Image source from Harmony Funeral Care official website

The license of a funeral parlour has been suspended and will be charged due to a mix-up resulted in a wrong body being cremated.

Earlier reported by Straits Times on Friday (3 Jan), the mix-up by funeral home causing a wrong body being cremated happened on 30 Dec 2019, which is also believed to be the first reported case in Singapore.

National Environment Agency (NEA) has issued a notice to suspend the license of Century Products, where they revealed the premises had not kept proper records of the received or removed remains.

NEA said the latest inspections of Century Products on 31 Dec 2019 also confirmed the breaches.

“The National Environment Agency takes a serious view of licensees who fail to ensure that their funeral parlours with embalming facilities keep proper records and uphold environmental hygiene standards.” said the NEA spokesperson to the media.

NEA added that the premises will also be charged under the Environmental Public Health (Funeral Parlours) Regulations for the infringements.

According to Straits Times, the two bodies that were mixed-up had been lying in the same room at Century Products.

Furthermore, NEA also investigated Harmony Funeral Care, the company who implicated in the mix-up.

The investigations revealed that insufficient measures were put in place by the funeral director to ensure the proper handling of the body, resulting in the “egregious error”, noted NEA.

A male employee of the company reportedly told the family members of the remains that he had verified which body to collect via “facial recognition”.

However, the mix-up occurred when the employee collected the wrong body from the embalmer.

The company also turned down the family’s request to see the CCTV footage of the incident.

Consequently, NEA stated that the company will be barred from using government after-death facilities at Mandai Crematorium and Choa Chu Kang Crematorium and Cemetery until it can prove that satisfactory measures have been implemented to prevent such future errors.

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
You May Also Like

Greater resources and support needed for schools and parents of students with mental health issues: Halimah Yacob

Greater resources and support are needed for schools and parents of students…

防火安全修正法一读 500旧楼或强制安装警铃消防喉

防火安全修正法案昨日在国会一读,其中要求所有建筑物必须安装重要防火安全设施,直接影响了500栋建立于70、80年代的老旧建筑物,以及一些如医院和疗养院等高风险建筑物。 防火安全修正法令中提到需要修正的部分有三大类,即加强建筑物的防火安全;更好地使用民防资源,让部队能更专注于处理高风险的环节;为了让业界更了解防火条例,简化监管程序。 赋予民防部队更大权限 修正部分赋予了民防部队更大的调查和执法权力,在加强建筑物防火安全方面,强制要求所有建筑物业主增添防火设施,包括那些老旧建筑物和高风险建筑物。 而供应商和生产商必须获得证书,证明受管制的产品符合防火标准,否则将被指控为使用或是促使他人使用违例材料。 若修法通过,民防部队将强制要求业主为包括办公室、工业建筑和购物中心等,在1991年或2002年消防条例实施前建设的建筑物中,安装警铃系统和消防喉。 在有关条例前建设的建筑物一般没进行过增建和改建工程,且面对着如住户密集或高年龄层的住户等高风险。 因此,民防部队需要酌情评估如何翻新有需要的建筑物,并在必要情况下允许业主采用不同的解决方案或更长的时限。 民防部队也能够直接进入涉及触犯条例的场所、调查任何涉案人士等,对违例者采取行动。因此若他们发现建筑物内存在严重的火患风险,如居住区过渡拥挤、逃生到被阻等,可在首次发现时,无需发出任何消除火患危险通知书(Fire Hazard Abatement Notice)的情况下,就对业者进行提控。…

NS pre-enlistees who have visited China recently must take 14 days of compulsory leave of absence

In a joint statement released by the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) and…