There are no educational requirements, or certifications, to do biohazard cleaning. This leads people to believe that just anyone, with no experience can do this type of work. But biohazard cleaning is not for everyone.  It can be a very demanding, disgusting, and stressful job.   You may have to work a lot of hours in a day or  touch a lot of gross things, and clean up after a traumatic event, such as a suicide. This can become emotionally draining, and too much for some people to handle.

A career in the biohazard industry can actually be quite rewarding, however.  I once had a friend whose son had committed suicide, with a gun. She was the one who had to clean up after that happened. She told me how traumatizing it was for her to have to clean up her teenage sons blood off of the floor. By offering this service, you are taking on this experience yourself, for a person you do not know personally, and taking that burden off of the family member. Or in the situation where someone had become very depressed and started hoarding. Over the years their house just got worse and worse, especially if they had physical health problems on top of that. If you come in and clean their home you are offering them a fresh start at a new life. Returning their home to a state that they can actually maintain. You are offering a very caring and compassionate service. In the case of hoarding I think it is very helpful to have some counseling/mental health background, to understand why the person was hoarding in the first place, and also deal with that. It would be a good idea to pair up with mental health services in the area to have someone to send them to, to deal with that issue so that it will not repeat itself later on.

The International Janitorial Cleaning Services Association offers an in depth training program for it’s members in Biohazard Certification. This will put you one step ahead of the game in your market, above someone else whom does not have any certification.  Even though it isn’t required by law, it just shows that you are willing to go above and beyond the bare minimum and take the time to become properly trained in your field. Pay varies greatly, based on how dangerous the contamination, but this is a very lucrative business in comparison to residential cleaning.