Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Biohazard Cleanup Company

If you’ve found yourself in a position in which you require the services of a biohazard cleaning company, you need to undertake a course of due diligence to ensure that you retain the best biohazard remediation service for the job. In this regard, there are some essential questions that you need to ask before hiring a particular biohazard cleaning company.

How Long Have You Been in Business?

When it comes to biohazard clean up, or biohazard remediation, the experience of the firm is crucial. You need to ascertain specifically how long the company has been in business. You also need to confirm that the firm has a specific background in addressing the type of situation you face when it comes to biohazard cleanup.

There are many different types of situations in which biohazard cleaning assistance is required. These include, but are not limited to:

  • Traumatic death
  • Unattended death
  • Hoarding
  • Pet hoarding
  • Homeless encampment

Different situations require specific tactics to remediate. Thus, you want to make sure that you retain a biohazard cleaning company that has definite experience in addressing the situation you need to remediate or address.

In addition to pinning down the experience of the company itself, you also want to ask about the individual specialists who will be assigned to your project. You need to ascertain the depth of experience each specialist has, in the same manner, you raised this issue with the firm more generally.

What Types of Insurance Does Your Company Maintain?

Biohazard cleanup is a hazardous business. Thus, you need to make certain that a company that provides this type of remediation service has appropriate, comprehensive insurance coverage. The types of insurance a typical biohazard cleanup firm should maintain include:

  • Liability insurance
  • Worker’s compensation insurance
  • Commercial automobile insurance

Also, a biohazard cleaning company should bond its workers. A bond is a type of insurance that is in place to protect you in the event a worker with the company misappropriates (steals) something from your residence while on the job. A bond can cover other losses of this nature as well.

Are You Registered With the State of California?

California is one of two states in the country that requires a biohazard cleaning company to register. The firm must be duly registered with the California Department of Public Health.

You want to ask the company about its registration status. You also can confirm the registration status via the department’s website.

How Does the Company Respect Privacy?

Depending on the nature of the biohazard you need to address, you want to ensure that the company and its team of specialists will fully respect your privacy. For example, you may need the assistance of a biohazard cleaning company because you lost a member of your family through suicide. You certainly want to protect the memory of your loved one and do not necessarily want information about the exact circumstances of his or her death being shared with others.

Can You Provide References?

While online reviews and other information provided by a company can be helpful in many ways, nothing is more helpful than reaching out to references provided by the firm. These should include at least a couple of prior clients of the firm. References can also include professional associates of the firm or its owner.

Make sure you follow up and make contact with the references. It’s all well and good to obtain the names of references, but you need to seek them out and get feedback from them.

In addition to questioning a firm about references, reach out to your family, friends or other colleagues. See if these individuals have any recommendations for a biohazard cleaning company. Odds are, there is someone in your life that has had to utilize this type of service for one reason or another sometime in the past.

What Hours Is the Firm Available to Commence a Biohazard Cleanup?

The stark reality is that you cannot delay in getting a biohazard cleanup underway. You really must ensure that the cleanup starts immediately. Discuss with a company its hours of operation. Specifically, ask the firm when the cleanup process will commence. You should also request an estimate of how long the firm thinks the process will take. Keep in mind that a company will come to the site of the cleanup and provide estimates and other information based on the scene itself.