Oxnard, California and the towns around it
Biohazard cleanup and crime scene cleanup in Oxnard
A death, a violent crime or a serious injury leaves work behind that a family should never have to do. Call this number and you are put through to an independent cleanup company that takes these jobs in Oxnard and along the Ventura County coast.
Phone answered 24/7, day and night
- Houses, apartments, mobile homes, shops and vehicles
- Ask for the plan and the price in writing before anything starts
- Hiring them, or not, is up to you
Situations
What are you dealing with?
Pick the one closest to yours. Each page says what the cleanup involves and what to settle before you call.
- Crime scene cleanupDetectives have gone, and the rooms are yours again exactly as they left them.
- Unattended death cleanupA relative or a tenant lay undiscovered for days, perhaps weeks.
- Suicide cleanupHandled quietly, with relatives kept well clear of the room.
- Blood and body fluid cleanupMore blood or fluid than towels and a mop ought to be asked to deal with.
- Hoarding cleanupBelongings piled deep, and waste, rot or rodents somewhere underneath.
- Disinfection after illnessA stomach virus, an outbreak or a long sickness has left surfaces in doubt.
- Vehicle cleanupThe inside of a sedan, pickup or van following an injury or a death.
Who turns up
A separate company, registered with the state
Biohazard Cleanup Oxnard does not own vans or employ cleaners. It is a referral service: the person who answers your call works for a cleanup company that is its own business, with its own staff and equipment. Check its registration and insurance yourself, as you would with any contractor.
California expects more of these firms than of an ordinary cleaning service. Under the Trauma Scene Waste Management Act, a business that removes blood and body fluids after a death or serious injury has to be registered with the state health department, and the department publishes the names. Ask which name the company is registered under and look it up before you sign.
Bio hazard work is also different in what leaves the house. Soaked materials go out in sealed containers to a licensed medical waste facility, not into the trash can at the curb. How California regulates this work.
Useful numbers
Offices you may need this week
None of these are cleanup companies. They are the public offices families in Oxnard usually end up speaking to.
- Oxnard Police, non-emergency
- For questions about a report or whether a home has been released. City of Oxnard page.
- 805-385-7740
- Ventura County Medical Examiner's Office
- Investigates sudden, violent and unexplained deaths countywide from its office on Foothill Road in Ventura. Office website.
- (805) 641-4400
- Ventura County Sheriff, non-emergency
- For El Rio, the beach communities outside city limits, Camarillo, Thousand Oaks and Moorpark. Sheriff contact page.
- (805) 654-9511
- District Attorney, Crime Victims' Assistance Unit
- Advocates who help victims and families after a crime, including with state compensation forms. What the unit does.
- (805) 654-3622
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
- Call or text 988 at any hour if you or someone near you is struggling. 988lifeline.org.
- 988
Money
How the bill usually gets paid
Property insurance
Many homeowner, renter and landlord policies respond to this kind of loss, and many have limits. Your insurer or agent is the only one who can say what yours does. Call them before work begins and ask what they need from you.
State victim compensation
When the cause was a crime in a home or a vehicle, the California Victim Compensation Board can reimburse cleanup by a state-registered company. CalVCB explains the conditions.
Owner, estate or you
In a rental the owner is normally the one who arranges it. After a death, the estate may cover it. The who-pays guide walks through each case.
Shops, offices and job sites
If it happened where people work
The order of events is the same as in a house: emergency services, then the investigation, then cleanup once you have the space back. Close off the area and keep staff and customers away from it in the meantime.
Think twice before handing an employee a mop. California's bloodborne pathogens rule requires an employer whose workers may contact blood to have a written exposure control plan, to train them and to supply protective equipment. A business without that in place should bring in a company that has it.
When you call, say what kind of premises it is and whether part of it must stay open, so the company can plan around your hours.
Nearby
Towns close to Oxnard
Each town page names the police agency and offices involved there. The full list is on the service area page.
Port HuenemeIts own police department, and a lot of shared walls.
El RioOxnard on the envelope, but the Sheriff answers here.
VenturaWhere the Medical Examiner works, and how to ask for report copies.
CamarilloPoliced by Sheriff's deputies; what to do when a relative lived alone.
Thousand OaksNewbury Park included, and a county line that changes who you deal with.Short answers
Asked before most calls
Do the police or the county clean up after a death?
No. Officers and the Medical Examiner's staff investigate and then leave. Cleaning the home is left to the family, the property owner or whoever is responsible for the place, and most people hire a company for it.
When can a cleanup company start?
After the responding agency has released the scene. If you are unsure whether that has happened in Oxnard, the police non-emergency desk can tell you. A company will not begin while an investigation still needs the room.
Will I be told the price first?
Ask for it. A cleanup company should look at the job, or at least hear it described in detail, and give you its price and scope in writing before work starts. You can say no.
Is Biohazard Cleanup Oxnard the company that does the work?
No. It is a referral service that connects you with an independent company. Here is how that works.
Ready when the home is
Hold off until the police and the Medical Examiner's investigator are done with the property. After that, a single call puts a cleanup firm from the Oxnard area on the phone with you. Nothing gets booked unless you say so.
Talk it over with a cleanup company
Begin wherever you like. The story does not have to come out in order, and you may hang up whenever you want.
Call (805) 946-0050Phone answered 24/7, day and night
Your call may be recorded. Read how we are paid and what we keep.