Crime Scene Cleanup Awareness for Apartment Managers.
Many apartment managers have had the unfortunate experience of dealing with a suicide, homicide, natural death with decomposition, clandestine drug lab or gross filth situation, from a personal and/or business standpoint. This article is intended to serve as a guide through these situations.
It does not matter if this is the first crime/trauma scene you’ve dealt with or the hundredth, every scene is different and disturbing. The safety of you, your staff, and those at or near the scene is the single most important issue, and following these guidelines and suggestions can help ensure everyone’s safety and the professional manner in which the crime and trauma scene is handled. Being prepared and knowledgeable will ensure the minimizing of hazardous exposure for the personnel at the scene, decrease the psychological damage that can occur, and help you and your staff to remain calm and professional throughout the traumatic situation.
In the following pages, you will find some simple, yet vital information. Please take a moment to review this booklet and keep it somewhere easy to find in the event of a crime or trauma incident.
The DOs and DO NOTs
DO:
Do call 911 if you have experienced, witnessed, discovered, or suspected a suicide, homicide, rape, assault, or accident.
Do prevent all staff, family, and friends from entering a residence, crime scene, or potentially contaminated area.
Do avoid all walkways or areas where other people such as emergency medical personnel or law enforcement may have tracked biohazardous materials or evidence into and/or out of a contaminated area.
Do answer questions from law enforcement and emergency personnel as quickly and accurately as possible.
Do answer questions with factual and pertinent information only and stay nearby in case you are needed for further questioning.
Do wrap your shoes, if entry is necessary, with several plastic bags before entering a released scene to assess the situation.
Do remove bags upon finishing your assessment. Handle only the noncontaminated parts of the bags and leave bags in the contaminated area.
Do treat anything contaminated with blood, body fluids, and/or tissue as medical waste.
Do call a professional decontamination company to properly clean blood, body fluids, tissue, feces, or gross filth to ensure the waste is sent to a medical waste incinerator and all OSHA standards are met. Make sure the decontamination company supplies you with a Regulated Medical Waste Manifest to prove that your waste was disposed of in a medical waste incinerator, in accordance with state law to protect your company against future litigation.
DO NOT
Do not enter a residence, crime scene, or potentially contaminated area unless it is necessary to administer medical attention or remove someone, including yourself, from harm’s way.
Do not say anything to the media that you do not want to see in print! Media personnel will want to talk to you. The media will lie to obtain information and try to talk you into showing them what they want to see and get you to tell them what they want to hear. Do NOT trust them. Where the media is concerned, there is no such thing as -off the record.
Do not talk to the media unless you are the designated “media contact” for your company.
Do not answer questions to law enforcement personnel with lengthy, rambling explanations or personal opinions, unless you are asked to do so.
Do not answer questions from anyone other than uniformed police officers, detectives, crime scene technicians, and forensic examiners.
Do not enter a crime scene, residence, or potentially contaminated area until law enforcement has completed their investigation and/or released the scene.
DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING! Do not attempt to remove medical waste such as blood, body fluids, tissue, feces, or gross filth on your own.
Definitions
Biohazard: Any biological agent (such as an infectious microorganism) or a medical condition that poses a threat to humans or the environment (such as HIV1, HIV2, or hepatitis) that can be found in blood, body fluids, body tissue and feces that when exposed to may cause harm, illness or death.
Bloodborne Pathogen: Infectious organisms in the blood such as HIV1, HIV2 or hepatitis. The predominant medical interest is the contamination of blood-soiled linens, towels, clothes, carpeting, floors, walls, sharps (See definition 6 below.), appliances, etc.
PPE: Personal protective equipment, including but not limited to, safety eyewear, gloves, boot or shoe covers, etc.
Regulated Medical Waste Manifest: A form stating contaminated materials were incinerated at an approved medical waste incineration facility. This provides documentation proving you participated in best practices and helps protect from possible future litigation.
Regulated Waste (per OSHA): Liquid or semi-liquid blood or other potentially infectious materials; contaminated items that would release blood or other potentially infectious materials in a liquid or semi-liquid state if compressed; items that are caked with dried blood or other potentially infectious materials and are capable of releasing these materials during handling; contaminated sharps; and pathological and microbiological wastes containing blood or other potentially infectious materials. Please note it does not matter how old blood, body fluids or tissue may be, OSHA still considers them Regulated Waste.
Anything having a thin edge or a fine point capable of cutting or piercing such as hypodermic needles, broken glass, knives, razors, etc.
Bloodborne Pathogens
Many people are aware of HIV1; unfortunately, that may be the extent of their understanding. The last two decades have produced great advancements in scientific research that hopefully will better educate the general public and increase awareness of health and safety issues.
Hepatitis A
Hepatitis A has traditionally been regarded as a flu-like illness, affecting only school-age children. A Dallas Morning News article, dated 15 November 2003, disclosed a hepatitis A outbreak in Western Pennsylvania that had killed 3 people and infected more than 500. The fatality rate for hepatitis A is approximately 1 per 1000 infected. However, these fatalities are usually due to the victims being young children or occurring in conjunction with some other illness. Noting hepatitis A as the cause of death in three otherwise healthy adults should set off some alarms at the U.S. Center for Disease Control.
