Trauma Restoration Industry

Today we continue our three part series on the Trauma Restoration Industry. Last week we learned about Blood Borne Pathogens. So just what does constitute a Trauma and what is Trauma Restoration?


What is a Trauma?

• Trauma: A physical wound or injury. A psychic wound or emotional shockthat has a lasting effect on the mind. An abnormal physical or mental condition produced by a shock, wound, injury or death. The New World Book Encyclopedia Dictionary -

• Trauma Restoration: “The physical and emotional action taken to return, repair or restore a traumatized area and its occupants back to some degree of normalcy.” D. Neal Riley, FBI Retired and former Director of Marketing for Trauma Restorative Services of Alabama

Trauma as stated above is a physical condition, at ServiceMaster Anytime, the types of jobs that we most often are working on are crime scenes. However, we also do trauma restoration for natural death sites as well. A death site is usually not a crime scene and differs mostly in the magnitude of the restoration process. Simply put, a death scene might occur when a person passes on, sometimes this is an elderly person that lives alone and the discovery isn’t made until days or weeks later.

We really want people to understand and know about Trauma Restoration because without the proper guidance and advocacy, families often face the cleanup themselves because they are unaware of the services that Trauma Practitioners perform. This is not only an emotional hardship for the family but consequently, when a self clean up occurs; it is often handled badly or illegally. Our community landfills are common dumping grounds for infectious and contaminated waste that should never have ended up there. Proper disposal of blood borne pathogens and any cleaning clothes and tools must be handled correctly and in full compliance with laws and regulations.

The trauma clean up starts only after the Coroners’ office or other agencies like the Police have completed their investigation. The authorities will release the scene back to the homeowner or business owner. The Coroners’ office or Mortuary is responsible for removing all body(s) and any human remains that may have become detached. The Trauma Restoration specialists usually will not be allowed to or required to remove any human remains. What is left to clean? All of the contaminated content and structural materials in these cases must be cleaned, restored, removed and/or disposed. This is where the experience and training of a licensed and registered Trauma Practitioner comes in.

Two Levels of Dead. Really?? Well not really, once a person has died they are surely dead but there are two levels of death scenes.

Level 1 exposure: Decontamination & Restoration

A “Level 1 Exposure” site has been contaminated by a traumatic event but has been discovered before any biological decomposition or odors has developed. Some areas of the site may still be habitable and the customer or family may still occupy these areas during restoration

Level ‘2’ Exposure: Complex Decontamination and Restoration- (Body


Decomposition and Putrefaction Odors)

A “Level 2 Exposure” site occurs when the resulting odor is bad enough so that the customer or family cannot inhabit the area. The restoration and cleaning process will tend to be more complex. Additional information is critical here for the effective decontamination and control of these problems. Decomposition odor is caused by bacteria or fungi actually splitting proteins which in turn forms a foul smelling residue which must be eliminated as quickly as possible.

Next week we will discuss the restoration process, including preparation, sanitizing, decontamination, items that must be removed and cleaning and restoring hard surfaces.