A Complete Guide to Arranging Emergency Biohazard Cleanup in Middle Tennessee

What counts as an emergency biohazard cleanup

An emergency biohazard cleanup is needed when blood, bodily fluids or other biological material are left in a home, business, rental unit or vehicle after a traumatic event, and the space cannot be used until they are removed. Common situations include a death at home, an unattended death discovered after some time, a suicide, a violent crime, a serious accident or injury, or a medical emergency that left contamination behind.

The word emergency here describes the situation, not a promise of timing. The incident is urgent for the people affected, and contamination can worsen with time, especially in porous materials and warm weather. But the cleanup itself can only start once the scene is released, and scheduling depends on location and circumstances.

Nashville 24/7 Biohazard Disposals handles cleanup and remediation of biological contamination in homes, apartments, rentals, businesses, hotels and vehicles. The main services are crime scene cleanup, suicide scene cleanup, unattended death cleanup, blood cleanup and traumatic incident scene cleanup. If you are not sure which applies, start with emergency biohazard cleanup.

Who responds first in different parts of the region

Before any cleanup, the right agencies need to respond and complete their work. In Middle Tennessee, which law enforcement agency arrives depends largely on where the property is.

Inside city limits

City police departments generally handle incidents within their city's limits. In Nashville and most of Davidson County, that is the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, which lists its non-emergency number as 615-862-8600 on nashville.gov. Cities such as Murfreesboro, Franklin, Clarksville, Hendersonville and Gallatin have their own departments.

Outside city limits

In unincorporated parts of a county, the county sheriff's office generally provides law enforcement. Tennessee sheriffs are the chief law enforcement officers of their counties, so a sheriff's office can also be involved inside city limits in some situations. For a farmhouse outside Lebanon, a lake property in Cheatham County or a home in rural Hickman County, expect the sheriff's office.

What this means for cleanup

Whichever agency responds, it controls the scene until it releases it. Write down the agency name, the investigator's name and any report number. You will need them for insurance, for any compensation claim, and to confirm with a cleanup company that the property has been released. Call 911 for any emergency; use non-emergency lines only for follow-up questions.

How Tennessee's medical examiner system fits in

When someone dies in Tennessee in circumstances that call for investigation, the county medical examiner becomes involved. According to the Office of the State Chief Medical Examiner, county medical examiners investigate deaths that occur suddenly and unexpectedly in people in otherwise good health, deaths related to any type of trauma, possible or confirmed drug overdoses, suspicious or unnatural deaths, and deaths of prisoners or people in state custody.

Forensic autopsies are performed at one of five regional forensic centers in the state, located in Johnson City, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Nashville and Memphis. Families are not billed for forensic autopsies; the state and the county ordering the investigation pay for them. Most autopsy reports are completed within 10 to 12 weeks, sometimes longer when further testing is needed.

Three practical points for families:

• Cleanup does not need to wait for the autopsy report, only for the scene to be released.
• Death certificates are issued through the Tennessee Office of Vital Records or the county vital records office, not by the forensic centers or by a cleanup company.
• If a death was not discovered for some time, the investigation and release may take longer, and the cleanup itself is usually more involved. See understanding unattended death cleanup.

What to do between the incident and the cleanup

The time between release and cleanup is often a few hours to a few days. Use it for safe, simple steps, not for cleaning.

Bloodborne pathogens such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV can be spread through contact with blood and some bodily fluids, according to the CDC. That is a calm, practical reason to leave the affected area alone. The guide on what not to do before an assessment covers this in more detail.

How to arrange service with Nashville 24/7 Biohazard Disposals

There are two ways to start, and you can use whichever feels easier.

1. Call (615) 513-5112

   The line takes calls any time, day or night. You describe what happened in general terms, where the property is and whether it has been released. We explain the next step and confirm scheduling for your location by phone. Distance from Nashville can affect timing, and we do not promise a set arrival time.

2. Or use Order Online

   The Order Online page lets you request service and pay a $2,000 initial deposit. That deposit is not the final price, and paying it does not guarantee work begins within 24 hours. We follow up by phone to arrange the assessment.