Hepatitis A is a liver disease caused by the hepatitis A virus and can affect anyone. Hepatitis A is transmitted via the human fecal/oral route. This commonly occurs when a person 1 touches an object that is tainted with microscopic amounts of human feces from person 2 (who is infected with hepatitis A) and then person 1 touches their own mouth.
Hepatitis A outbreaks can occur from one isolated case to a widespread epidemic. Good personal hygiene and proper sanitation can help prevent hepatitis A. Vaccines are also available for long-term prevention of hepatitis A infection in persons two years of age and older.
A vaccination does exist for hepatitis A but a cure does NOT.
Hepatitis B
Hepatitis B, the most contagious of the hepatitis viruses, is a very serious disease that attacks the liver. The hepatitis B virus can cause lifelong infections, such as cirrhosis (scarring) of the liver, liver cancer, liver failure, and death. Depending on the source of information, it is believed that under some circumstances hepatitis B can survive and be transmittable from 10 days to 2 months in dried blood.
Imagine this scenario: A maintenance worker walks on a contaminated carpet or tile at a scene, then walks into an office. He/she has now contaminated the floor of the office. Later a resident enters that same office with a small child who crawls on the contaminated floor. If this child has cuts or open skin on his/her hands or knees, he/she could potentially contract hepatitis B and suffer lifelong complications from a vicious disease.
The good news is there is a vaccination series for hepatitis B; this vaccination series includes three injections over a six-month period. However, it is only effective in approximately 70% of those vaccinated.
There is no known cure for hepatitis B at this time.
Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C was discovered in 1988 and runs rampant among drug users; although, it can be transmitted several other ways.
Approximately 100 people per day contract hepatitis C. Anyone and everyone is at risk for hepatitis C and should contact a medical care provider for a blood test if they meet the following criteria:
- Were notified of having received blood from a donor who later tested positive for hepatitis C.
- Have ever injected illegal drugs, even if they only experimented a few times many years ago.
- Received a blood transfusion or solid organ transplant before July 1992.
- Were a recipient of clotting factor(s) made before 1987.
- Have ever been on long-term kidney dialysis.
- Have evidence of liver disease (e.g., persistently abnormal ALT levels).
Have ever had contaminated blood on a physical “port of entry.” Points of entry may include, but are not limited to, cuts on any area of the body, mucus membranes, eyes nose, mouth, rectum, or vagina.
There is no vaccine or cure for hepatitis C.
Approximately one quarter of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus)-infected persons in the United States are also infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV). HCV is a predominate cause of chronic liver disease in the United States and HCV infection progresses more rapidly to liver damage in HIV-infected persons. HCV infection may also impact the course and management of HIV infection.
Hepatitis D, Hepatitis E, and Hepatitis G
Hepatitis D, E, and G are all liver diseases caused by different viruses. All three are transmitted much in the same way as the other hepatitis viruses. Very little is known about these three except that hepatitis D requires that the infected person also be infected with hepatitis B; otherwise, hepatitis D is incapable of existing alone. Hepatitis G was discovered in Canada in 1993 and almost no information exists on it due to its “newness” and lack of long-term research.
Shelba Durston, RN, CCRN, MSN, states in her article, What you need to know about viral Hepatitis, dated August 2005, in the online journal, Nursing2005,
A few cases of hepatitis that didn’t quite fit the A, B, C, D, or E profile were identified in the early 1980s and labeled hepatitis F in 1994. These viruses have now been identified as variants of hepatitis C. The hepatitis F label isn’t currently used for any virus.
The latest virus to be named is hepatitis G, a single-stranded, enveloped RNA virus similar to hepatitis C. As with hepatitis B and C, this virus is transmitted by blood and body fluids and can probably be found in all body tissues. Two variants of hepatitis G have been identified, and researchers are working to identify other suspected variants.
The long-term effects of hepatitis G aren’t known.
No vaccine has been developed against hepatitis G.
Symptoms
- Tiredness
- Loss of appetite
- Stomach pain
- Dark urine
- Yellowing of skin or eyes (jaundice) in rare cases
- Short, mild, flu-like illness
- Nausea and vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Weight loss
- Itchy skin
Incubation Period For Hepatitis
All strains of hepatitis may incubate for several weeks before the infected person begins experiencing any symptoms. This is a very dangerous time because the infected person could be passing the disease on to others without even knowing he/she is infected.
HIV-1, HIV-2, and AIDS
A person cannot contract AIDS. A person contracts HIV-1 or HIV-2, and these may develop the condition known as AIDS. There are an estimated 800,000-900,000 people currently living with HIV in the United States with approximately 40,000 newly-contracted HIV infections per year. By gender, 70% of new HIV infections occur among men. Homosexual and bisexual men represent the largest proportion of new infections, followed by men and women infected through heterosexual sex and intravenous drug use. More than half of new HIV infections occur among African-Americans although they represent only 13% of the total U.S. population.