Funeral Service Issue and to Some Aspect Dealing With Legality

Funeral Services

Arranging a funeral is one of the most difficult things a human being will ever have to do. Aside from all the personal issues which are clearly at stake, there are also certain legal issues and state requirements that one also needs to be able to pay attention to. For instance, the Funeral Rule, which is administered by the FTC means that when arranging a funeral, one only needs to select goods and services that are specifically desired, and that one should only pay for the ones that are specifically selected. This is a type of rule which was selected which makes it possible for people to choose the specific funeral arrangements and the particular funeral home that one wants to use. Legal issues and rules like these are important as they represent a form of necessary regulation. When a person is planning a funeral, it's too easy for a funeral home to take advantage of this person while they're in such a fragile state.

Funeral homes should be made aware of recent OSHA violations, citations and penalties, that their colleagues are doing or have been found guilty of, so that all homes in this business can deliver the same standard and level of care. For instance, a funeral home in Virginia was found guilty of eight violations, six of which were very serious. "The six serious violations were for violations of the Formaldehyde Standard. Two of these violations were for a failure to implement engineering and work practice controls to reduce formaldehyde levels. Two violations were for a failure to provide respirators that met the requirements of the respirator standard. The final two serious violations were for a failure to implement medical surveillance when employees were exposed to formaldehyde at the "OSHA Action Level" or "Short-Term Exposure Level," which could include the implementation of a medical questionnaire" (nfda.org, 2013).

Legal issues and legal standards like these are important not just for the sake of protecting the consumer, but also to protect those who work in funeral homes. Legally, funeral home workers need to be protected from infectious diseases so that they are able to do their jobs in a safe and secure manner. A list of procedures to safeguard such employees is important, as there needs to be a stricter and more intensive protocol involved in being able to create a process for analyzing the presence of infectious agents, the identification of jobs or actions which could expose employees to infectious agents, and the ability to communicate a range of hazards to employees for their own safety and well being, along with medical surveillance, infection control, and the hierarchy of controls (nfda.org, 2011).

One of the legal issues involves the protection of those who work in funeral homes and who are in touch with the bodies and the usage of all chemicals employed in order to prepare the bodies. Legally, the government does need to engage in proper channels and regulations in order to ensure that there are concrete protections in use for funeral home workers. For example, formaldehyde is known as a human carcinogen, and the NFDA was able to get the Department of Health and Human Services to engage in a definitive study of the connection between formaldehyde and cancer along with other illnesses. The NFDA was also able to get the EPA involved, meaning that there might be subsequent studies and with them, actual legal regulations which go into the manifestation of how formaldehyde is used in the future.