One of the most important jobs that we do is cleaning up after a death on a property. Many times, death is unattended by family or others and not discovered for a period of time. The body starts to undergo the natural processes of death, rigor mortis and then decomposition. Rigor mortis is caused by chemical changes in the body’s muscle tissue and usually lasts about 24 hours, after which the body starts to break down and decompose. After death, as the body begins to decompose, hydrogen sulfide, known in the industry as “dead man odor” begins to be expelled by the body. Hydrogen sulfide results when body bacteria begin to break down sulfites in amino acids, especially during decay. The speed of this naturally occurring process depends much on the air temperature, (i.e. weather, if windows are left open) and conditions inside of a home or apartment at the time of death. I have seen situations in which there was very little biohazard, even after a few weeks because the air conditioning was on, which made the home cool and slowed down the decomposition process. The most common cleanup that we do associated with an unattended death is the odor remediation. While the above example was most favorable, the odor in the home was still overwhelming.

    We do not begin to treat the odor problem until the biohazard is completely removed. We do have special enzymes, specifically made for human decomposition odor that will help with odor temporarily while working or when items need to be found and/or removed from the property, but this is only a temporary solution. Is the odor of hydrogen sulfide harmful? In large amounts in confined spaces, yes, but we have hardly ever seen this type of condition with one person in an unattended death setting and usually the odor can be reduced by opening some doors and windows when first discovered.