Publish directory of funeral companies to protect consumers

The Big Read feature on the funeral profession (“The Big Read: The funeral industry may have overhauled its image, but it faces new problems”; Jan 18) has laid out the fundamental issues and challenges facing it in the next decade.

The National Environment Agency’s (NEA) attempts to raise awareness of and increase transparency in the after-death sector must be welcomed.

At present, a comprehensive directory of all active and registered businesses engaged in funeral and related activities — under the 96030 Singapore Standard Industrial Classification code — is absent.

NEA should provide on its website a comprehensive directory of funeral companies in Singapore. It should organise them according to the companies’ staff strength and their subsidiary relationships.

For instance, companies can be arranged according to size: Category A will comprise those with up to 20 staff members; category B will be for firms with 20 to 60 employees; and category C for businesses with 60 crew or more.

This will allow the public to better understand the capacity and abilities of the companies they intend to engage, and enable NEA to better plan and allocate resources for training needs in the near future.

NEA should also start a feedback loop on its website exclusively for funeral services so that the public can give feedback on funeral companies and their services, and report possible misconduct.

This will allow NEA to refine regulations, deal with potential gaps and improve supervision. This will go a long way towards nipping serious incidents in the bud.

NEA should also have a whistleblowing policy to allow employees of funeral companies to report suspected misconduct, unethical behaviour, consumer exploitation and illegal acts.

Separately, the Association of Funeral Directors Singapore (AFD) should increase its representation and take in more funeral companies. Its S$15,000 entry fee should be reduced. Membership should not be determined solely by an entity’s ability to pay an entry fee.

Given the extensive experience of its members, AFD should develop and roll out an industry-wide code of conduct and training curriculum in line with international best practices and standards.

The National Trades Union Congress should also consider starting a union for funeral professionals. Representatives from this union should sit on AFD’s executive board.

Lastly, it is time for Singapore to begin a conversation about setting up a mortuary college. This is so that the city-state can have adequately trained, qualified and accredited funeral professionals to meet the demands of an ageing population.

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