February 2017

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Page A18 FEBRUARY 2017 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on A
By Jim Starks, CFuE, CCrE
Jim Starks, CFuE, CCrE, is President of J. Starks Consulting in Lutz,
FL, and a nationally-recognized trainer on funeral home and crema-
tory risk management.
He used his experience in both funeral home and crematory oper-
ations and risk management, combined with his involvement with
funeral homes of all sizes and geographies, to become an author-
ity at controlling risk and loss in the death care industry, providing
lectures and presentations to private firms, as well as regional, state
and national associations. He also conducts private audits and risk
assessments to independent funeral homes and crematories in the
US and Canada, often identifying ways to save or generate thou-
sands of dollars of profit.
Jim is a Michigan and Indiana Licensed Funeral Director and
Embalmer and ICCFA- and CANA-certified crematory operator, as
well as Dean of ICCFA University’s College of Cremation Services. He
is a graduate of the University of Wyoming, the Mid-America School
of Mortuary Science, and the ICCFA University. For more information
on risk management in the death care industry, visit jstarksconsulting.
com. Contact Jim at (813) 765-9844 or
Cremation:
Know the Risks (Part 2)
TRANSPORTATION
Are all internal procedures being followed?
Before transporting the deceased to the crematory it is critical to
ensure the correct person is transported. A trusted procedure is to
always require two staff members to verify the identification band
on the deceased, along with verifying that all required paperwork is
fully completed.
Also before transferring custody to the crematory, confirmation
should be made to ensure there are no valuables or non-combustible
items placed inside the container/casket. Sometimes the family may
place items with deceased during a viewing. This is why it is impor-
tant to educate the family of the cremation process during the ar-
rangement conference.
When transporting to the crematory, the same dignity must be
used as when taking a casket to a church or a graveside service. This
dignity would also apply to when loading or unloading the vehicle.
Simply because cremation has been requested, there should be no
difference in the respect given to the deceased.
CREMATION
Are the last safeguards in place before
the cremation process starts?
When the deceased arrives at the crematory, the following proce-
dures should be followed by the crematory staff. Even though many
of these steps have been done at the funeral home before the transfer
of custody took place, it is critical to remember cremation is an irre-
versible process. Once the container/casket is placed in the chamber
and the cremation process starts, there is no turning around.
Verify all required permits accompanying the deceased are fully
completed with the same name on all paperwork. If any of the re-
quired paperwork is not fully completed, the crematory operator
should hold further processing of the deceased until the paperwork
is completed.
Verify the authorization for cremation is completed and has not
been altered. Never use Whiteout on any paperwork. If a correction
or change is needed, either start a new form or draw a line though
the mistake and write the correction next to the mistake with the
initials of the authorizing agent.
Verify that the name on the authorization for cremation corre-
sponds to the name on the container and the ID on the deceased.
After the identification as been completed a pre-numbered stainless
steel disk needs to be assigned to the deceased. This number should
be recorded on all accompanying paperwork and written on the
container. Once the cremation process starts this disk is the only
identification that can track and verify who the cremated human re-
mains are.
The above process should take place with a representative of the
funeral home present. At the conclusion of this process the crema-
tory should issue a receipt of human remains to the funeral home
representative. This documentation is critical to the funeral home to
Protecting
Your Families
and Business
care organizations or the cremator manufacturers, and some
states have their own requirements.
These issues are a start to the due diligence process. Many cre-
matory inspection forms are available from national death care
organizations, and these should be used when inspecting third-
party crematories. Moreover, these inspections should be com-
pleted at least annually, with your findings retained in a file.
RETURNING CREMATED HUMAN REMAINS
Are policies & procedures in place?
Before the cremated human remains are released to the autho-
rized representative, it is critical that the name on the tempo-
rary container or urn and the Certificate of Cremation match
the name on all other paperwork. If the crematory utilizes an
identification number on the temporary container or urn and
Certificate of Cremation, these numbers must also correspond.
Additional areas to verify before releasing the cremated hu-
man remains include verifying the correct urn is being used
and the cremated human remains were placed in the urn. It is
not unheard of for a funeral director to give a family member
an empty urn.
This usually happens when an urn is personalized: When it
comes back from the manufacturer it is placed on a shelf. And
when the authorized agent arrives to retrieve the cremated hu-
man remains, they are given an empty urn. Before releasing a
temporary container or urn, the container should be checked
to make sure it is not leaking and does not have any residue on
the outside.
Additionally, when the authorized representative takes cus-
tody of the cremated human remains, complete a signed and
dated receipt stating control was transferred.
At the same time, make a copy of the representative’s identi-
fication and attach it to the receipt. This documentation can
protect the funeral home from future claims, such as releasing
the cremated human remains to the wrong person, by the fam-
ily should they arise.
