How Much Do Crime Scene Cleaners Make
Crime scenes can be very messy and gruesome. The good news is crime scene cleaners will be handsomely compensated for their time and effort. A murder scene, suicide or violent crime scene is often very ugly. Therefore, crime scene cleaners need to be well trained and skilled to clean body tissues, bone fragments as well as lots of blood. They should also be adept at thoroughly cleaning the crime scene so that no trace of hazardous materials remains. This kind of work is known as Crime and Trauma Scene Decontamination.
Crime Scene Cleaning Industry Salaries
Job Requirements
To work as a crime scene cleaner, you need to have a strong stomach and at the same time, you also need to be capable of showing sensitivity when dealing with those who have lost a dear one in violent crime. The job of cleaning a crime scene has not been defined by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics as any particular occupation. Since this work involves the removal of blood and dangerous materials, it is categorized as dangerous material removal work.
Salaries in 2010
As far back as May of 2010, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that a crime scene cleaner earned about 37, 600 dollars annually. This figure closely resembles the salaries offered to crime scene cleaners in the Simply Hired website. According to this website, the earnings of a crime scene cleaner was 39,000 dollars in April of 2013.
Cleaning and Disposing bio-hazards
No special educational qualifications are required to work as a crime scene cleaner. However, this kind of work does require specialized knowledge of how to properly remove and then dispose of bio-hazards. Most people who work in this particular job learn the ropes via on-the-job training. People who clean bio-hazards are going to earn the highest amounts – typically, 80,00 dollars and more.
External Job Factors
The amount paid for cleaning a crime scene depends on the kind of crime committed and the location of the crime. Thus, people who work as crime scene cleaners in large cities will earn more than those who perform similar jobs in a quiet rural area.
The crime rates in the United States may be on the decline, but there are still some cities where the crime rate is high and rising. If you are working in such an area, then you can expect to earn more than the national average.
Future is Bright
The overall crime scene market in the USA was valued at about 346 million dollars in 2012. This sum of money was divided among 560 cleaning companies that employed about 1300 employees. Although falling crime rates will decrease profit margins, companies that are well established will continue to earn more than companies that are not so successful. The overall outlook for the crime scene cleaning industry remains positive despite falling crime rates in the US.
2016 Salaries
Workers entrusted with the removal of hazardous materials got to earn a median annual salary of 40, 460 dollars in the year 2016. The lowest salary earned by crime scene cleaners in this period was about 32, 240 dollars annually. About 75 percent of crime scene cleaner earned this kind of money, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The remaining 25 percent of crime scene cleaners earned a salary of 56, 210 dollars in 2016. In the same year, there were 46, 200 crime scene cleaners in the US.
A Lucrative Job
Working in this field can be lucrative because your hourly earnings of 19.14 dollars are about 58 percent higher than the average salaries paid in the US. Keep in mind that owing to the grisly nature of this work, there are few takers for crime scene cleaning in the US. Even so, it can be financially rewarding for you to become a crime scene cleaner because you can expect regular work that is handsomely rewarded. The more extreme the work, the more rewarding it is.
The good news is you do not require a degree to become a crime scene cleaner. However, you should have completed a Bio-recovery training and you also require a license/certification. Although you don’t need previous experience, you must be ready to pay attention to detail, be thorough and have high tolerance because you will be coming into direct contact with materials that can hurt your senses physically as well as emotionally
To conclude, the average median salary of a hazardous material remover is 42, 030 dollars. Before taking up this work, you need to have completed your bio-recovery technician training and you should also choose to work for a qualified employer. It can take several days to complete the cleaning of a crime scene, and in this time you can experience physical stress and emotional turmoil. Finally, to increase your earnings, you should complete a course on drug lab decontamination. This course takes just two days to complete. It provides first-hand training on assessing the crime site and preparing it for decontamination.
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