The Public Health Act 2010 and Public Health Regulation 2012 regulates the handling of bodies both by funeral industry professionals and by members of the public. The regulation expresses rules rather than explaining how the deceased are to be disposed.

The regulations control:

• premises and facilities for handling bodies
• waste disposal
• handling of bodies including embalming, viewing, the use of body bags and storage of bodies
• vehicles
• restriction of burials
• exhumations
• crematories and cremations
• maintenance of registers.

Following are the relevant legislation guidelines, medical referee information for processing cremation applications, approved cremation forms, and guidelines for exhumations.

Legislation

Public Health Regulation 2012 (Extract ss49-93)

Policy directives

• Burials - Exemptions Public Health Regulation 2012 for Community and Religious Reasons - Updated December 2013
• Shallow Burials - Updated December 2013

Guidelines

• Guidelines for the Funeral Industry - Under review, not available.
• Burials on Private Land - Updated December 2013
• Bodies - Retention for longer than permitted in Public Health Regulation 2012 - Updated December 2013
• Cremation - More than one body simultaneously Updated December 2013
• Agreed Procedure to Issue a Transit Certificate for Transportation of a Body Overseas - Under review

Factsheets

• Cremation Ashes
• Handling of Bodies by Funeral Directors During an Influenza Pandemic
• Flow Chart - NSW Cremation and the Use of Interstate Forms

Infection control procedures

Under clause 57 of the Public Health Regulation 2012 a person must, when carrying out any procedure on a body, comply with the guidelines specified in Part B of the Australian Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Infection in Healthcare as published by the National Health and Medical Research Council.

Medical referee information

• Medical Referee Procedure to Appoint and Application Form
• Medical Referees Register

Cremation forms

• Application for Permission for Cremation (other than Still-Born Children) with Statutory Declaration - Clause 79(1) - 2012
• Application for Permission for Cremation of Still-Born Child with Statutory Declaration - Clause 80(1)
• Attending Practitioner's Cremation Certificate - Clause 81
• Attending Practitioner's Cremation Certificate - Clause 81 (hospital use - sample only)
• Medical Referee's Cremation Permit (other than Still-Born Children) - Clause 82(1)
• Coroner's Cremation Permit - Clause 83(1)
• Medical Referee's Permit for Cremation of Body of Still-Born Child - Clause 84(1)
• Register of Cremations - Clause 86(1)

Exhumations

• Application to Exhume Remains - Clause 70(2)
• Burials - Exhumation of Human Remains - Updated December 2013
• Application for Exemption of Documentation: Cremation of Human Remains, Clause 78(4)

Anatomy audit tool

Anatomy Audit Tool

Destitute burials or destitute cremations

• Policy Directive PD 2008_012 - Under review
• Cremation or Burial of Deceased Destitute Persons Flow Chart - Under review

Mortuary - audit tool

• Mortuary - Audit Tool Public Health Regulation 2012 - Part 2 Facilities
• Mortuary - Audit Tool Local Government (General) Regulation 2005, Schedule 2, Part 4

Registers and notification form

• Cemeteries and Crematoria NSW register
• Mortuary Register
• Notification of Mortuary (Clause 89)
• Notification of Crematoria - Cemeteries and Crematoria NSW keeps an updated register of all cemeteries and crematoria in NSW in accordance with Section 27 of the Cemeteries and Crematoria Act 2013. To update or add to the register, request a form by emailing ccnsw.register@cemeteries.nsw.gov.au