After an unattended death in Port Orchard, an independent biohazard cleanup company cleans the home, and that work starts only after the Kitsap County Medical Examiner’s Office1 has finished its part and the funeral home has taken your loved one into its care. An unattended death means a person died alone and was not found right away. Biohazard Network does not do the cleanup; we connect you with an independent local company that you hire and work with directly.
If you are reading this soon after a hard phone call or a discovery, you do not have to solve everything today. Your family is not expected to clean the room, and it is safer not to try.
What this cleanup involves
When time passes before someone is found, fluids can soak below the surface of floors, furniture and walls. That material is a biohazard, meaning a biological substance that can carry germs able to make people sick. Household cleaners can make a surface look clean while contamination stays in carpet padding, drywall or wood underneath. A professional cleanup finds where it went, removes what cannot be saved, and treats what remains. That protects the health of anyone who lives in or works on the home later, and it protects the home’s future when it is lived in, sold or rented again.
What happens first in Kitsap County
Kitsap County uses an appointed medical examiner system. A medical examiner is a medical official who investigates certain deaths for the county. The Kitsap County Medical Examiner’s Office1 investigates all sudden, unexpected, or unnatural deaths in Kitsap County, and Washington law places a person found dead under the authority of the county medical examiner or coroner.
Until scene release, leave the room as it is. Scene release is the point when investigators say they are finished and the home may be entered and cleaned. Do not move, wash or throw away anything in that space before then.
The funeral home comes next. Personal property the office secured is released to the funeral home along with your loved one, so that is where to ask about items such as a wallet or jewelry. The office’s investigators carry a pamphlet for families that answers common questions, explains autopsies and lists grief-counseling resources. If you want the office’s report later, you can request it through a family declaration form linked from the office’s page. The phone number for the Kitsap County Medical Examiner’s Office1 is 360.731.6843.
After release, close the door to the room and keep children and pets out. Take only what you truly need from other parts of the home.
What to expect from the company you hire
Ask the company to walk you through its plan before work begins. A careful plan covers these steps:
- Protective equipment. The crew wears gloves, suits and breathing protection while working.
- Containment. This means sealing off the work area, for example with plastic sheeting, so contamination does not spread to the rest of the home.
- Removal of affected materials. Porous materials, meaning things that soak up liquid such as carpet, padding, mattresses and drywall, generally cannot be cleaned and are cut out.
- Disinfection. This is treating remaining surfaces with products that kill germs.
- Odor work. This comes after the source is removed, not before. Our page on odor remediation in Port Orchard explains that step.
- Waste disposal. Biomedical waste is a category Washington defines by law, and it includes materials containing free-flowing human blood. In Kitsap County, hauling biomedical waste is regulated by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission and Kitsap Public Health District2, and a hauling company needs UTC approval and a KPHD Solid Waste Hauling Permit. Ask the company who will haul the waste away.
- Records. Ask for photos, a written scope of work and a list of removed items for your insurer.
Before you hire, ask how the company follows OSHA’s bloodborne pathogens standard3, 29 CFR 1910.1030 (bloodborne pathogens are germs carried in blood that can cause disease), and the ANSI/IICRC S540 Standard for Trauma and Crime Scene Cleanup from the IICRC, a non-profit organization for the inspection, cleaning and restoration industries. You can look the business up yourself with the Department of Labor & Industries4 (L&I) tool called Verify a Contractor, Tradesperson or Business4, and our certifications guide explains what to look for.
For insurance, the Office of the Insurance Commissioner5 says you can ask your agent or company whether a loss is covered without filing a claim. It also warns that signing a contractor’s assignment of benefit form could affect your rights, so read anything you are asked to sign.
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
How long it takes, and what makes it longer
No honest company can give you a time before it sees the home. These are the things that add time:
- How long before the person was found. More time means contamination may have reached deeper into the structure.
- Porous materials. Each item that absorbed fluid has to be assessed and removed.
- Flooring and subfloor. If contamination passed through the floor covering, the crew may need to remove the subfloor, the wood layer beneath it.
- Odor work. This begins only after the source is gone.
- Rebuilding. Replacing floors or walls is a separate stage. If walls or floors must be rebuilt, the City of Port Orchard’s Department of Community Development handles building permits.
Ask the company to put each stage in writing so you can plan. If water, mold or fire damage is also present, see how biohazard cleanup fits with restoration.
For landlords and property managers
If a tenant who lived alone dies, RCW 59.18.595 sets out your duties. Once you learn of the death, you must promptly mail or personally deliver a written notice to people such as any known personal representative, a designated person, and the emergency contact on the rental application. That notice must say the tenancy ends 15 days after it is mailed or delivered, or on the date rent is paid through, whichever is later.
You may enter and dispose of perishable food, hazardous materials and garbage right away. Tell the cleanup company which belongings must stay for the family, because personal papers and photographs may never be sold or disposed of. Before selling or disposing of the tenant’s other property, you must send a second written notice with a date at least 45 days after mailing.
Reaching a home in Port Orchard
Whether the home is downtown near Dekalb Pier or close to Port Orchard Marina Park on the waterfront, ask any company where it is based. SR 3 and SR 16 through Gorst are the only land-based route onto the Kitsap Peninsula, and they are congested, so a company coming from outside may need to plan its trip. Kitsap Public Health District2 lists Birth & Death Certificates among its programs if you need copies.
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.