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Crime Scene Cleanup School |
Crime Scene Cleanup School |
There is the short answer and the long answer to getting started.
The short answer:
You need bloodborne pathogen training.
A couple hundred dollars will do to get you started in your own business. This means that you will spend your money at the American Redcross (see bloodborne pathogens), and you will buy a few tools and such.
You basically run a rogue operation with no insurance, few rescources, and a fairly steep learning curve for a bit. If you are good at marketing and have no crony competitors, then be prepared to refer any large jobs that you get to larger companies. The going return is 10 percent, which is not bad on a $4,000 job.
However, you take many risks without having insurance. You also should have a biohazard transporter to pick up any biohazard waste that may come your way.
All of this assumes that you have a telephone and someone to answer it 24/7/365; otherwise, what are you doing here? Of course, if you have a business at present and you are adding crime scene cleanup to you add-ons, you may already have an answering service and reasonably deep pockets.
Before getting started in this business, be aware that you should have a legal means of disposing of your biohazardous waste if you cannot alter it to something else, something safe for anyone to handle accidently or otherwise. You will need a vehicle, preferable a pickup with an enclosed shell with a working lock on it. Even a car trunk will do when you are small.
You shold not place anything that has been contaminated by blood in the same space that you or any other person (or animal) will occupy. So think about this before buying a van for your business. Van's can be customized, too.
Besides a good telephone policy, you need start-up capital if you do not have flexible working hours at present. Very few of us can walk into this business and expect to earn decent money for some time; there is the exception of cronyism, as in Orange County, California, we know. (see cronyism)
More,
How will I do in the Crime Scene Cleanup Business?
There are no certainties in business beyond taxes and death. There are informed, considered, and educated estimations that will help answer the question, "How will I do in the crime scene cleanup business?".
Answering this question must take time and consideration for a fair analysis of your potential in this field.
Consider real estate sales and how the real estate industry answers this question with 3 answers:
1. Location,
2. Location,
3. Location.
Where are you and what do you hope to achieve? Do you want a full-time occupation or a part-time occupation? Do you want to be an employee? Do you want to be an employer?
Look at the diagram above. If your competitors are in the loop for all 3 circles, and you are in one and only one, the green, then you will have a much tougher time than if you were in the loop for all 3.
"Government" here means city, county, state, or federal government.
Examples:
If you do not have crony competitors, you are in luck, but don't expect it to last. You can expect to make it so long as you can tough out the first year or two. If you have crony competitors, go into something else unless you can find a way to fight city hall. As likely as not, coroner and medical examiner and county administration supervision will have a hand in cronyism or know of it.
At this writing, this writer has found no sophisticated marketing analysis of either of the above or other markets. Consider the density of population, the average age of the population, the average income, and other variables as they are found.
Startup Income
Who does the coroner's employees refer to responsible parties, brother-in-law, friends?
What is your relationship to first responders?
Are you in contact with morticians or others in this line of social services?
Are you competing with francishes?
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Hey Eddie,Been looking at your site for awhile I am very interested in the Cts Decon field.. Do you know of any regs for the state of Ga? And could you tell me if there is a reasonably priced deodorizer to combat the miasma of decomposition?
As far as I know, Georgia is still pretty loose. In fact, I have heard that Georgia cleaners have their biowaste shipped out of state.
Talk with your EPA and health departments.
Eddie Evans
Crime Scene Cleanup
What Must I Have?
You must have bloodborne pathogen training.
Nothing gets done without this first step. Cleanup blood for pay without it and you are violating a federal law, an OSHA law. Get certified in bloodborne pathogen training at your local Red Cross (under $100) or elsewhere locally.
You need the motivation to do this type of work. If you heard someone say, "Not everyone can do this type of work," trust that they are a bit naive. Humanity has done this type of work for all of recorded history and beyond.
The difference today is that we do not slaughter and butcher our own food and bury our own dead. Before, there were no para-medics, no hospitals, no hospices. We are just not used to dealing with blood and tissue, human or otherwise.
We are said to be "alienated" from the full experience of being human because of our modern lifestyle. Before our modern period, before the germ theory of disease and alienation, most people were probably well versed in handling blood and trauma scenes.
Given the stimulus to clean trauma, any able-bodied person can do it. It is simply a matter of over-coming myth and fear.
Most simply, it is all in the head.
Ideally
Ideally, to get started, you should have these items.
Insurance - Insurance can be found for cleaning at a reasonable rate, under $1,500 per year. The idea is to find insurance for janitorial service and have "bio-hazard cleanup" or such added.
With that said, many start-up companies operate without insurance in the beginning. It's a matter of priorities. Insurance should be a priority for your own protection. Besides, management companies will ask for proof of insurance, and these days, some insist on three to five million. More on their reasoning later.
Vehicle - You should have a vehicle with an enclosed area, a compartment seperate from the driver and passengers. Strictly speaking, once red bags are placed in your vehicle, you should have a red biohazard symbol on the back of your vehicle. You will invite unwanted attention by placing this symbol on your vehicle, but it is required in many areas.
Red bags - You should have red bags for biohazardous material and someone to pick-up this material. In California and possibly elsewhere, the cleaner must have proof of a biohazard transporter contract. Without such, the state will not issue a license to the cleaner's company.
Other states have other rules; some have no rules. See Florida for some information in this regard.
Chemicals - Chemicals exist in nature and are also manufactured. Natural chemicals exist as air, water, and substance (gas, liquid, and matter). Manufactured chemicals, like bleach, are very helpful, but also hazardous in many cases. Under certain circumstances, bleach becomes chlorine gas, a deadly chemicals used to kill human beings in World War II.
Chlorine gas is too easy to make by accident; consequently, bleach is not mixed with other chemicals. Know your cleaning chemicals and your cleaning solutions will be less expensive and more effective.
Duct Tape - Duct tape: Always have duct tape around, needed or not. Buy extra rolls and never be without it.
Cutting Tools - We use the "Bloody Mary," and it is very dangerous and MUST be used with GREAT CAUTION. There are many other tools on the market for cutting carpet and other fabrics. Learn about them.
Hydrating chemicals (product pictures will be available by 1/25/09). It is important to learn two parts of the cleaning process early: pre-treating and dwell time. Once an area is pre-treated, let the area "dwell" and move on to another area to clean. Return and clean once your chemicles have had dwell time. Cleaning is much easier and faster in this way.
Rope is an important item because it helps to bundle bulky furniture. With rope, one cleaner can tie useful handles on a mattress for removal.
Handles can be used to pull bulky furniture, like mattresses. Pulling is usually easier than pushing. On stairways, much caution must be exercised moving mattresses. We usually stand to the back end of bulky items when going down. We gain more control in this way.
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