Death Care Industry
The death care industry includes funeral home or mortuary services, cremation services, and
cemetery services. These services are locally owned and corporately owned licensed businesses
that comply with federal, state, and local laws applicable to the handling of human remains.
While funeral practices and rites vary greatly among cultures and religions, funeral practices
share some common elements—removing the deceased to a mortuary, preparing the remains,
performing a ceremony that honors the deceased and addresses the spiritual needs of the family,
and carrying out the final disposition of the deceased.
Funeral directors consult with families regarding their wishes and arrange and direct the above
services for families based on their wishes. This includes arranging and handling the logistics of
funerals, completing and filing the death certificate with the local registrar within eight days of
the date of death, and applying for and obtaining a permit for disposition from the local registrar.
Overview of Section
This section identifies the purpose of the death care industry, who is responsible for death care
industry services, the role of the Medical Examiner/Coroner (ME/C) Office, and
considerations/recommendations for working with representatives of the death care industry
regarding mass fatality planning.
Key Assumptions
The following are the key assumptions.
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A mass fatality will result in a surge in demand for death care industry services.
The surge in demand may overwhelm the death care industry and may create problems
for overall mass fatality management.
The nature of the mass fatality—particularly the complexity of the recovery process, the
length of time recovery will take, and the number of decedents that are residents of the
jurisdiction—will determine the level of surge capacity that will be required to manage
the mass fatality effectively.
Proposed Approach
This section is intended to serve as guidance for working the death care industry in your
jurisdiction. Its focus is on identifying the funeral directors, funeral homes, cemeteries, and
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cremation services located in your jurisdiction, determining local capacity for processing the
final disposition of human remains in a mass fatality, and identifying any changes in standard
operating procedures for the Medical Examiner/Coroner Office. It also includes considerations
and recommendations for working with the death care industry in your jurisdiction on mass
fatality planning.
The key stakeholders for death care industry planning are your
local funeral directors, funeral homes, cemeteries, cremation
services, and your state’s funeral directors association.
Developing Your Jurisdiction’s Plan for Death Care Industry
Services in the Event of a Mass Fatality
Step 1: What is the purpose of death care industry services?
The purpose of the death care industry is to carry out the final disposition of human remains. In
general, this includes:
 Removing the deceased to a mortuary,
 Preparing the remains,
 Performing a ceremony that honors the deceased and addresses the spiritual needs of the
family, and
 Carrying out the final disposition of the deceased.
Completing and filing the death certificate with a local registrar within eight days of the date of
death and applying for and obtaining a permit for final disposition from a local registrar are part
of the process of final disposition.
Step 2: Determine who is in charge of the death care industry?
While the death care industry complies with federal, state and local laws pertaining to the
disposition of human remains, the is no single agency or organization in charge. Funeral home
or mortuary services, cemetery services, and cremation services are provided by licensed
businesses that are locally owned and corporately owned.
To determine who is in charge of these services in your jurisdiction, it will be necessary to
identify all of the funeral homes or mortuary services, cemetery services, and cremation services
in your jurisdiction and determine who is in charge of each one.
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Step 3: What is the Medical Examiner/Coroner Office role?
The ME/C Office role is to work with the death care industry to facilitate final disposition of
human remains, an important function in overall management of a mass fatality.
ME/C Office actions in a mass fatality that are not standard operating procedures are:
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The ME/C Office will alert funeral homes, cemeteries, and cremation services in the
event of a mass fatality.
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It is likely that the ME/C Office will be requesting death care industry assistance in
search and recovery at the incident site, in morgue operations, and at the family
assistance center.
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As victims are identified, the ME/C Office will coordinate with the funeral home or
cremation service requested by each victim’s family to arrange for final disposition—the
release of remains with a death certificate signed by the ME/C from the incident morgue
to the funeral service selected by the family.
Step 4: Considerations and Recommendations for Working with Your
Jurisdiction’s Death Care Industry
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Identify the funeral homes, cemeteries, and cremation services in your jurisdiction. Invite
them to participate in mass fatality planning in your jurisdiction.
o Participation can mean meeting to create a plan for managing the final disposition
of human remains in the event of a mass fatality and/or providing information
upon request that will inform planning.
