Burden or benefit?

words: Gemma Fraser

Funeral directors up and down the country will have been following developments on industry regulation with a great deal of trepidation as they anticipate the impact it could have on their business.

While regulation would ensure minimum standards and allow for greater scrutiny of the profession – including the ability to prevent people who do not adhere to standards from practising – it may also add to the burden for funeral directors and require significant changes to be made.

There are currently a lot of unanswered questions. For example, would regulation of the funeral profession be beneficial? What would regulating the profession achieve that cannot be achieved already? What are the disadvantages of regulating the funeral profession?

But while the answers remain up in the air, one thing is clear: regulation is on the political agenda, and funeral directors have to be prepared for change.

The biggest change businesses could see is the introduction of routine inspections by an independent regulator.

Simon Bloxham, Health & Safety Strategist for Safety for Business, has been examining what implications regulation could have.

“One of the main things is a stricter inspection regime,” he explained. “The only time a funeral director is currently inspected is if they’re a member of an association such as SAIF, or if the local council knocks on their door if they’ve decided to go and have a little look. That could be because the local authority has its own targets to inspect premises, or because they have received a complaint. At the moment, inspections are very ad hoc.”

Regulation would see the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) take a greater interest in what happens within a funeral home, according to Simon.

“If it regulated, what it would mean is the Health and Safety Executive would get more involved. There would be more guidance and more details on how to comply,” said Simon. “If you’re a funeral director and want to find out how to comply with infection control matters – so if a body comes in with a disease, how do you stop the disease spreading to staff? – then you can already get the information from the HSE. They have regulations that funeral directors have to follow, but the HSE doesn’t have enough people to go out and carry out inspections routinely.

“What could also happen is that local authorities decide to visit as they may see an opportunity to generate further income by applying the Fee For Intervention cost recovery scheme.”

Simon compared the new proposed regulation within the funeral profession to that which has been introduced within the care home industry in England. The regulation meant all health and adult social care providers became legally responsible for registering with the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The regulatory body licenses care providers if they meet essential standards of quality and safety.

Simon explained that prior to this strict regime, some care homes were routinely operating below standard – and getting away with it.

He said: “At one stage, there were a number of care homes being created because they were money-spinners, as they could get cheap labour in to look after the residents. There was some regulation, but not much – until the CQC for health care was set up to carry out comprehensive checks on the standards that are there.

“They were very good at finding out what was going wrong and where health and safety standards weren’t being met. On the face of it, the care homes might have looked like everything was fine, but the CQC looked at lots of documentation, spoke to residents and relatives and looked at complaints, and got a true picture of the level of standards.

“Over the last 10 years, CQC has got a lot stricter and much more professional in what it does do and carries out thorough inspections at care homes over two or three days. They are given ratings: inadequate, requires improvement, good, or outstanding.

“If you are choosing a care home, you can view the reports online so you know exactly the service you are getting. There are still problems, and there are still providers that aren’t great, but they are improving and people in that business are there not just to make money, as they once were, but actually to provide care.”

Simon believes that the funeral profession could benefit from the type of inspection regime introduced in the care home sector – though he doesn’t necessarily think further regulation is needed.

He said: “SAIF looks at standards for funeral care, but also for health and safety too, and makes sure you have your risk assessments in place.

“There is already an element of regulation through SAIF because it could withhold your membership if you don’t meet its standards. If you’re a member of an association such as SAIF, then you are not going to get away with doing the wrong thing for long.

“Personally, I don’t think there’s any need for further regulation in the industry. What we do need is for all funeral directors and funeral homes to be inspected on a regular basis.”

Simon continued: “Further regulation would result in only a few significant areas being tightened up.

“These would be infection control and hazardous substances; manual handling of the deceased; and stonemasonry.

“Stonemasons are linked with funeral directors as they often share an area they can work in. There is an issue of silica dust, which the HSE is keen to improve, and it’s caused by drilling and chipping stone. We often find this isn’t very well regulated because no one generally goes and inspects stonemasons.

“The health and safety regulations are not just for employees, but also cover the effects that any work has on other people such as members of the public and volunteers. So if you’re allowing members of the public to bear a coffin at a service, health and safety law states that funeral directors have to make sure that people are aware of the dangers and how to lift properly.”

Simon added: “Care homes have vastly improved as a result of regular inspections and I do believe this stricter regime of inspection would also benefit the funeral industry.”

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