When someone dies alone at home in Port Ludlow and is not found right away, an independent biohazard cleanup company that you hire directly handles the cleanup, not the family. Biohazard Network can connect you with an independent local company; we do not do the cleanup ourselves.
We are sorry you are facing this. This page explains what happens first, what the work involves, what can make it take longer, and what landlords need to know.
What unattended death cleanup involves
An unattended death means a person died with no one present and was found later. The area can hold biohazards, which are biological materials that can carry disease. Some of these may contain bloodborne pathogens, which are germs carried in blood that can infect people. Body fluids can soak into porous materials, meaning things that absorb liquid, such as carpet, padding, mattresses, drywall and wood subfloor.
Household cleaning can remove what you see, but it cannot reach what has soaked in, and it puts the person cleaning at risk. Professional cleanup protects your health, and removing all affected material protects the home’s future, so problems do not return months later.
What happens first
The coroner’s work
A coroner is the official responsible for looking into certain deaths. In Jefferson County, that office is the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office1, and the role of the coroner is to determine cause and manner of death. Washington law gives the coroner authority over a person who dies suddenly without recent medical care, or whose body is found, and allows the person to be moved to the morgue. You can reach the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office at 360-385-9180.
Until the home is released, meaning officials say their work there is done, do not clean, move or throw away anything in the affected room. Keep that door closed and keep children and pets out. You are not expected to clean anything yourself.
The funeral home
Once the coroner’s office releases the person, the family chooses a funeral home. The funeral home cares for your loved one. The cleanup company cares for the home. These are separate calls, and it is fine to make the funeral arrangements first.
What to expect from the company you hire
The crew will wear protective equipment such as gloves, suits and respirators. They set up containment, which means sealing off the work area so nothing spreads to the rest of the house. They remove affected porous materials, then carry out disinfection, which means using products that kill germs on the surfaces that remain. Work on lingering odor comes after the source is removed, not before.
Washington defines biomedical waste, meaning regulated medical-type waste, narrowly; one listed type is discarded human blood and materials containing free-flowing blood. Ask the company who will haul that waste. The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission requires solid waste collection companies to hold a certificate before hauling for pay, and a biomedical waste hauler must keep a plan that holds this waste apart from other garbage. If you find sharps, meaning used needles or lancets, ask about Jefferson County Public Health2’s Home Syringe Disposal program.
Ask for photos and a written scope of work for your insurer. The Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC) warns that signing a contractor’s assignment of benefit form could affect your rights, so read anything before you sign.
Before you hire anyone, ask whether the crew follows OSHA’s bloodborne pathogens standard3, 29 CFR 1910.1030, and the ANSI/IICRC S540 Standard for Trauma and Crime Scene Cleanup (the IICRC is a non-profit organization for the inspection, cleaning and restoration industries). Then look the business up in the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries4 (L&I) tool called Verify a Contractor, Tradesperson or Business4, and read how these checks work.
How long it takes, and what makes it longer
No honest company will name a time before seeing the home. These things tend to add to the work:
- How long before the person was found. More time means more material affected and deeper into the structure.
- Porous materials. Carpet, padding, furniture and drywall cannot be cleaned back to safe and must come out.
- Flooring and subfloor. The subfloor is the wood layer under the finished floor. If fluids reached it, sections may need to be cut out.
- Odor work. This starts only after the source is gone.
- Rebuilding. Replacing floors or walls is a second project. Because Port Ludlow is unincorporated, Jefferson County’s Community Development (DCD) manages building permits, code compliance and land use review, so ask whether your repairs need a permit.
- Insurance. The OIC5 says the insurer has 30 days from the date a claim is filed to inspect the damage. Ask your insurer whether you may begin before that inspection.
Usually covered: Homeowner insurance protects your home and belongings from damage caused by specific risks, says the Insurance Commissioner’s page on how home insurance works. For damage from those risks, dwelling coverage typically covers repairing or replacing your damaged home.
Usually not covered: Standard homeowner and renter policies exclude wear and tear: insurance covers sudden accidents, not ongoing issues, says the Insurance Commissioner’s smoke damage page, which lists what standard policies exclude.
Ask your insurer: “Without filing a claim yet, can you tell me if my policy covers cleanup and repairs after a death in my home, and what limits apply?” Source: Filing a homeowner insurance claim (Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner)5
If the home also needs water or mold repair, see how biohazard work fits with restoration.
For landlords and property managers
When a tenant who lived alone dies, RCW 59.18.595 sets out your duties. After learning of the death, you may enter the unit and right away dispose of perishable food, hazardous materials and garbage, but the tenant’s other belongings must wait. Promptly send written notice to the personal representative, any person the tenant designated, and the emergency contact on the rental application. That notice says the tenancy ends fifteen days after it is sent, or on the date rent is paid through, whichever is later.
A tenant representative can pay rent in advance for up to sixty days from the date of death so belongings can be removed in an orderly way. Before selling or disposing of anything left, you must send a second notice naming a date at least forty-five days out, and personal papers and photographs may never be disposed of this way. Coordinate the cleanup so the representative can still claim what the person owned.
Local notes for Port Ludlow
If the company you hire comes from the Kitsap side, it will likely cross the SR 104 Hood Canal Bridge, and WSDOT says there are no convenient alternate routes between Kitsap and Jefferson counties. The bridge closes to road traffic whenever it opens for passing vessels, so ask how that could affect arrival.
For health concerns at the property, contact Jefferson County Public Health2 at 360-385-9400; its programs include a Solid Waste Program and the Jefferson County Public Health Concern/Complaint Action Request for Environmental Health. More local guidance is on the Port Ludlow page and the Jefferson County page. For spills found elsewhere in the home, see blood and bodily fluid cleanup.
Who to call first
In an emergency, call 911.These official offices may be part of the first steps. They are government pages, not ours.
- Jefferson County Public Health (opens in a new tab)For local health questions, such as a home that was used as a drug lab.
- Washington Crime Victims Compensation Program (L&I) (opens in a new tab)If a crime happened, it may help with some costs, such as funeral expenses. It doesn't pay for cleanup.
- Verify a contractor (L&I lookup) (opens in a new tab)Look up whether a company is a registered contractor before work starts.
- Washington State Department of Health (opens in a new tab)State health rules, such as for drug lab cleanup and hantavirus.