Short answer
First, make sure anyone who is hurt has medical help. Keep people and pets away from the area. Do not touch fluids or soiled items without protection. Close off the space without spreading the mess, and turn off fans or air systems that could move droplets. Then take photos from a distance and gather the facts the crew and your insurer will need.
The first few minutes
Start with people. If someone is hurt, ill or not responding, call 911 and follow the dispatcher's instructions. Medical care and any police response come before cleanup of any kind.
Once any emergency is handled, step back and look. Where is the mess? Is it blood, vomit, feces, sewage or something you cannot identify? Is it only on a hard floor, or has it reached carpet, furniture or walls? Is anything still leaking or spreading?
Your goal right now is not to clean. It is to keep the problem from getting bigger and to keep anyone else from being exposed. Those two aims guide every step that follows.
If you are shaken, that is normal. Take a moment. Ask someone to stay with you if you can. Then work through the steps below one at a time.
How do you keep other people from being exposed?
Close the doors to the affected area if you can do it without walking through the mess. If there is no door, block the way in with a chair, a box or tape. Tell everyone in your household or building to stay out.
Take special care with children, pets, older adults and anyone with a weak immune system. Pets can walk through fluids and carry them to other rooms. Move them to a separate space, or ask a neighbor to take them for the day.
At a workplace, send foot traffic another way and tell coworkers the area is off limits. Does your employer have a bloodborne pathogens exposure control plan, its written plan for blood exposure? If so, follow it and tell the person in charge.
Someone may have had direct contact with another person's blood, such as through a cut or a splash to the eyes or mouth. If so, wash the area with soap and water, or flush the eyes with clean water. Then contact a doctor or clinic quickly for advice.
Why shouldn't you just clean it up yourself?
It is tempting to grab paper towels and a spray bottle. Some people do handle a very small amount of blood on a hard, sealed surface themselves, with proper gloves. For anything larger, waiting for a professional is usually safer. The same goes for anything that soaked into soft materials, or anything you cannot identify.
Germs do not all act the same way. Some viruses survive on surfaces far longer than others. You often cannot know what is present. So professionals treat all blood and body fluids as if they could spread infection.
Household cleaning can also make things worse. Scrubbing can push fluid into grout and carpet backing. Carpet cleaners can push the mess down into the pad and floor base. Mixing cleaning products can create harmful fumes. Waiting a few hours for a trained crew rarely causes as much harm as a well-meant cleanup done the wrong way.
Quick actions that help while you wait
A few safe steps limit the damage without disturbing the mess.
- Turn off ceiling fans and portable fans. Where you can, turn off the heating or cooling system that serves the area, so droplets and odors are not blown around.
- If fluid is spreading toward a doorway or drain, place a towel or absorbent pad at the edge without stepping in it. Leave it there for the crew.
- For a sewage backup, stop using sinks, toilets and appliances that drain into the affected line.
- Keep windows closed unless you need fresh air for comfort, and keep inside doors shut.
- Leave soiled items where they are. Do not move them to another room or a trash can.
Records to gather, and questions to expect on the phone
A few records help the cleanup company plan the work. They also help your insurer or landlord understand what happened. You do not need to do anything fancy.
From the doorway, take a few wide photos of the affected area and any nearby rooms that might be involved. If it is safe, take a couple of closer photos that show the edges of the mess. Do not take photos that you would find upsetting later, and do not share them in public.
Write down about when the event happened or was found. Write what you know about its cause, who has been in the area, and anything that was moved. If there was a medical event or a police response, note the agency and any report or incident number.
Keep these facts together on your phone or on paper. The crew will ask for most of them, and your insurer will ask for the rest.
When you call, expect the company to ask what kind of mess it is and roughly how large the area is. They will ask what your floors and walls are made of. They will ask if anyone is still living or working in the space, and if any agency has limited access.
They may also ask about parking, building access and elevators. They may ask if a property manager needs to approve their entry. Have those answers ready so the crew can come prepared.
Ask them what they expect to do on the first visit. Ask if they will give you a written work plan before starting major work, and how they will record the job. A good company should be able to answer clearly, even on short notice.
Be careful about arrival promises. A company may give you an estimated time, but traffic, other emergencies and staffing can change it. Ask them to call or text if their timing shifts. In the meantime, keep following the steps above. Do not decide to start the cleanup yourself.
Putting it together: a late-night discovery in a rental unit
To show how these steps fit together, here is a made-up case. A landlord gets a call at night from a tenant. The tenant came home to find that a guest had been hurt in the bathroom and taken to the hospital. There is blood on the tile floor, the edge of a bath mat and the hallway carpet.
The landlord asks the tenant to keep the bathroom door closed and keep the family dog in a bedroom. The landlord also asks the tenant to turn off the air return in the hallway. The tenant takes a few photos from the doorway. The tenant places a towel at the edge of the hallway carpet stain without stepping on it.
The landlord contacts a biohazard cleanup company and shares the photos and the building entry details. The crew is set to come the next morning. The tenant stays with a relative for the night.
When the crew arrives, they find that the tenant's quick actions kept the mess from reaching two other rooms. A few calm steps made the professional work simpler. The same steps can help you.
Rules, reporting and paperwork
Depending on where the event happened, you may have a duty to report it. Employers may need to record workplace exposures. Landlords may need to tell tenants or insurers. Some events involve police or health departments. If you are unsure whether a report is required, ask your local health department. Do not just assume none is needed.
Contact your insurer early, above all if the mess reached flooring, walls or furniture. Ask what records they need and whether they have a say in when work begins.
If there is a police investigation, the scene may not be yours to clean until officers release it. Ask the agency when that will happen and whether anything must stay in place. A good cleanup company will never start work on a scene that is still under investigation.
Keep copies of everything the company sends you. That includes the estimate, any form you sign to approve the work, and the final report. If you manage a rental or a business, file them where you keep other property or safety records. Questions sometimes come up months later.
How do you look after yourself while you wait?
Finding a biohazard, above all one that involves someone you care about, can be deeply upsetting. Give yourself permission to step away and let professionals handle the physical work.
Wash your hands well if you touched anything in the area. Change your clothes if they may have been splashed. Eat or drink something. Did the event involve a suicide attempt or a death? Are you struggling with thoughts of harming yourself? You can call or text the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at any hour.