3. Assessment and written scope

   We assess the affected areas and prepare a written scope describing what will be cleaned, what will be removed and what is excluded. Pricing is based on that scope. See how a biohazard assessment works.

4. Cleanup and remediation

   We contain the area, remove contaminated porous materials, clean and disinfect with EPA-registered disinfectants used according to label directions, deodorize and package waste for disposal.

5. Handover and documentation

   You receive photographs, the written scope and an itemized invoice. We tell you if the property will need a contractor for repairs, which we do not do ourselves.

If you would rather email first, our contact details are on every page of this site. For how costs are worked out, see how pricing works.

What to have ready when you call

You do not need everything below to make the first call. But the more of it you have, the more accurately we can plan.

For landlords and managers, our guide on what property managers should document lists records worth gathering. For families, the guide for families arranging cleanup is a gentler starting point.

Tennessee Criminal Injuries Compensation

If the cleanup follows a crime, the Tennessee Criminal Injuries Compensation program, run by the Tennessee Department of Treasury, may help with part of the cost. According to the Treasury:

• The program may consider up to $3,000 in costs for cleaning and removal of materials when the crime occurred in the victim's home or an eligible relative's home.
• It does not cover repairs or replacement.
• The crime must generally be reported to law enforcement within 15 days, with exceptions for minors and good cause.
• A claim must generally be filed within two years of the crime.
• The crime must have happened in Tennessee.
• It is a fund of last resort, so it does not pay costs covered by another source such as insurance.

Applications are submitted online through the Treasury's website, which also lists a help line. An itemized invoice that shows cleaning and removal separately makes the claim easier, and we can provide one. We cannot tell you whether a claim will be approved; that decision belongs to the program.

If the incident involved domestic violence, the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 can help with safety planning. Our page on violent crime scene cleanup describes how we approach these situations.

Insurance and other ways the bill gets paid

Some homeowner, renter and commercial property policies may cover some biohazard cleanup. Whether yours does depends entirely on the policy and the insurer. Nobody outside your insurance company can promise coverage.

Practical steps:

1. Call your insurer before discarding damaged items.
2. Ask whether the policy may respond to biohazard cleanup for this type of event, and what documentation they need.
3. Write down the claim number, adjuster name and what they said.
4. Share our photographs, written scope and itemized invoice with them.

In rentals, the landlord's policy, the tenant's renter's policy and the lease may all be relevant. The guide on insurance questions after a biohazard incident goes through the conversations in detail.

How biohazard waste is handled under Tennessee rules

Contaminated materials removed during cleanup, such as carpet, pad, mattresses, upholstered items and sections of drywall, cannot simply be put out with household trash. Tennessee's Department of Environment and Conservation treats medical waste as a special waste under Rule 0400-11-01-.01(2), and its guidance says medical wastes are generally prohibited from solid waste processing or disposal facilities unless they have been treated to render them non-infectious.

For you, the practical meaning is simple. The cleanup provider packages contaminated material and takes it away, and it is disposed of in line with applicable Tennessee and federal requirements. You should not need to arrange a dumpster for contaminated items or carry anything out yourself. If your quote does not mention waste handling, ask about it.

The guide to what happens to contaminated porous materials explains which items typically need removal and why.

The 15 Middle Tennessee counties we serve

Nashville 24/7 Biohazard Disposals is one team based in Nashville that travels out to properties across Middle Tennessee. We have no branch offices. Scheduling for any address is confirmed by phone, and distance can affect timing.

How travel works from a single base

Because the whole team travels from Nashville, a call from an address in East Nashville and a call from a farm in Macon County are handled the same way: we confirm release, discuss the situation, and agree a time that works for the property and our schedule. Longer drives can mean a later start, and we will tell you plainly what to expect rather than give a time we cannot keep.

Each county has its own page with local context. The busiest are Davidson County, Rutherford County, Williamson County and Montgomery County. The full list of counties and cities, including smaller communities, is on our service areas page. If your address is near a county line or outside these counties, call and ask; we will tell you honestly whether we can help.

