So who are these people who stay put in the face of a wall splattered with blood, brain matter and skull fragments? A lot of them come from medical fields that prepare them for the gore — they may have been EMTs or ER nurses. A construction background is helpful, too, because some clean-ups require walls and built-in structures to be removed. Regardless of background, any crime-scene cleaner needs at least three qualities: a strong stomach, the ability to emotionally detach from his work and a sympathetic nature.
Why sympathetic? Because cleaning up a crime scene has one very big difference from cleaning up after, say, a hazardous spill at a chemical plant: Grieving family members. People who loved the deceased are often at the scene while the cleaners are scrubbing blood off the walls. They might be sobbing and looking for support from the only non-grieving people still there – the clean-up crew. Crime-scene cleaners are in the awkward position of having to be stoic in the face of stomach-churning physical remains and yet sensitive in the face of a family’s tragedy. Not everyone can do both.
Crime-scene cleaners handle a wide variety of messy situations, each of which carries its own dangers and particularly nauseating characteristics.
If cleaning up blood and brains and poisonous waste all sounds perfectly manageable to you, you might be a candidate for a career in crime-scene clean-up
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