Cremation process

STEPS IN THE CREMATION PROCESS

1. The deceased will be placed in a cremation container. The minimum requirement for a cremation container is that it be completely enclosed, rigid, leak resistant, and combustible. You may select a cardboard or particle board container, rental casket, a wooden casket, or even a highly polished casket, provided it is combustible and non-toxic. Metal caskets cannot be cremated.

2. Human remains are delivered to the cemetery by a licensed funeral director. Each funeral director delivers to the office staff aproperly completed Burial/Cremation Permit as well as a signed NYS Division of Cemeteries Authorization for Cremation and Disposition Form. All of this paperwork is checked by an office employee before a cremation number is assigned. This cremation number is placed on the Burial Cremation Permit and the Authorization for Cremation and Disposition Form. A New York State mandated Body Receipt is completed with the date of arrival and is signed by a member of the cemetery’s office staff. The Body Receipt is then signed by the licensed funeral director with the funeral home he/she is representing together with their respective license number. A copy of the Body Receipt is given to the funeral director, and the original is attached to a copy of the Burial/Cremation Permit and retained for the permanent records of the cemetery.

3. Before proceeding to the Crematory, the funeral director is given a numbered Identification Card which contains the name of the Deceased, name of the funeral home, date of arrival and time of arrival. The number on the Identification Card is assigned to all paperwork that corresponds with said cremation.

4. Upon arrival at the Crematory, the funeral director and the Crematory Operator remove the contained remains from the delivery vehicle. The funeral director hands the numbered Identification Card containing the data for the deceased to the crematory operator who places the card together with a corresponding numbered metal disc on the contained remains of the deceased. When the operator places the remains into the retort, the corresponding numbered Identification Card is clipped to the outer retort panel. Operator then notes on the Identification Card the date and the start time of that cremation.

5. The door of the cremator will be opened, and the container will be placed inside the primary chamber. Usually this is performed manually with the aid of cardboard rollers or mechanically with a rolling conveyor loader. The stainless disc with number/id will be placed inside the cremator with the remains.

6. The door will be closed, and the cremation monitored carefully until it is completed. The process can take anywhere from 30 minutes, as in the case of a stillborn, to over two hours depending on the body size and stored heat in the chamber.

7. When the cremation process is complete, the door will be opened, and identification checked again against paperwork and the stainless disc. The bone fragments that remain, now called cremated remains, will be carefully swept out of the cremator into a cooling tray, allowed to cool and taken to a processor.

8. The processor is a machine that uses blades to pulverize the bone fragments until the remains are less than 1/8” in size.

9. The cremated remains are then transferred to a strong plastic bag and placed in either an urn or temporary container if the family has not selected an urn yet. Identification is checked again, and the stainless disc is placed in the container with the remains. The urn and its box are labeled with identifying paperwork and checked again before being stored for the family’s retrievalare labeled with identifying paperwork and checked again before being stored for the family’s retrieval.