Is animal feces a biohazard?
Not under OSHA's definition, unless visibly contaminated with blood. That surprises people, and it is worth knowing before a company quotes you on the basis that it is. The federal bloodborne pathogens standard governs employers, and it is narrower than the word "biohazard" suggests in ordinary use. Here is what actually follows from that.
What OSHA actually says
Faeces are not on OSHA's OPIM list. They become covered only when visibly contaminated with blood.
The full definition is worth reading once, because it is shorter than people expect. OSHA defines Other Potentially Infectious Materials as semen, vaginal secretions, cerebrospinal fluid, synovial fluid, pleural fluid, pericardial fluid, peritoneal fluid, amniotic fluid, saliva in dental procedures, any body fluid visibly contaminated with blood, and all body fluids where it is difficult or impossible to tell them apart. It also covers unfixed human tissue or organs other than intact skin.
OSHA regulates employers, not households. Nothing here says how you must handle something in your own home — it explains what the federal standard actually covers, so you can tell a reasonable precaution from a sales pitch.
What that means in practice
Faeces still carry real pathogens — norovirus, hepatitis A, E. coli among them — and sewage contamination is treated as Category 3 water for exactly that reason. The federal bloodborne standard simply is not the rule that governs it.
Why this distinction matters to you
Two different things get called "biohazard" in this industry, and the gap between them is where overcharging lives. One is the federal definition above, which decides how an employer must protect its staff and how waste must be disposed of. The other is a loose everyday sense of "unpleasant and possibly infectious".
A company quoting biohazard rates for something outside the federal definition is not necessarily wrong to charge for the work — porous material saturated with anything often has to be removed. But you are entitled to ask which of the two senses they mean, and to see the disposal documentation if they say the first.
When it becomes regulated waste
Regulated waste is liquid or semi-liquid blood or OPIM, contaminated items that would release either if compressed, items caked with dried blood or OPIM capable of releasing it during handling, contaminated sharps, and pathological and microbiological wastes containing blood or OPIM.
The compression test is the one that decides most real jobs. A mattress or a section of carpet that would release fluid if squeezed is regulated waste and leaves the property as such; a surface that has been wiped is not.