What is the ANSI/IICRC S540 Standard?

Understanding the S540 Standard. What it is and what it isn’t.

It is stated in the S540 Standard itself that, “The S540 is not a substitute for remediation training and certification programs that are necessary to obtain competence in the field.” The purpose of the S540 is to establish an industry-wide standard way of doing things. This is the purpose of any standard.

Many people do not have a clear understanding of what an ANSI Standard is. This page will attempt to explain it in easy to understand layman’s terms.

And, “The S540 does not intend to attempt to teach remediation procedures, but rather provides the principles and foundation for understanding proper remediation practices. The S540 is not a substitute for remediation training and certification programs that are necessary to obtain competence in the field.”

In simple terms the S540 is a voluntary standard created by a committee of people who have been involved in the crime and trauma scene bio-recovery industry, and the fire/water restoration industry for varying degrees of time. Everyone put their minds together and attempted to create a standard set of guidelines, procedures, and suggestions to provide a uniform document that all those who deal with crime and trauma scene work could refer to for guidance.

Here is how Wikipedia explains what ANSI is, “The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a private non-profit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the United States.The organization also coordinates U.S. standards with international standards so that American products can be used worldwide.

ANSI accredits standards that are developed by representatives of other standards organizations, government agencies, consumer groups, companies, and others.”

Should you follow and attempt to comply with the S540 Standard when possible? – Yes.

For those of you who are not familiar with standards the first thing you need to understand is that the S540 Standard is not a regulation; it is a standard.

A standard is not a regulation.

On their own website the IICRC states  “The use of an American National Standard (ANS) is completely voluntary.”

On the other hand, OSHA regulations are federal law and you must comply with them. There is, however, no enforcement of the S540 Standard as it is a voluntary consensus standard. This means that the S540 was created by a group of individuals who agreed on some common elements that they thought would be a good thing to follow when performing crime scene cleaning services. It is not a regulation,  and no agency enforces it.

Questions:

Will the S540 Standard teach you how to be a crime scene cleaner or own your own crime scene biorecovery cleaning company? – Absolutely not.

Is the S540 Standard a good thing to implement once you have in-depth crime scene cleanup biorecovery training and experience? – Yes.

Do you need to learn and implement the S540 to form and create a successful crime scene cleanup company? – Absolutely not.

Is the S540 a good step in the right direction for our industry? – Yes.

Will the S540 teach you how to operate a crime scene clean up business? – No.

Will the S540 teach you how to remediate a crime scene? – No.

Will the S540 teach how to make money in the business? – No.

Will the S540 teach you the things you need to know to get into the industry, market, price, obtain equipment and supplies, estimate jobs, deal with the grieving family members, etc? – No.

At this point some of you might say, “Well if the S540 is not going to teach me what I need to actually do the work and run the business what good is it?”

The answer to that is simple. Any S540 training is something you take after or in conjunction with a full in-depth crime scene cleanup course. If you have completed the Amdecon course understanding and implementing this standard into your business should be your next step.

Just like many of you know that a 40-hour HAZWOPER course is a good credential to have but it is in addition to a full in-depth crime scene cleanup course. You won’t have a clue what to do if all you have is a 40-Hour HAZWOPER certification in regards to being a crime scene cleaner.

You can purchase the S540 and study it until you know it backward and forward, but you won’t know how to be a crime scene cleaner and what to do on the scene without other training first.