The Importance of Crime Scene Safety for Clean-Up Crew

The importance of crime scene safety doesn't just apply to crime scene techs and investigators; it also applies to the highly trained cleaning crews that come in after the investigation is over.

Crime scene clean-up crews specialize in cleaning up hazardous biological materials in order to restore the scene to how it looked before the crime took place. Of course, this job is just as dangerous, if not more so, than that of crime scene techs.

Scientists aren't sure how long pathogens can remain active in dried blood, so the cleaning crew members must wear suits and masks for protection. To remove the blood from the scene, they wet it down, which can reactivate toxins and make the blood lethal again.

Crime scene cleaners must also be careful of insects that often swarm a crime scene area after a body decomposition situation. The insects can carry fatal diseases from feeding on the body.