Saturday, February 17, 2007

Up in arms

Undertakers in some parts of New South Wales (Australia) are up in arms over the possibility of legal action from family members and friends who insist on being pallbearers - and injure themselves in the process. The tradition of carrying the coffin at shoulder height is the issue - and that, once they arrive for the funeral, there is no time to teach them safe manual handling techniques. Funeral directors had wanted family pallbearers to sign waivers but these would not have been legally enforceable - so there is now a move to have the volunteers (family members or friends) carry the coffin no higher than the waist - or pay for professional pallbearers.

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