Blood Stain Cleaning: What to Know Before You Begin

Cleaning blood stains is something that almost all of us have been faced with at some point. But whether you are attempting to clean a few small specks of blood on a piece of clothing, or a large blood spill on your living room carpet, there are certain precautions you need to take to remove the stain and the potential bacteria it contains.

How to Clean Blood from Non-Porous Surfaces

If you experience a small blood spill on a non-porous surface and decide to clean it yourself, you should:

1. Isolate the area to prevent cross contamination.
2. Protect yourself by wearing gloves and a mask.
3. Wipe up the blood with a towel.
4. Treat the area with an EPA-registered disinfectant.
5. Throw away any materials used during cleaning as medical waste in proper manner in accordance with the law.

3 Misconceptions About Cleaning Blood

There is a lot of confusion around blood stains and how to safely remove them. Below are some common misconceptions surrounding the issue, followed by solutions for thorough cleanup.

1. If I can no longer see the blood stain, then the blood stain is gone.

Why this assumption is wrong: Blood has the ability to seep deep into surfaces, and can be impossible to get out of porous materials such as fabric, carpet, concrete, and hardwood. This means that although a piece of fabric or carpeting may look clean after a few minutes of scrubbing, only the surface of the material is actually clean. As a result, the material can continue to harbor bacteria.

The solution: As hard as this may be to face, the only way to completely rid porous material of blood is to throw away or replace the affected object.  

2. It is safe to clean up a bloodspill that belongs to a family member or someone I know.

Why this assumption is wrong: Blood has the potential to carry infectious diseases, and not everyone who has been infected realizes it. For instance, there are around 240,000 people in the U.S. right now who do not know they have been infected with HIV.

The solution: Treat all blood and body fluids as if they have been infected. The best way to do this is to avoid cleaning up blood altogether. Aftermath, a professional bioremediation company, has all of the tools needed to thoroughly and safely clean up a blood spill so that you don’t have to.  

3. I can just hire a carpet cleaner to remove a blood stain from my carpet.

Why this assumption is wrong: Carpet cleaners and other standard cleaning companies do not have the equipment, training, or knowledge needed to safely and thoroughly remove blood. In fact, most carpet cleaning companies will not clean blood because of potential contamination to their equipment and potential cross contamination to other homes.

The solution: Not even Aftermath can save bloodied carpet, as blood can seep deep into carpet, padding, and subflooring. As mentioned in the 1st example, the only way to completely rid carpet of blood is to replace the carpet, padding, and subflooring.  

Aftermath approaches blood cleanup with a full scientific method. Not only do we fully remediate all potential blood-borne pathogens and visible blood stains, we test every site for 100% sanitization levels to ensure no biomatter is left to cause future odors or damage. Have more questions about cleaning blood stains? Speak with an Aftermath representative today.

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Sources:

http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/hivtesting/
http://www.aftermath.com/contact-24-7-365/