Posted on 03/21/2004 6:09:23 PM PST by KangarooJacqui
SERVICES RELIEVE AWFUL BURDEN Specialists clean up the mess after bodies are taken away By BILL MURPHY Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
As a spokesman for Enron, Eric Thode was one of thousands of Enron employees left to clean up the mess left by the company's demise.
But after being laid off in December, Thode is now cleaning up even more
gruesome messes, removing the decomposition and splatter left behind by suicides, murders and unattended deaths.
Thode's company, Craig's Biohazard Solutions, is among several in Houston and hundreds nationwide that specialize in cleaning up the gore and blood left after ambulances and funeral homes have carted off bodies.
A 1991 Occupational and Safety Health Administration regulation spurred the advent of such companies by requiring that those cleaning up death scenes be trained in handling blood-borne pathogens and equipped with the proper gear, according to Kent Berg, founder of the American Bio-Recovery Association,
the industry's professional standards and lobbying group.
In the mid-1990s, there were only about a dozen companies specializing in such cleanups nationwide. Today, about 300 such companies do a combined $50 million to $75 million in business, Berg said.
Years ago, the awful task of cleaning up after violent suicides and homicides usually fell to grieving family members.
"After going out a few times, you realize you're helping (people) in their darkest hour, so that their last memory of a loved one is not cleaning up after a murder or suicide," Thode said.
Rodrigo Vargas opened Red Alert Bio-Response Services in 1997, after he learned firsthand that there was no cleanup service in Houston to help a
family after the violent death of a loved one. A friend of Vargas' shot himself in his parents' home that year, and Vargas volunteered to clean up for them.
"I could see what the parents were going through," he said. "I knew they
wouldn't be able to deal with it. That's how we started. We are doing a community service."
No one in the business denies that it is grisly.
Thode cleaned a Conroe home in December in which an elderly man had died
from a heart attack two weeks earlier.
"You literally were hit with an overpowering smell 40 feet from the house," he said.
Vargas has handled dozens of "decomps" -- shorthand for scenes involving
decomposed bodies. He once cleaned a home in which a man's body had lain for two months after his death.
Thode said he considered pursuing a white-collar job similar to his earlier career at Enron. But he saw his father-in-law's success in running Craig's
Cleaners, a local dry cleaning chain, and decided to go into business for himself. Craig's Biohazard Solutions is an affiliate of Craig's Cleaners.
What separates the cleaners from the average person with a sponge and bucket of water is their gear. A disposable suit, boots, two sets of gloves and
goggles -- all go on before Thode enters a scene. Boots and gloves are sealed to the suit with tape. A respirator with a sophisticated filter system keeps out pathogens -- and smells.
"You could put a skunk under your nose, and you still wouldn't smell it,"
Thode said.
Wallboards and floorboards sometimes have to be removed if they are too blood-soaked or ruined by odor. Some cleanup companies also perform minor repairs to restore rooms.
When a job is finished, collected blood and waste and the disposable suits are sent to a medical waste incinerator.
Cleanups generally run from $500 to $3,000, depending on the job, Thode said.
"Did the person slit their wrists in the bathtub? That's easy," said Tim
Riley, ABRA's secretary and owner of Crime and Death Scene Cleaning in Ipswich, Mass. "Did they shoot themselves in a hallway with all the doors open? That's expensive."
Homeowners insurance often covers such cleanups, Riley said, but homeowners sometimes have to pay.
Cleaners take various precautions to protect themselves from the depressing nature of their work.
"We deliberately make an effort not to find out about the victim," said Riley. "We focus on cleaning up the mess. We're in and out of their lives pretty quickly."
My uncle manages a number of rental properties. One of his tenants killed himself with a shotgun blast to the the head in the bedroom. They didn't find him for a couple of weeks and they literally had to take the room apart to clean it.
Ick!
Yeah I know, this was just another one of my sad attempts at being humorous....... ;-)
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