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Determine your jurisdiction’s capacity for processing human remains—identify at what point
the mortuary system is overwhelmed.
Identify capacity for:
o Mortuary storage:
 Determine mortuary storage capacity for all funeral homes and
crematoriums.
 Identify religious groups that maintain facilities such as small morgues,
crematoriums, and other facilities to meet their specific religious/cultural
directives about how bodies are managed after death and determine their
capacity.
o Number of burials that can be handled in a week by funeral homes/cemeteries:
 Determine the number of decedents that can be processed in a week for
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each of the following categories:
 To embalm only
 To embalm and complete necessary paperwork
 To embalm, complete necessary paperwork, and provide
traditional funeral services
Consider staff availability and impact of supplies on hand (e.g.,
embalming fluid, caskets, vehicles to transport remains, etc.).
Consider maintaining a rotating six-month inventory of supplies.
Consider availability of grave diggers, cemetery space, including vaults
for possible temporary storage, and seasonal variables that may impact
burials (e.g., winter weather).
Consider availability of churches and personnel for services.
o Number of cremations that can be handled in a week:
 Determine the number of decedents that can be cremated without
damaging equipment in a week.
 Consider staff availability and impact of supplies on hand (e.g.,
crematorium supplies, vehicles to transport remains, urns, etc.).
 Consider maintaining a rotating six-month inventory of supplies.
 Consider availability of churches and personnel for services.
o Determine the maximum number of deaths your jurisdiction’s death care industry
can handle in a one-week time period.
o Subtract the average number of deaths that occur in your jurisdiction in a week.
Remember, deaths due to other causes will continue to take place in your
jurisdiction.
o Then, reconsider and modify this number based on the likely involvement of
death care industry personnel in human remains recovery, morgue services, and
family assistance—from within your jurisdiction and other jurisdictions as needed
and available.
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Once the trigger point (number of deaths at which the mortuary system becomes
overwhelmed) has been identified, identify strategies the death care industry will pursue to
manage final disposition in a mass fatality that is projected to overwhelm the mortuary
system. The following are some strategies to consider:
o Requesting assistance from funeral homes, cemeteries and cremation services in
neighboring jurisdictions, if the mass fatality is a localized event. Your state’s
funeral directors association could provide important assistance with this strategy.
 Assistance could involve sending temporary staff and equipment/supplies
to your jurisdiction through the State Office Of Emergency Services or
carrying out final disposition for some decedents in neighboring
jurisdictions.
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o Expanding refrigerated storage capacity for human remains that have been
identified and are awaiting final disposition.
o Working with the state office of vital records and your local registrar to develop
strategies to streamline completion and filing of death certificates and applications
for permits for disposition.
 Expedited cremation certificates, burial permits, and transit permits.
o Expediting the embalming process by providing aftercare services (embalming
and casketing) at the temporary incident morgue to reduce the burden on local
funeral homes.
o Securing temporary storage for embalmed and casketed remains in vaults—
existing vaults and/or creating temporary vaults.
o Consolidating and coordinating resources under a single unified mortuary
command structure at a single facility. Baron County in Wisconsin (population ~
200,000) has developed a plan that employs this model in its Pandemic Influenza
Mortuary Planning Guidelines. This resource is available at:
http://flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47605.
o Develop strategies for:
 How religious/cultural requirements/preferences will be handled.
 When unable to contact next of kin.
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Once a plan has been agreed upon, consider signing a Memorandum of Understanding that
indicates the funeral homes, cemeteries, and crematoriums agree to the plan and will operate
in accordance with it in the event of a mass fatality to the best of their ability at that time. It
may be helpful to indicate that the agreement is not a legally binding contract on the bottom
of each page.
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Encourage funeral homes, cemeteries and crematoriums to develop and maintain continuity
of operations plans that include surge capacity plans for maintaining and increasing services
in the event of a mass fatality.
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