Whenever I write an article on cremation, I attempt to up-
grade the cremation procedures that many of the death care
providers are currently following. These procedures may take
more time or may add cost to your firm. If they do, you may
want to research what you are charging and adjust to reflect the
dignity and respect that everyone needs to have when dealing
with the consumers that chose cremation.
demonstrate that the chain of custody has transferred from
the funeral home to the crematory.
THIRD-PARTY CREMATORY
Are you comfortable with the crematory you are using?
A majority of funeral service providers use a third-party cre-
matory. And a majority of these firms have not performed
proper due diligence!
Funeral service providers have a fiduciary responsibility the
family has entrusted to the firm. Ignoring proper due dili-
gence neglects the trust the family has given the firm.
Remember: Cremation is an irreversible process; once it has
been completed it cannot be reversed. The goal of all crema-
tories should be to return the largest amount of cremated hu-
man remains possible, and to keep commingling to the least
amount possible.
To perform the required due diligence to ensure a third-
party crematory meets acceptable standards, request a copy
of their policies and procedures. Read them, and come back
and verify they are following their policies and procedures. If
your request produces a one-page sheet – or worse, nothing
at all – find another crematory.
Part of ensuring standards are met includes inspecting the
crematory yourself, or hiring an auditor to do so. The follow-
ing items are not negotiable. 1) The crematorium should be
clean and orderly at all times. 2) Areas of the crematorium
should not be used as general storage nor have dead insects
on the floor. 3) Further, there should not be any cremated
human remains around the clean-out door of the cremator or
the processing equipment. If there are, the crematory is not
doing a proper job of returning the largest amount of cremat-
ed human remains possible.
Another thing to ask the crematory operator is what they
do with the unidentified cremated human remains. Placing
them in any type of waste container is disgraceful. Crema-
tories should have a residue container to retain unidentified
cremated human remains. All crematories have some form of
uncollectable residue at times. But the only proper place for
the residue to end up is in a cemetery.
Similarly, medical metal that remains after cremation needs
proper methods of disposal. One method is burial in a cem-
etery after the metal has been cleaned of all visible cremated
human remains. The second method is recycling the medical
metal. If recycling is a crematory’s chosen method, such prac-
tice should be disclosed on their Authorization for Crema-
tion. In addition, it should be clear whether the crematory is
making money from the recycling or donating to a non-prof-
it charity.
Other considerations include whether the cremation cham-
ber is vacuumed after each cremation. The contents of the
vacuum should be emptied into the retrieved cremated hu-
man remains from the chamber. If these steps are not being
followed every time, then the crematory is not returning the
largest amount of cremated human remains possible and re-
ducing comingling to the least amount possible.
To decrease your firm’s exposure, also request to be added as
an additional insured on the crematory’s company insurance
policy and have their carrier/agent issue an ACORD certifi-
cate from the insurance company. As an additional insured,
your firm should be covered by the crematory’s company in-
surance should the crematory do anything that brings legal
action. This action should also function as a defense and cov-
er a judgment awarded against your firm due to the crema-
tory’s negligence.
Lastly, check to ensure that all crematory operators are cer-
tified. This certification can be obtained from national death
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Potholes and Pitfalls: Hazards of Accepting
Life Insurance Assignments By Danny Smith
Danny Smith
Murphy’s Law is a rule that states, “If
anything can go wrong, it will.” So, what
does Murphy’s Law have to do with ac-
cepting life insurance assignments?
Through an assignment of life insurance,
a beneficiary can assign all or a portion of
her life insurance benefits to a funeral home
to pay funeral and related
charges agreed to in the fu-
neral contract. The process
of verifying the life insurance
benefits and confirming the
identity of the beneficiary is
started. The policies and pro-
cedures of verifying life insur-
ance benefits and confirming
beneficiaries vary among life
insurance companies. Not
all life insurance companies
even accept funeral home life
insurance assignments. Most
of the more common life in-
life insurance company is a summary of pro-
jected benefits only, and not a guarantee of
payment to the funeral home.
All the right questions are asked: Is this the
correct policy number? What is the date of
issue of the policy? What type of policy is
this: whole life, Term, modified whole life,
graded death benefit, ac-
cidental death, employ-
er-employee group, Feder-
al Employees Group Life
Insurance, or state-issued
group life insurance? Is this
an annuity, a union or oth-
er employer-funded (non-
insurance) death benefit, or
some other form of life in-
surance or non-insurance
death benefit? What is the
insured’s date of birth on the
life insurance application?
Is the policy in force? Is the
surance companies do accept these assign-
ments, and typically verify over the phone,
or through a written verification process. The
funeral arranger calls or faxes a request for
verification to the life insurance company’s
claims customer service department. She is
advised that the information provided by the
policy contestable? Has the policy lapsed
and been reinstated; if so, when? Has the
beneficiary granted an assignment to anoth-
er funeral home, cemetery or casket compa-
ny? What is the face amount of the life in-
surance coverage? Are there any outstanding