- All embalmers who work at licensed funeral parlours will have to be registered
- They must also attend a basic infection control course
- The National Environment Agency has received feedback on 4 cases related to embalming in last 3 years
- The changes are the latest moves to improve the industry, which has come under the spotlight
SINGAPORE — All embalmers who work at licensed funeral parlours will have to be registered with the National Environment Agency (NEA) in order to perform their role, the agency said on Tuesday (June 23).And to be registered, embalmers must attend the basic infection control course conducted by the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID), the NEA added in a media statement. The changes take effect in early July.
Some embalmers interviewed by TODAY welcomed the move.Ms Sarah Ang, 35, has worked as an embalmer since 2014 at Serenity Casket & Funerals located in Geylang Bahru and Ang Yew Seng Funeral Parlour at Sin Ming Drive. She welcomed the changes given a lack of uniform standards in the past.“For the past 10 over years, no one talks about our industry and there's no standard," Ms Ang said."At least this will set a minimal standard so we can go from here," she said, adding that recent high-profile funeral industry cases had caused the NEA to step in to regulate embalming practices.The industry
came under the spotlight earlier this year, with high-profile cases such as a mix-up at one funeral parlour leading to the cremation of the wrong body late last year. Changes unveiled by the NEA in January included a requirement that embalming rooms should always be locked.Ms Ang added: “Now, not just anyone can be an embalmer. But having said that, there’s no such thing as a good or bad embalmer. Embalming is not 100 per cent foolproof as different things can go wrong with different bodies, so this keeps embalmers protected as well.”The NEA, which regulates funeral parlours, has developed and released the guidelines in consultation with the Association of Funeral Directors Singapore. The document also sets out new licence conditions for funeral parlours in Singapore with embalming facilities.While the NEA does not regulate embalmers, the agency regulates and licenses their workplaces to uphold environmental hygiene standards, it added.The NEA said it has created these new guidelines “to improve and uplift the standards of funeral services in Singapore”.The agency's latest conditions also include a requirement that embalmers who work solo at licensed premises need to have carried out embalming procedures on at least 25 deceased bodies locally under the supervision of another registered embalmer.Only embalmers registered with the NEA are permitted to work at licensed funeral parlour premises, whose owners should keep an up-to-date record of embalmers, including their apprentices, the NEA said.TODAY asked the NEA why, in setting the latest conditions, the focus was on embalmers.In response, the NEA said that while the level of feedback on embalmers has been low, the agency had nevertheless received feedback on four cases related to embalming in the last three years.Two cases were about access control and process issues within the embalming room, while one was related to improper disposal of embalming waste. The fourth was about suspected illegal embalmers, but this was found to be unsubstantiated.Licensees were informed of these tightened requirements on Monday, and the NEA said that the agency will be following up with inspections to ensure compliance.Another embalmer interviewed by TODAY, Mr Shane Reilly Teo, 31, who has been performing the role since 2015, agreed that “for a long time” such guidelines were lacking.“There haven't been rules or regulations so it's pretty much if you have a licence and you say you can do it, your words are taken,” he said.“These measures are good to make things more stringent. If the embalming is not done right, it can defeat the whole purpose of having a funeral because a funeral is about the person laying there,” Mr Teo added.Mr Teo said the changes would force funeral parlours with poor record keeping to maintain proper paperwork. Nevertheless, he noted that “a lot of other countries are ahead of us” in terms of embalming practices and quality of work.The changes are the latest moves to improve the industry in Singapore. Earlier this month, following calls by funeral services operators to raise standards following those events which thrust the industry into the spotlight,
the NEA said that they will be leading a year-long study to assess current standards, skills demands and manpower needs of the funeral services industry.On June 2, NEA put up a tender on the Government’s procurement portal, GeBiz, for a consultancy firm to “profile” the industry, and the findings will be used to shape policies to develop the industry in the next 20 years.In mid June, the NEA also
released guidelines for handling deceased persons in funeral parlours which includes a logbook template, proper verification procedures between parties, a checklist for receipt of the deceased at the place of death, the provision of coloured identification tags, and the maintenance of a personal protective equipment list within the embalming room.
