Who Is Responsible for Biohazard Cleanup?

With millions of car accidents in the United States every year and hundreds of thousands resulting in injuries of varying severity, it stands to reason that there will be some gruesome sights at accident scenes. Accident cleanup in these circumstances doesn’t just involve getting all of the vehicle debris off the road, but also ensuring the area has been cleared of all biohazards from blood, vomit or hazardous materials.

But who exactly is responsible for cleaning up biological hazards in Centre County, PA when it is needed? Here’s a quick overview of what’s involved in biohazard cleanup and who will generally take responsibility for the process.

Variety of factors

There are several factors that will play a role in determining who will take responsibility for cleaning up the roadway after the accident.

The most important consideration is the kind of debris field that resulted from the accident. If there is no biological material, gasoline or other vehicular fluids, then a maintenance crew from the county or local municipality (or from the state, if it’s on a highway) will likely address the accident cleanup.

However, if there are blood, bodily fluids, gasoline and/or vehicle fluids present in the debris field at the accident site, it then becomes necessary to call in a team that specializes in hazardous material (hazmat) cleanup. In some cases, local communities may have a hazmat team built into their governmental structure. This is more likely to be the case in larger cities or more populous counties. The other option is to contract out these services to a private company that offers hazmat remediation and biohazard cleanup services.

Again, which route the local jurisdiction will actually go with depends on the resources it has available and the number of accidents it expects to see in a given year.

Cleaning the vehicles

Who, then, is responsible for cleaning up the car itself, and not the roadway? There are circumstances in which a person was seriously injured or killed in an accident but the vehicle is still reparable, although contaminated with hazardous materials. The cleanup of the biohazards must occur before the vehicle gets taken to a body shop for work.

The team that deals with the biohazard cleanup on the roadway will not be the same team that is responsible for the biohazard remediation of the vehicle, as that is the responsibility of the owner of the vehicle and not the municipality. The owner should never personally attempt to clean up the vehicle themselves, as it can be unsafe to do so without the proper knowledge and equipment.

There are car accident cleanup professionals who specialize in biohazard cleanup of vehicles that have been involved in serious accidents. It is important to work with a skilled professional for this process, as the cleanup must be extremely thorough before other vehicle professionals can go to work on restoring the rest of the car to operable condition.

For more information about biohazard cleanup in Centre County, PA, contact S & R Repairs Towing & Recovery Inc. today.

Categorised in: Hazmat Clean-up