After an unattended death in Belfair, the home is cleaned by an independent cleanup company that the family, landlord or property manager hires directly. First, the Mason County Coroner1, the county office that investigates unattended deaths, must finish its work and release the home, and a funeral home takes over the person’s care. Biohazard Network does not do any cleaning; we can connect you with an independent local company that serves Belfair and the rest of Mason County.
If someone you love, or a tenant, died alone and was not found right away, you may be in shock and facing many decisions at once. You are not expected to clean the home yourself.
Why this needs professional cleanup
An unattended death means the person died alone, with no one present at the time. When time passes before the person is found, body fluids can soak into nearby floors and furnishings. These fluids are a biohazard, meaning material that can carry germs that cause disease, including bloodborne pathogens, which are germs carried in blood.
Ordinary cleaning is not enough because contamination can reach below the surface. Porous materials, which are things that absorb liquid such as carpet, padding, drywall and wood, can hold it out of sight, and household cleaning can spread it to other rooms. Professional cleanup protects the health of anyone who later lives in or visits the home, and it keeps the next owner or tenant from inheriting hidden contamination.
What happens first in Mason County
Mason County uses a coroner system. The Mason County Coroner1 determines and certifies the cause and manner of death for unattended deaths, sudden deaths of people who seemed healthy and were not under a doctor’s care, and suspicious or unexplained deaths, among other cases. You can reach the Mason County Coroner at 360-427-9670 ext 752.
No one should start cleaning until the coroner, and police if they are involved, release the home. Scene release means the officials in charge say their work is done and the property goes back to the family or owner. Your family chooses the funeral home that will care for the person.
While you wait:
- Do not clean, move or throw away affected items.
- Keep people and pets out of the affected room.
- Hold on to damaged belongings until you have talked with your insurer.
- For paperwork, copies of death certificates are issued by Mason County Public Health2 and Washington State Department of Health.
What to expect from the company you hire
The crew wears protective equipment such as gloves, coveralls and respirators. They set up containment, which means sealing off the work area so contamination does not spread through the home. Affected porous materials are cut out and removed, sometimes down to the subfloor, the wood layer under the finished floor. Hard surfaces are cleaned and then disinfected; disinfection means applying a product that kills germs on a surface. Odor work comes only after the source is removed, as the page on odor remediation in Belfair explains; remediation here means removing the cause of an odor rather than covering it.
Some removed material is biomedical waste, which under Washington law is a set list of waste types that includes discarded human blood and materials holding free-flowing blood. Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission rules require a company that collects, transports and disposes of biomedical waste to keep an operating plan that keeps it separate from other solid waste until treatment or disposal. Ask the company who will haul it.
Ask the company for photos, a written list of what was removed and cleaned, and an itemized invoice for your insurer. The Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC) says homeowners may choose their own contractor for covered repairs, and it warns that signing a contractor’s assignment of benefit form could affect your rights.
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 works3. 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 exclude4.
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
Before you hire, ask whether the company follows the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) bloodborne pathogens standard, 29 CFR 1910.1030, and the ANSI/IICRC S540 Standard for Trauma and Crime Scene Cleanup from the Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC), a non-profit organization for the inspection, cleaning and restoration industries. Then look the business up yourself in the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) tool, Verify a Contractor, Tradesperson or Business, and read our guide to cleanup certifications for what the results mean.
How long unattended death cleanup takes
No one can give an honest timeline before seeing the home, so ask the company to walk you through its plan after it inspects. These things can make the job longer:
- How long before the person was found. More time can mean fluids reached deeper and spread wider.
- Porous materials. Mattresses, upholstered furniture, carpet and drywall may not be cleanable and may need removal.
- Flooring and subfloor. If contamination reached the subfloor, sections may need removal or sealing, which adds steps.
- Odor work. Odor treatment starts after the source is gone and surfaces are disinfected, and it can take more than one round.
- Rebuilding. Replacing floors or walls is a separate stage; see how biohazard cleanup fits with restoration.
- Insurance approval. When a policy requires protecting the property from further damage, the OIC5 says insurers have five business days to approve a mitigation scope, the plan for that first protective work.
If you are a landlord or property manager
If a tenant who lived alone dies in a Belfair rental, RCW 59.18.595 shapes what happens to the unit and the belongings. Start with the rental application, because your written notice of the death must go promptly to the emergency contact listed there, along with any known personal representative (the person handling the estate) or designated person. Check your files for a written designation, separate from the lease, in which a tenant living alone named someone to act for them. You may enter and right away dispose of perishable food, hazardous materials and garbage. For other belongings, write down what the cleanup company removes as contaminated and why, and share that list with the tenant representative, who can ask in writing to take possession of the rest. A second written notice is required before anything left is sold or disposed of, and personal papers and personal photographs are excluded.
Belfair and Mason County
Belfair is an unincorporated community, so county offices handle local matters. Building permit and code questions go to Mason County Community Development, where code compliance is shared among its Building and Planning staff. Mason County Public Health and Human Services2 runs a Solid Waste Program for questions about household garbage left on a property.
Whether the home is near Belfair State Park or the Mary E. Theler Wetlands, ask each company where its crew is based and how it will reach the property. Mason County extends from the Olympic Mountains to the inlets of Puget Sound, and the section of US 101 between the SR 104 junction near Port Ludlow and Shelton is the only north-south route on the east side of the Olympic Peninsula. For other local services, see biohazard and trauma cleanup in Belfair.
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.