Trauma and Crime Scene Cleaner
🧴Cleans homes after fires, floods, hoarding and deaths: disinfection, odour removal, waste disposal. Works in protective suits.
Prospects & pay
What the work is like
💼 Job market
🇺🇸 $63.7k a year on average · +1.5% jobs by 2035 · 4,300 openings a year
Hazardous materials removal workers — US: Census ACS 2020–24 (full-time), BLS projections 2025–35
🇬🇧 £25.8k median a year
Elementary cleaning occupations n.e.c. — UK: ONS ASHE 2025 (full-time)
🤖 AI & automation
Ozone generators and chemicals keep improving, but clearing and scrubbing each room by hand is not going to be automated.
Who it suits
Interests: 🔧 Making things by hand, 🤝 Helping and caring, 🛡️ Protecting, rescuing, serving, ⚛️ Physics and chemistry.
Key strengths: strength and stamina, manual dexterity.
Where to study
- Course Biohazard and trauma cleaning training (BICSc in the UK, OSHA bloodborne pathogens in the US)
Key school subjects (A-level / IB / AP): Chemistry, Biology.
🧗 Specialist companies train you on the job, plus biohazard courses (OSHA in the US, BICSc in the UK). Strong nerves are a must; many later start their own firm.
Things to know
🛢️ Dirt, noise, smells🕯️ Grief, death, hard life stories🩸 Blood and medical procedures⚠️ Real danger to life
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