How To Become A Professional Trauma Cleaner In Australia – A Guide

How To Become A Professional Trauma Cleaner In Australia – A Guide

It takes a special kind of person to work in the field of trauma cleaning. Our team have a diverse range of educational pathways that brought them to this role and contribute to the way the operate in our business, such as Methamphetamine Residue Decontamination training, psychology degree and locally based restoration training. We always recommend looking into IICRC Accredited courses as a first port of call when looking at becoming a trained Bio recovery technician. Trauma Cleaning technicians undergo in-depth training, continuous on-the-job learning and have a highly developed understanding of biological remediation, blood borne pathogens, chemical elements, infection control and hazardous materials

Become a trauma cleaner in Australia

What is Trauma Cleaning

Trauma Cleaning is a highly specialised and technical remediation service required for a number of distressing or hazardous situations after a traumatic incident or crime has occurred.

A Trauma Cleanup is a type of forensic cleaning work that requires much more than just eliminating smells and the appearance of stains. Trauma Cleaners aren’t your typical cleaners and are backed up with a wealth of training and onsite experience in biological remediation and handling hazardous materials as well as being able to alleviate some of the stress experienced by the families or people involved.

What is a Professional Trauma Cleaner

A Trauma Cleaner is a professional working in a highly specialised and technical field of removing, cleaning, decontaminating and sanitising biohazardous material and mitigating further loss and contamination caused by pathogens, bacteria, chemicals and contaminants present at a trauma scene.

Trauma Cleaning technicians undergo in-depth training, continuous on-the-job learning and have a highly developed understanding of biological remediation, blood borne pathogens, chemical elements, infection control and hazardous materials which ensures properties they deal with are remediated to a safe and habitable level.

Aside from the technical aspect of the trauma cleaner job, a professional trauma cleaner is also compassionate and is equipped with the skills and experience to empathetically respond to situations and can put families, witnesses and anyone involved in a trauma situation at ease.

Requirements To Be a Trauma Cleaner

It takes a special kind of person to work in the field of trauma cleaning. You need a strong stomach and nerves of steel, because the role often involves cleaning up human remains left behind by coroners, chemicals, or potentially harmful viruses or bacteria as well as remaining calm and composed in extremely tense situations.

Some prerequisites to become a professional trauma cleaner include:

  • Being Physically Fit: Working as a Trauma Cleaner and doing jobs such as crime scene cleaning requires a high level of fitness, as you will very often work in full body hazmat suits with boots, gloves and full face respirations for long tedious hours in hot environments. Respirators make it also difficult to breathe and place extra pressure on your body, which makes physical fitness paramount
  • Qualifications: Training certificates such as the IICRC, degrees and previous experience biohazard, crime scene cleaning, medical profession or law enforcement is highly regarded. Biohazards can include blood, drugs or chemicals and experience handling these is crucial to perform sensitive work
  • Police Check: Due to the nature of crime scene cleaning and our connection with police departments, ambulance service and other agencies we require an up to date police check to be submitted with your application
  • Team Player: Excellent communication skills and teamwork is required as you will be working as part of a team of professionals
  • Compassionate and Professional Approach: You understand that our clients have just gone through or are going through an emotionally draining and tough time in their lives, so having a compassionate, discrete and empathetic approach is essential in this line of work

Do You Have What It Takes To Be a Trauma Cleaner?

If you are interested in becoming a trauma cleaner or crime scene cleaner and you think you have the right qualifications, skills and experience, you can apply to Melbourne Forensic Cleaning. Please email a cover letter, resume and police check along with your application to vic@forensiccleaning.com.au.

Our teams are also present in Victoria – VIC, New South Wales – NSW, Queensland – QLD, South Australia – SA, Western Australia – WA, Northern Territory – NT, Australian Capital Territory – Canberra and Tasmania – TAS.

Important Note: All applications must be submitted via email and meet the criteria described above – Over the phone inquiries and applications will not be considered.

Steps to Become a Trauma Cleaner

1) Seek A Certification in Biorecovery Technician Training

A bio-recovery training course should teach aspiring trauma cleaners an understanding of crucial elements when dealing with biohazards, and how to approach, qualify and properly assess a crime and trauma scene. This can include:

  • Proper medical waste disposal
  • Blood Borne Pathogens
  • Safe Handling of Biohazards
  • Remediation Techniques

2) Find Qualified Employers

Once you have certifications, get in touch with employers who are compliant with OSHA regulations. Make sure that your employers provide full personal protective equipment (PPE) to their personnel on the field that prevent contamination from hazardous materials. When submitting applications, take note of common requirements and checks required for the job as state above in this article.

