When someone passes away on a mattress in Oahu and they leave behind blood or other bodily fluids in the mattress material, the mattress is no longer usable for others to sleep on. Even if the surface stain seems small, the blood and bodily fluids have soaked down into the layers, making cleaning and blood removal impossible.
To keep your family, the environment, and the public in Oahu safe and to protect yourself from legal liability, make sure that the mattress is removed and disposed of properly after a death.
When can I keep the mattress?
Just because someone dies while lying on a mattress doesn’t always mean you need to get rid of it. If someone passes away on a mattress without blood and body fluids infecting the material and the body was quickly removed before decomposition started, then the mattress is perfectly safe to keep using with no health issues.
The danger of using a mattress after someone dies is due to any blood or body fluids coming out of the body and infecting the material below. Viruses, bacteria, and other infectious diseases are left to grow and infect anyone who comes into contact with it. If no fluids leaked down into the mattress, then you can keep using it if you want.
Don’t throw the mattress away
While it may seem like the easy solution, never throw away a mattress infected with blood or other bodily fluids. It is illegal in Oahu and throughout Hawaii to throw away a mattress with blood or bodily fluids on it and you can face serious legal repercussions and large fines for doing so. Left in the trash, infectious diseases in the blood and fluids can infect other people and poses a danger to other people and animals.
Let the professionals handle mattress disposal after a death
After there is a death on a mattress and there are blood or bodily fluids on it, you need professional biohazard cleaners to handle it on your behalf. A professional biohazard cleaner will cut out from the mattress all materials infected with body fluids to dispose of them as biohazardous waste. The rest of the mattress can then be thrown away responsibly.
When transporting any materials infected with blood or bodily fluids, a person or company must strictly follow all local and federal rules and regulations as well as obtaining all necessary licenses and permits. This is done not only to keep the environment and others protected but you as well. By leaving the transport and disposal to professionals, you have fulfilled your legal responsibility of proper biohazardous disposal and can rest easy it was taken to a biohazardous waste facility with all the required licenses and permits.
Need help disposing of a mattress?
If you need help disposing of a mattress after someone has passed away, call us at Bio X Hawaii. With proven expertise in biohazard cleanup and transport, we are the trusted providers for biohazardous waste disposal throughout the Hawaiian Islands. Give us a call today and we’ll be happy to answer any questions or come out and handle the mattress disposal.
