February 2021

Page A15 FEBRUARY 2021 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS Se c t i on A Cremation Urns, Jewelry & Keepsakes 941-751-3382 www. BOGATI URNS.com www.clearviewcaskets.com 305-699-7410 Silver Religious Platinum Collection ® Oversized Gold Collection Post Cremation Screen How to Eliminate Unintentional, Commingling of Cremated Remains Ron Bowman How unintentional commingling of cremated remains happens: When a body is cremated, the operator sweeps out the retort and deposits the remaining ash, bone, and metal into a cremation tray. Let’s say the operator neglects to whether the metal object belongs to their loved one and now wonders if they received the right cremains. Does this sound plausible? As you can clearly see by the above articles, it does happen. And when it does happen, the re- sult often leads to a lawsuit and negative publicity. How to prevent unintentional commingling of cremated remains: The first step is to adequately train and educate crematory operators on best practices for sweeping out the retort after each cremation. Next, they need to adequately train the op- erator on best practices for removing all metal prior to pro- cessing the cremated remains. Then, once the cremains are processed, they recommend passing the cremains through a screen (as displayed). The screen acts to trap any remaining small pieces of metal that the processer didn’t mash up or pulverize. By using this post processing screen, they are now able to provide cleaner cremains for their clients, thus reduc- ing potential customer concerns and crematory liability. Cremation Metal Recycling (CMR) provides its recy- cling customers with a crematory operator training video (industry first) and a post processing screen. For more in- formation email Ron Bowman at cmrandrrcf@gmail.com, call 603-520-1685 or visit cremationmetalrecycling.com. sweep out 100 percent of the cremains into the tray and a small locket, neck- lace, cross, medal, etc. was left behind. Then, when the next body is cremat- ed, that small metal ob- ject is swept out and gets added to the next person’s cremains prior to process- ing. Now, let’s assume that the operator wasn’t paying close attention and didn’t remove the small metal object prior to processing. The processed cremains now include the small metal object that the processor didn’t pulverize and thus are added to that second cli- ent’s urn. That client now goes to scatter their cremains and notices the small metal object in their loved one’s urn. Upon closer examination, the client then questions ROCHESTER,NH— The following articles strike fear in the funeral home/crematory industry: 1. “Funeral home to pay $750,000 for mishan- dling cremated ashes,” by Bob Carroll, posted in the Legal Examiner, April 9, 2006. 2. “Woman sues over father’s cremation,” by Nicholas Spangler , posted in Newsday, June 16, 2011. 3. “Lawsuit alleges cremated remains were com- mingled,” by Jeff McDonald , published in the San Diego Union-Tribune, November 29, 2010. 4. “Taylorsville funeral home gave widow wrong ashes, lawsuit alleges,” by Dennis Romboy, published in the Desert News, April 12, 2012. ADS Classified www. NomisPubl icat ions . com Onlin e