Crime and Trauma Scene Cleanup in Silverdale, WA

After a crime, a serious injury or a death by suicide in Silverdale, an independent trauma scene cleanup company does the cleanup, and it can start only after police, and the Kitsap County Medical Examiner’s Office¹ if someone died, release the home. Biohazard Network connects you with an independent local company that you hire directly; we do not do any of the cleanup ourselves. This page explains what happens first, what to ask, and how insurance fits in.

If you are reading this after something painful, you do not have to sort it all out at once. The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline offers free, confidential support, and you can call, text or chat with a counselor anytime, day or night, including if you are worried about someone you love.

What crime and trauma scene cleanup involves

This service covers cleanup after a crime such as an assault or a break-in where someone was hurt, after a serious accident that was not a crime, and after a death by suicide. The work deals with biohazards, meaning blood or other body fluids that can carry germs that cause disease. Some of those germs are bloodborne pathogens, which are germs carried in blood that can make people sick. Ordinary cleaning is not enough because fluids can soak into porous materials, such as carpet, padding, drywall and upholstery, that absorb liquid and cannot simply be wiped clean.

Crime and trauma scene cleaners are independent companies that remove and disinfect what was left behind. Their purpose is to take this task off your hands so you never have to see or handle anything.

What happens first

Police control the scene first. If someone died, the Kitsap County Medical Examiner’s Office¹ also has a role; it investigates all sudden, unexpected, or unnatural deaths in Kitsap County. A medical examiner is a public official, appointed in this county, whose office looks into how a person died. Scene release means the agency in charge tells you it has finished and the home is back in your control.

Police and the county do not clean. Until release, and even after it, you do not need to touch or throw out anything. Close the door to the area and keep children and pets away. For questions about the investigation, you can reach the Kitsap County Medical Examiner’s Office¹ at 360.731.6843. Its investigators carry a pamphlet for families that answers common questions and lists grief-counseling resources. The office’s family Resource Guide states that it does not endorse or recommend any specific providers, so the choice of company is yours.

After a death by suicide

There is no right way to feel right now, and no task here has to be yours. Personal property the office secured is released to the funeral home along with your loved one, so you can ask the funeral home about those belongings. The cleanup company handles the physical work in the home. If privacy matters to you, ask the company plainly how it handles discretion, such as how its vehicles are marked and what it tells neighbors. Our page on unattended death cleanup in Silverdale covers deaths that went unnoticed for a time.

For property managers and employers after an accident

If someone was hurt in a rental unit, a shared hallway or a workplace, keep people away from the area until the company arrives. Do not ask staff or maintenance workers to clean it. Before work starts, ask the company for a written scope of what it will remove. Afterward, ask for photos, a list of what was removed, disposal records and written confirmation that cleaning is complete. For smaller spills, see blood and bodily fluid cleanup in Silverdale.

What to expect from the company you hire

The crew should wear protective equipment such as gloves, suits and respirators. They set up containment, which means sealing off the work area so contamination does not spread. They remove affected porous materials, then carry out disinfection, which means using products that kill germs on surfaces. Any lingering odor is treated after the source is gone; see odor remediation in Silverdale.

Biomedical waste is waste that Washington law defines by a short list of types, including discarded human blood, materials containing free-flowing blood, and used needles. In Kitsap County, hauling it is regulated by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) and the Kitsap Public Health District (KPHD), and haulers need UTC approval and a KPHD Solid Waste Hauling Permit. Ask the company who hauls its biomedical waste; a KPHD Site Restoration Hauler permit is a different permit and is not the biomedical waste hauling permit. If walls or floors need rebuilding afterward, this guide on restoration explains how that fits in.

To check a company yourself, ask how its workers follow OSHA’s bloodborne pathogens standard², 29 CFR 1910.1030 “Bloodborne pathogens,” and the ANSI/IICRC S540 Standard for Trauma and Crime Scene Cleanup, a standard from the Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC), a non-profit for the cleaning and restoration industries. Then look the business up on L&I³’s “Verify a Contractor, Tradesperson or Business³” tool, and read our certifications guide for what the results mean.

Does insurance or crime victims compensation pay?

Start with your insurer. The Office of the Insurance Commissioner⁴ (OIC) says you can ask your agent or company whether a loss is covered without filing a claim. If a crime caused the damage, notify police and keep a copy of the report for the claim. The OIC also says you have the right to choose your own contractor for covered repairs, and it warns that signing a contractor’s assignment of benefit form could affect your rights, so read anything before you sign. Renters should know that a landlord’s policy does not cover a renter’s belongings, and if items are contaminated and unsafe to handle, the OIC says to ask your insurance company what to do.

The Crime Victims Compensation Program⁵ of the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries⁵ (L&I) lists crime scene cleanup under what it does not pay for. It may still help your family in other ways, including mental health treatment, grief counseling and funeral expenses. To qualify, the person must have been physically injured or mentally traumatized by a gross misdemeanor or felony in Washington, and the crime must have been reported to law enforcement with cooperation in the investigation. The program pays only after primary insurance.

Getting help in Silverdale

Silverdale is an unincorporated community, so the county’s Department of Community Development, not a city, takes code complaints about property here.

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