San Jose, California · Santa Clara County
Biohazard cleanup and crime scene cleanup in San Jose
A death, a violent crime or a serious injury leaves behind work no family should have to do. Call this number and you will speak with an independent bio hazard cleanup company that works in San Jose and the cities around it. You hear what they would do before you agree to anything.
Answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
- Houses, apartments, shops, offices and vehicles
- An independent local company does the cleaning
- You choose whether to hire them
Find your situation
What needs cleaning up?
Each page explains the work in plain words and lists what to ask on the phone.
- Crime scene cleanupAfter a homicide, an assault or a shooting, once the police hand the place back.What to expect
- Unattended death cleanupWhen someone died alone and days or weeks went by before they were found.What to expect
- Suicide cleanupDone quietly, so nobody in the family has to go back into the room.What to expect
- Blood and bodily fluid cleanupA fall, an injury or a medical emergency that left more than a household can handle.What to expect
- Hoarding cleanupFull homes where waste, rot or pests have built up underneath the belongings.What to expect
- Infectious disease disinfectionRooms contaminated during an illness, cleaned and then disinfected with the right product.What to expect
- Vehicle cleanupBlood or body fluids in a car, truck, van or RV.What to expect
The work itself
Why a mop and bleach are not enough
Blood and body fluids do not stay on the surface. They wick into carpet pad, run along the seams of laminate flooring and settle into the subfloor, where they go on smelling and can carry disease long after the stain looks gone.
A biohazard cleanup company finds out how far the fluid travelled, cuts out what cannot be saved, cleans and disinfects what can, and hauls the waste away in sealed, labelled containers. The workers wear disposable suits, gloves and respirators so nothing leaves the room on their clothes.
People call it crime scene cleaning, trauma cleanup or biohazard removal. It is one trade under three names.
California
Three things to know before you hire anyone
Cleanup companies register with the state
Anyone paid to remove blood and body fluids after a serious injury, illness or death is, in California law, a trauma scene waste management practitioner, and has to register with the Department of Public Health. The department's page links to the current list. Ask the company which name it is registered under.
Registration is not a quality rating
The state says so itself: being on the list is no endorsement of anyone's work. It shows the company may handle and ship this waste. Judge the rest by how they explain the job, what they put in writing and whether they press you. How to check a company.
After a crime, the state may pay the bill back
The California Victim Compensation Board counts crime scene clean-up among the costs it can reimburse when the crime took place in a home or a vehicle, and only when a registered company did the work. Who pays for cleanup.
San Jose numbers
Who you may need to reach before a cleanup company
- Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner
The county office that investigates deaths and works out the cause. Your funeral home arranges the release with it.
850 Thornton Way, San Jose · (408) 793-1900 · mec.santaclaracounty.gov
- San Jose Police Department
For questions about a report, or about when a scene will be released, once the emergency is over.
Non-emergency 408-277-8900 · Emergencies 911 · sjpd.org
- District Attorney's Victim Services Unit
Advocates who help crime victims and their families with the state compensation forms, whether or not anyone has been charged. Walk-ins are welcome.
- California Victim Compensation Board
May reimburse crime scene clean-up after a crime in a home or a vehicle.
800-777-9229 · victims.ca.gov
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
Someone to talk to at any hour of any day. Confidential.
Call or text 988 · 988lifeline.org
The call
What happens when you phone
- 1
You say what happened
Only as much as you are comfortable with: a death, an injury, a crime, a car. Where it is, and whether the police have finished there.
- 2
The company explains the job
What it would remove, what it would clean, roughly how long it might take and what decides the price. Ask anything you like.
- 3
You decide
If it sounds right, you set a time with the company directly. If it does not, you say no. Nothing starts without your agreement. More on how this referral service works.
Around San Jose
Also for the cities next door
Cleanup companies reached through this number also work in Campbell, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Milpitas, Cupertino and Morgan Hill, and in Saratoga and Los Gatos. See the whole service area.
CampbellIts own police department, and a postal address that sometimes misleads.
Santa ClaraCity police, a county coroner, and a name the two share.
SunnyvalePolice work here belongs to the Department of Public Safety.
MilpitasMilpitas police in town, the Sheriff in the hills beyond.
CupertinoNo city police: the Sheriff's West Valley Division serves Cupertino.
Morgan HillCity police in town, the Sheriff on the country roads around it.First questions
What people ask before anything else
Who cleans up after a death or a crime in San Jose?
Police and the Medical Examiner-Coroner investigate. They do not clean. Once the home is released, the cleanup falls to whoever owns or rents it, and most people hire a biohazard cleanup company.
How soon can I call?
At any hour. The phone is answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The work can only begin once the police and the Medical Examiner-Coroner have released the room.
What will it cost?
That depends on the room, how far fluids spread, how long it was before anyone found the scene and how much has to be removed. The company gives you its price before it starts. What moves the price, and who usually pays.
Is Biohazard Cleanup San Jose a cleanup company?
No. It is a referral service. The company you speak with is independent, sets its own price and is responsible for its own work.