How the property type changes the job

Middle Tennessee includes dense urban apartments, fast-growing suburbs, older small-town homes and rural farm properties. Each brings different considerations.

Apartments and condos

Shared walls, floors and ventilation mean neighbors and the property manager are often involved. See apartment biohazard cleanup.

Rentals

Landlords need to coordinate with tenants or their families, insurers and sometimes an estate, and may have a unit standing empty until the work is done.

Businesses and hotels

The priority is separating the affected area so the rest of the premises can keep operating where possible. See commercial biohazard cleanup.

Rural and estate properties

Longer drives, gravel access, outbuildings and older construction can all affect planning. Homes belonging to someone who lived alone may also be part of an estate being settled. See estate and property death cleanup.

Vehicles

Cars, trucks and fleet vehicles need their own approach because of upholstery, carpet and confined space, and the vehicle usually needs to be stored somewhere secure until cleanup.

Arranging cleanup when you live far away

Many of the people who call about a property in Middle Tennessee do not live here. An adult child in another state learns that a parent has died alone in their home in Smith County. An out-of-state landlord gets a call from a tenant's relative about a unit in Murfreesboro. An executor is handling a relative's house while working full time several hours away. Arranging cleanup from a distance is common, and it can be done well.

Sort out access first

Decide who can let the crew in. It might be a neighbor with a spare key, a local relative, a property manager, the executor's attorney or a lockbox. Tell us who that person is and how to reach them. Record who has keys, and change the locks afterward if you are unsure how many copies exist.

Approvals and payment by email and phone

You can review and approve the written scope by email, and we can call you during the work if anything unexpected is found. Payment arrangements can also be made without being on site. Make sure the person approving the work has the authority to do so; for an estate, that is often the executor or administrator.

Photographs instead of a visit

Photographs of the affected area before and after the work give you a clear picture without making the trip, and many families prefer not to see the room at all. Those same photographs serve your insurer and, after a crime, any Criminal Injuries Compensation claim.

Belongings you want kept

Send a short list of the items that matter most: documents, photographs, jewelry, a particular piece of furniture. The crew can look for them during the work and set aside anything that can be safely kept. Personal property outside the affected area is left as it is unless you ask otherwise.

After cleanup: repairs, sale and moving forward

When cleanup ends, the affected area has been cleaned, disinfected and deodorized, and contaminated materials have been removed. If drywall, flooring or subfloor came out, the space will need repairs. That is usually a contractor's job. In Tennessee, the Department of Commerce and Insurance requires a home improvement license for residential remodeling over $3,000 and under $25,000 in certain counties, including Davidson, Robertson and Rutherford, and a contractor's license for jobs of $25,000 and up, so it is reasonable to ask a repair contractor for their license number.

If you plan to sell or rent the property, Tennessee's T.C.A. 66-5-207 says no cause of action arises against an owner or real estate licensee for failing to disclose that a property was the site of a homicide, felony or suicide. That is general information, not legal advice; an attorney can tell you how it applies to you.

For more on the property side, see what property owners should know after a crime scene.

Your Middle Tennessee roadmap, step by step

Here is the whole process, start to finish, as it usually unfolds in this region:

1. Call 911 if anyone is hurt or in danger.
2. City police or the county sheriff's office responds, depending on whether the property is inside city limits.
3. If a death occurred, the county medical examiner investigates; any forensic autopsy happens at a regional forensic center at no charge to the family.
4. The agency releases the property. Note who released it and the report number.
5. Keep the area closed. Call your insurer before discarding anything.
6. Call (615) 513-5112 or use the Order Online page to arrange an assessment.
7. Review and approve the written scope.
8. Cleanup, removal, disinfection, deodorization and waste disposal take place.
9. Receive photographs, scope and itemized invoice for your insurer or a Criminal Injuries Compensation claim.
10. Arrange repairs with a contractor if needed.

You do not have to do all of this alone, and you do not have to do it all today. Start with the step in front of you.

Questions people ask