After an unattended death in Kingston, an independent cleanup company that you hire directly does the cleanup, once the Kitsap County Medical Examiner’s Office1 and any law enforcement have released the home. An unattended death means a person died alone and was not found right away. Biohazard Network connects you with an independent local company; it does not clean and does not do or oversee the work.
Whether you have lost a family member or a tenant has died in a unit you manage, you do not have to clean anything yourself.
Why ordinary cleaning is not enough
When time passes before a person is found, body fluids can soak into surfaces that look fine from above. These fluids can carry bloodborne pathogens, which are germs in blood that can cause disease, and OPIM, short for other potentially infectious materials, meaning other body fluids that can carry the same germs. A mop and household cleaner can leave contamination in carpet pad, flooring or the subfloor, the structural layer under the floor.
What happens first
The Kitsap County Medical Examiner’s Office
Kitsap County has an appointed medical examiner system. A medical examiner is the public official who investigates certain deaths and their causes. The Kitsap County Medical Examiner’s Office1 investigates all sudden, unexpected, or unnatural deaths in Kitsap County, and here Washington law places a body found dead under the medical examiner’s jurisdiction.
Scene release is the point when the officials in charge say they are finished and the home can be entered and cleaned. Until then, leave the room as it is. Afterward, leave the affected area to the cleanup company rather than wiping surfaces or throwing items away.
Investigators carry a pamphlet for families that answers common questions, explains autopsies and lists grief-counseling resources. For questions, the Kitsap County Medical Examiner’s Office1 phone is 360.731.6843, and families can request a report through a family declaration form linked from the office’s page.
The funeral home comes next
The office’s Resource Guide explains that personal property it secured is released to the funeral home with the body, so the funeral home is your contact for those belongings. The same guide states that the office does not endorse or recommend any specific providers, so the choice of cleanup company is yours.
What to expect from the company you hire
Ask each company to explain its plan in writing, covering:
- Protective equipment. The crew wears gloves, suits, eye protection and respirators as the job requires.
- Containment. This means sealing off the work area so contamination does not spread to the rest of the house.
- Removing affected materials. Porous materials, such as carpet, mattresses, upholstery and drywall, soak up liquid and are removed when contaminated. Ask the crew to check with you before removing belongings.
- Disinfection. This means treating remaining surfaces with products that kill germs once visible contamination is gone.
- Odor work. Odor treatment follows removal of the source; see odor remediation in Kingston.
- Biomedical waste. This is Washington’s legal term for certain waste, including discarded blood and materials containing free-flowing blood. Ask who will haul it: in Kitsap County this hauling is regulated by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) and the Kitsap Public Health District2 (KPHD), and the hauler needs UTC approval and a KPHD Solid Waste Hauling Permit, not just the separate KPHD Site Restoration Hauler permit.
- Records. Ask for photos, a written scope and disposal paperwork for your insurance file.
Before you hire, ask whether the company follows OSHA’s bloodborne pathogens standard3, 29 CFR 1910.1030, and the ANSI/IICRC S540 Standard for Trauma and Crime Scene Cleanup, a voluntary standard from the Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC), a non-profit for the cleaning and restoration industries. You can look the business up yourself with the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries4 (L&I) tool, Verify a Contractor, Tradesperson or Business4, and the certifications guide explains what to look for.
How long it takes, and what makes it longer
No company can honestly give an exact timeline before seeing the home. Ask instead what will shape the schedule:
- How long before the person was found. More time can mean contamination reached farther into the structure.
- Porous materials. Carpet, upholstered furniture and mattresses add removal work compared with hard floors.
- Flooring and subfloor. If fluids reached the subfloor, sections may need to be cut out and replaced.
- Odor work. This is a separate stage that starts only after the source is gone.
- Rebuilding. Replacing floors or walls is restoration work. Before renovation, repair or demolition, homeowners, building owners and contractors must have a good faith asbestos inspection of materials the work could disturb. See how cleanup fits with restoration.
The Office of the Insurance Commissioner5 says you can ask your agent or company whether a loss is covered without filing a claim, and that homeowners have the right to choose their own contractor for covered repairs.
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
For landlords and property managers
When a tenant who lived alone dies, RCW 59.18.595 sets out the landlord’s duties. On learning of the death, you may enter and immediately dispose of perishable food, hazardous materials and garbage; leave the affected area and the tenant’s other belongings for now. Promptly mail or hand-deliver the required written notice to any known personal representative, known designated person, and the emergency contact on the rental application.
That notice says the tenancy ends 15 days after it is mailed or delivered, or on the date rent is paid through, whichever is later. Tell the cleanup company that a tenant representative may take possession of the belongings by asking in writing. That representative can arrange to prepay rent for no more than 60 days from the date of death to remove property in an orderly way. Before anything is sold or disposed of, a second written notice must give a date at least 45 days after mailing, and personal papers and personal photographs are excluded even then.
Local details for Kingston
Kingston is an unincorporated community, so code complaints about a property go to the Department of Community Development, which takes code complaints about property in unincorporated Kitsap County. The Kitsap Public Health District2 has a Solid & Hazardous Waste program and a Birth & Death Certificates program. SR 3 and SR 16 through Gorst are the only land-based route onto the Kitsap Peninsula, and that route is congested, so ask any company coming from off the peninsula how it will reach you. Whether the home is near Kingston old town or the Kingston Ferry Terminal on State Route 104, we can connect you with an independent local company; see also cleanup help in Kingston and cleanup help in Kitsap County.
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.
- Kitsap County Medical Examiner (opens in a new tab)After a sudden or unexpected death, cleanup waits until this office is done.
- Kitsap Public Health District (opens in a new tab)For local health questions, such as a home that was used as a drug lab.
- Kitsap Public Health: permitted waste haulers (opens in a new tab)Cleanup companies that haul away waste here need this permit.
- 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.