Safety Issues at a Crime Scene

Don't unwittingly become a victim of a crime scene that you are investigating. In addition to the obvious perp with a gun there are numerous safety and health hazards that can exist at a crime scene. Chemical and toxic material exposure, blood and human body fluids, light-source handling, confined-space safety, and radioactive materials, all are potential safety areas on today's world.

Dangerous Chemicals and Drugs

A crime scene can occur anywhere. For that reason it is possible for officers investigating a crime site to come into contact with hazardous and toxic chemicals. A shooting in an industrial plant that makes electronics boards or a metal fabrication and finishing plant, a paint manufacturer or even a dry cleaners can bring officers into contact with hazardous materials. Toxic solvents like benzene, acetone, or trichloroethylene (TCE) are used in many manufacturing operations. TCE is widely used as a degreaser for metal finishing operations and also for cleaning in printing shops and other industries. Open vats of acids like hydrochloric acid or sulfuric acid may be present. If the crime is committed in or around these areas this represents a potential hazard to all law enforcement personnel in the area. The danger is especially true for those officers of the forensic laboratory team. Critical evidence may be in areas of high hazard especially if placed there to help hide the crime. Appropriate protective gear must be worn in these situations.

If a shooting has occurred in an area where drums of solvents are stored or used one or more bullets may have penetrated solvent drums causing solvent leakage. While many chemicals have a foul smell or have a pungent odor and are readily recognized as dangerous, others are not. TCE, for example, has a sweet odor while other solvents have a fruity odors. In these cases it may not be apparent that you are exposed to a toxic chemical until you have in haled a large potentially toxic level of the material.

Means of Exposure

Inhalation is the most common route of exposure for toxic chemicals. This provides a direct contact of toxic materials with your respiratory system. Inhaled material can be in the form of vapors, dust, an aerosol, smoke or fumes. Hydrogen sulfide is an example of a chemical with the smell of "rotten eggs". Generally if you are present in an area when this gas is released the intense smell will drive you out of the area and to safety before any serious toxic effects are encountered. However, continuous exposure to low concentration will lead to olfactory fatigue (your nose fails) and this can allow a person to be exposed to toxic levels of this chemical.

Contamination of Skin

Touching things at the crime scene or collecting and bagging evidence can lead to exposure to a toxic chemical by direct contact with the skin or by a process called absorption, where a chemical is absorbed thru the skin. Many volatile solvents can be absorbed thru the skin and such exposure may not be immediately noticed.

Ingestion of toxic substances or accidental injection can also occur but these routes of exposure are most often limited to forensic technicians working in the laboratory. No food or drink should be brought into the forensic laboratory or into an active crime scene. This precaution, which should be a standard practice, should always be taken to eliminate these possible routes of contamination.

The Clandestine Drug Lab

One of the biggest potentials for exposure to hazardous materials arises with the illegal drug lab. Whether they are making methamphetamine or refining and repackaging cocaine these operations are an accident waiting to happen.