Blood Cleanup Following a Traumatic Injury

The injuries behind these calls

These calls almost always follow an accident rather than anything sinister. Some typical ones:

• Falls. Head injuries bleed heavily, so a fall on a tile floor or against a stair edge can leave far more blood than the injury itself suggests. Older adults on blood thinners can bleed more than expected.
• Workshop and garage accidents. Power tools, mowers, ladders and glass. Blood often ends up on concrete, workbenches and the inside of a car used to get to the hospital.
• Kitchen accidents. Deep cuts from knives or broken glass, sometimes with blood tracked to a sink or bathroom.
• Accidents around the yard or pool. Injuries outside that end with the person brought indoors to wait for help.

The common thread is that first aid came first, which is right. Towels, clothing and bandage wrappers get left where they fell. Nobody stopped to think about the carpet, and nobody should have.

Arranging cleanup while you're at the hospital

You don't need to be at the house when we first talk. Most families arrange this by phone from wherever they are.

1. Call and describe what you know

   Which rooms, what kind of flooring, roughly how much. You don't need exact details. If someone else saw the room, they can call or we can talk to them.

2. Sort out access

   Tell us who can let us in: a neighbor with a key, a relative, a lockbox code. We confirm the arrangement before we come.

3. Receive the scope

   Once we've seen the space, you get a written scope of what will be cleaned and what needs removal, so you can approve it.

4. Get an update when done

   We send photos and let you know the room is ready, so nobody has to walk in wondering.

If the injured person rents, the landlord may need to be told before work begins. Our page on blood cleanup in rental properties covers that.

What we do on site

We start where the injury happened and work outward along the route the person and their helpers took. That route matters. Paramedics, family members and the injured person may all have walked through blood on the way out.

Items used for first aid, like towels, clothing and bedding, are bagged and disposed of unless you ask us to set something aside. Porous materials that absorbed blood, such as a rug or a section of carpet and pad, are removed. Hard surfaces like tile, countertops, door handles and banisters are cleaned and then disinfected with EPA-registered products used according to label directions.

Outdoor surfaces and garages get attention too. Concrete is porous, so blood on a garage floor or driveway may need more than a hose. If the person was driven to the hospital in a family car, we can look at the vehicle as well.

Why this isn't a job to leave to a relative

Family members often offer to handle it, out of love. We'd gently suggest otherwise. Blood from another person can carry pathogens such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV, according to the CDC, and the person cleaning has no way of knowing. Protective equipment, the right disinfectants and proper disposal reduce that risk.

There is also the emotional side. Cleaning up a loved one's blood after watching them get hurt is hard, and it can stay with people. It's fine to let someone else do it.

How this differs from our other injury-related pages

This page is for accidental injuries at home where the person survived and the scene is mostly contained. A few related situations are covered elsewhere:

• Serious injury scene cleanupLarger scenes with significant damage or several types of contamination
• Assault scene cleanupWhen the injury came from violence and police are involved
• Multi-room blood cleanupWhen the person moved through several rooms or floors
• Workplace biohazard cleanupWhen the accident happened at work

Our guide on cleanup following a serious injury explains the wider process in more depth.

Scope, cost and paperwork

The scope depends on the number of rooms and surfaces involved, the type of flooring, whether furniture or a vehicle is affected, access, and the amount of waste. We don't publish prices. You'll see the written scope before work starts.

Some homeowner's or renter's policies may cover part of the cost of this cleanup, and some may not. Only your insurer can tell you. We provide photos, the written scope and an itemized invoice you can send them. If you prefer to book online, the Order Online page takes a $2,000 initial deposit, which is not the final price and doesn't fix a start time.

See how pricing works for more on what goes into the number.

Where we can help

We're based in Nashville and travel to homes across Middle Tennessee. Many of these calls come from families near the area's large hospitals, but the injury itself might have happened anywhere from Hendersonville to Spring Hill. Scheduling is confirmed by phone. See all service areas.

Questions people ask