that if there was blood left in the underlay, subfloor or anywhere else it will start to decompose and cause a right stink in both senses of the word.
You should be looking at a minimum of £100 per hour + PPE cost + time to decontaminate evrything that was used, especially your extraction machine, which incidently should have been vented outside away from anywhere people could come into contact with the exhaust stream.

 

[Neal Oxley]

John - thanks for those comments, I will check out the disposal issue with the relevant authorities but like you I reckon if treated with something like microsan the resultant waste must be safe enough to put down a foul drain.
I will also write to the customer advising the carpet be disposed of, even though having checked it yesterday there is no obvious sign of any soiling. Knowing the establishment I don't think they will take the advice, one of the problems is they have a huge excess on their insurance policy, no doubt because of the likelihood of this sort of thing happening.
I hope this has been of use to anyone else presented with a similar situation.