Independent biohazard cleanup companies handle crime and trauma scene cleanup in Belfair, and the family, landlord or property manager hires one directly. Before any company can start, the police and, if someone died, the Mason County Coroner1 must finish their work and release the home. Biohazard Network connects you with an independent local company; it does not clean, and it does not do or supervise the work.
If you have lost someone, you do not have to carry this alone. The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline offers free, confidential emotional support any time, day or night, by call, text or online chat. Its counselors can also support someone worried about a loved one.
What this cleanup involves
This work follows an assault, a homicide, a break-in where someone was hurt, a serious accident, or a death by suicide. The company removes and disinfects what was left behind so no one in the family has to see or handle it. The concern is biohazard, meaning blood or other body material that can carry disease. Germs carried in blood are called bloodborne pathogens, and OPIM, short for other potentially infectious materials, means other body fluids that can carry them. Household cleaning can make a surface look clean while material stays in carpet padding, under flooring or inside a wall.
What happens first in Belfair
Police control the property first. If someone died, the Mason County Coroner1 is involved too; a coroner is the county official who investigates certain deaths. In Mason County, the coroner determines and certifies the cause and manner of death for deaths from any unnatural cause, unattended deaths, and suspicious or unexplained deaths, among others. RCW 68.50.010 places these cases under the county coroner’s jurisdiction, which is why the coroner’s work comes before anything else in the home.
Scene release means the police, and the coroner if involved, have told you they are finished and the property is back in your hands. Neither the police nor the county cleans. If you are unsure whether the home has been released, ask the officers on the case or contact the Mason County Coroner1 at 360-427-9670 ext 752.
Until a company arrives, please do not clean anything yourself. Leave affected items in place and keep children and pets away.
After a death by suicide
If your loved one died by suicide, there is nothing you need to clean or sort yourself. The funeral home you choose cares for your loved one; the cleanup is separate, and a company can take it on so you do not have to go back in before it is done. If privacy matters, ask before hiring how the company handles discretion, such as how its vehicles are marked.
For property managers and employers
After an accident in a rental, a shop or a workplace, keep tenants, staff and visitors away from the area until the work is finished. Before the job starts, ask the company for written records at the end: what was removed, what was disinfected and how waste left the property. Those records support an insurance claim.
What to expect from the company you hire
The crew wears protective equipment such as gloves, suits and face protection. Ask the company to explain each step before work begins:
- Containment: sealing off the work area, for example with plastic sheeting, so nothing spreads.
- Removal: taking out porous materials, meaning things that soak up liquid, such as carpet, padding and mattresses, when they cannot be made safe.
- Disinfection: applying products that kill germs on hard surfaces that stay.
- Odor work: treating lingering odor after the source is gone, covered on Odor Remediation in Belfair, WA.
- Disposal: packaging biomedical waste, Washington’s legal term for listed waste such as discarded blood, materials holding free-flowing blood, and used needles, called sharps.
Under Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission rules, a company that collects and transports biomedical waste must keep an operating plan that holds it separate from other garbage until treatment or disposal. Ask who carries the company’s biomedical waste away, and ask for photos, a list of what was removed and an itemized invoice for your insurer.
Questions to ask before you hire
Ask how the company’s work lines up with OSHA’s bloodborne pathogens standard2, 29 CFR 1910.1030, and the ANSI/IICRC S540 Standard for Trauma and Crime Scene Cleanup (IICRC is the Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification, a non-profit for the cleaning and restoration industries), then look the business up yourself with the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries3 (L&I) tool, Verify a Contractor, Tradesperson or Business3. Biohazard Cleanup Certifications Explained walks through what each of these means and how to read the results.
Does insurance or crime victim compensation pay?
Homeowners insurance sometimes covers this work, but policies differ. The Office of the Insurance Commissioner4 (OIC) urges homeowners to understand what their policy does and doesn’t cover, and says you can ask your agent or company whether a loss is covered without filing a claim. If a crime caused the loss, keep a copy of the police report, as the OIC advises, alongside the cleanup records. Read contractor paperwork closely: the OIC warns that signing an assignment of benefit form could affect your rights.
If you rent, a landlord’s policy does not cover your personal property, so ask your own insurer what to do with contaminated belongings that are unsafe to handle.
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. Insurance companies can’t deny your claim if a covered loss is due to domestic abuse and you didn’t help cause the loss; if you file a claim for a property loss, you’ll also need to file a police report, says the Commissioner’s page on domestic abuse and insurance.
Usually not covered: A policy may exclude losses caused by intentional or fraudulent acts of anyone it insures, under RCW 48.18.550.
Ask your insurer: “What does my policy cover for cleanup after a crime, a serious injury or a suicide in my home, and do any exclusions apply?” Source: Filing a homeowner insurance claim (Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner)4
L&I5’s Crime Victims Compensation Program5 lists crime scene cleanup among the costs it does not pay. After a crime, it may still pay for grief counseling, mental health treatment, medical and dental treatment, and funeral expenses. To qualify, a person must have been physically injured or mentally traumatized by a gross misdemeanor or felony in Washington, reported to law enforcement, with cooperation in the investigation. It pays only after primary insurance, so start with your own policy.
Getting a company to a Belfair property
Belfair is the end of the SR 3 corridor that runs from the US 101 junction at Shelton and gives a direct route between Mason and Kitsap counties, so a company may come from either county. Ask where its crew is coming from. Naming a reference point, such as the Mary E. Theler Wetlands or the North Mason (Belfair), Timberland Regional Library, can help a crew find your address.
Because Belfair is an unincorporated community, permit and code questions about rebuilding walls or floors go to Mason County Community Development, where code compliance is shared among its Building and Planning staff. Copies of a death certificate are issued by Mason County Public Health and the Washington State Department of Health (DOH). County offices are covered on Biohazard and Trauma Cleanup in Mason County, and other local services on Biohazard and Trauma Cleanup in Belfair, WA.
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.
- Mason County Coroner (opens in a new tab)After a sudden or unexpected death, cleanup waits until this office is done.
- Mason 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.