A small group of specialised cleaners, often women, are responsible for cleaning up after deaths or violent incidents. This work is often too traumatic or potentially dangerous for family members or standard cleaning services to handle.
These individuals are typically the last point of contact for families after emergency services and forensic teams have completed their work. Alana Gillen, based in Northern Ireland, runs the only female-led and owned company in the region that specialises in biohazard, crime-scene, and trauma cleaning.
In South Africa, Charleen Archibald has been cleaning crime and trauma scenes for the past ten years alongside her wife, Sheridan. She was trained by two women known as 'the blood sisters' in South Africa.