3) Support Group

Cleaning up hazardous or death scenes can build up emotional and physical stress, especially for cases that take days for a cleanup to be completed. Workers in trauma cleaning are advised to seek support groups as a way to deal with upcoming daunting situations.

4) Additional Training

Trauma Cleaners can be called for various jobs besides crime scene and forensic cleaning and it could help be more employable, start a business or work as a sole trader. Australia is in the middle of a meth epidemic and professional meth remediation technicians are needed more than ever. There are courses on drug lab decontamination, specifically for methamphetamine that might be worth checking.

Read more: Our Articles


When Do You Need Professional Trauma Cleaning Services?

When encountering a scene involving death or serious injury, it is possible to become overwhelmed and it is more than necessary to take the precautions for your safety. Death scenes, crime scenes and major accidents often contain blood or other bodily fluids that can spread diseases and infections, and also be emotionally confronting.

All blood stains, even small ones because the risk of infection can spread beyond the stain itself. What appears as a small spill of blood on the floor can hide a widespread contamination below the carpet and the floor, from a large distance from the source. These elements can carry harmful pathogens and diseases and must be remediated by professionals as a priority.

Blood and other bodily fluids can become absorbed into your furnishings, flooring, and other building materials and it requires a professional trained in biohazard cleanup services such as a trauma and crime scene cleaner to effectively and safely clean up the blood. Depending on the severity of the situation, the cleanup process may require carpeting, sub-flooring, and furniture to be removed and safely disposed of.

A Trauma Cleaner (or also called Crime Scene Cleaner or Bio-recovery Technician) can be called to handle various hazardous situations, including but not limited to  the following list:

Crime Scene Cleaning

Crime and Forensic Cleanups Company

Crime scene cleaners are tasked with mitigating loss and potential for additional contamination caused by bacteria, pathogens, contaminants and chemicals present at the property or affected area. Trauma cleaners can be tasked to handle:

  • Blood cleanups
  • Blood stain removal
  • Fingerprint dust removal
  • House Cleaning After Death
  • Bodily fluids cleanup
  • Post Death Cleaning
  • Crime Scene Decontamination
  • Murder Scene Cleanups
  • Homicide Cleanups

Forensic Cleaning

Similar as Trauma Cleaning, Forensic Cleaning also involves cleaning, decontaminating, removing dangerous materials, sanitising and completely remediating areas affected with a violent crime, blood and trauma, drug labs or any situation that require specialist and certified remediation professionals to ensure areas are biohazard-free.

During the Forensic Clean Up process, fabrics, carpets and structural materials such as floor boards and wall linings may need to be removed and disposed of safely.

  • Death Cleaning
  • Toxin Cleaning
  • Commercial Cleaning after death
  • Specialist cleaning
  • Fire and Smoke Damage Restoration
  • Biohazard Cleaning
  • Meth Lab Remediation
  • Biohazard Decontamination and removal

Biohazard Cleaning & Remediation

A trauma cleaners job is to make areas safe by undertaking biohazard cleaning and remediation of areas which have been affected by something hazardous or unpleasant.

This can include treating areas affected by blood, body fluids, deceased animals, human and animal excrement, dangerous chemicals, needles, drug residue and mould.

Deceased Estate Cleanups

when it comes to cleaning out their home, especially if there are other issues like body fluids, hoarding or squalor present. Our trauma cleaners must also be able to handle the compassionate and prompt deceased estate cleanup thoroughly so the family can return to the home and continue with what they need to do. Deceased estate furniture removal and cleaning can be taken care of by our team of compassionate and dedicated trauma cleaners so you won’t have to do the heavy and hazardous work of removing furniture, clothing, mattresses and rubbish from a deceased estate property.

Meth Lab Remediation

Trauma Cleaners can be called to handle the decontamination and cleaning of clandestine drug labs that proliferate across Australia, including Meth labs or meth houses. A Meth lab cleanup process can involve a number of stringent and pivotal steps to ensure a property is cleaned to a habitable state.

As a trauma Cleaner you will be responsible for –

  • Meth Testing
  • Test houses for meth residue
  • Meth lab cleanup
  • Meth detection or meth check methods
  • Meth decontamination
  • Carry property drug testing in Melbourne or across Australia

Have a question about the work as a trauma cleaner? Contact us or visit our Frequently Questions Asked. Call us our 1300 246 429 for emergency relief with trauma scene cleaning or find an area near you we can service.

By |2020-08-18T14:03:21+11:00July 17th, 2020|Training, Trauma Cleaning|1 Comment

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  1. Lisa lamb February 25, 2021 at 10:28 pm - Reply

    Would be very interested??

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