Morgue Operations

The goal of morgue operations is to document the cause, manner and mechanism of death as well as positively identify and provide a physical accounting for all non- surviving persons directly affected.

Just as there is a plan to care for the living, there should be a plan to care for the deceased.  In most areas it is the responsibility of local or national government to recover and identify the deceased.  However, not all jurisdictions have the resources or training to respond to mass fatality events.  Fortunately, most are willing to accept equipment and technical assistance from other agencies.  In many cases, private companies involved in the incident should be insured and have policies to provide for this service.

Morgue operations begin with the recovery of the human remains from the incident site.  As soon as the remains are recovered, they are transported to a disaster or temporary morgue.  When an existing morgue is used, normal operations are often suspended for that morgue.  It is important to keep day-to-day operations separate from the mass fatality event.

Once the human remains are received at the morgue a formal triage and examination process (Postmortem Process) is followed.  At the end of this process, a detailed report (Postmortem Reports) is completed which will be used as part of the identification process.

A key component of a mass fatality morgue is data management.  Many of the errors that occur are not the result of scientific mistakes, but of data management.  Cases are documented where the deceased is properly identified, but through a record- keeping error, different remains are released to the family.  Best practice systems use preconfigured records and databases. They have trained staff to avoid this.

Morgue operations work with the deceased but the work is completed for the living.  It is vital to treat the deceased with dignity and respect throughout this process. It is also important to remember that each deceased represents a life and a history not merely a number, and that each family is unique.