EN 15017 – Funeral Services
The UNE 15017 Funeral Services Standard establishes the requirements for the provision of funeral services, excluding technical requirements related to health and safety.
This standard does not apply to technical requirements related to the product, health and safety requirements are not covered. The main aspects covered by the standard are:
- Service quality monitoring system and complaint handling.
- Staff competencies and equipment in the funeral home facilities.
- Service provision: information, advice, transfers and funeral.
Benefits of EN 15017 certification
Certification to this standard provides the following benefits:
- It optimises the management of funeral services.
- It provides continuous improvement in the quality of the service provided in funeral homes.
- It differentiates funeral homes that adopt this standard, making it easier for customers to choose services, as it provides a guarantee of quality, safety, reliability and transparency of service.
- Market recognition.
EN 15017 Certification with EQA
The certification process with EQA has the following steps:
- Request for certification quotation from EQA and acceptance of the contractual conditions.
- The audit team conducts an audit to verify conformity in accordance with the requirements of this standard.
- If non-conformities are detected, a corrective action plan is submitted to EQA within one month to address these possible non-compliances with the standard detected during the audit.
- Finally, after reviewing the audit report and the corrective action plan, a certificate of conformity is issued.
The certificate is valid for three years.
Frequently Asked Questions
Requirements of the EN 15017 Standard
The main processes that are evaluated in UNE 15017 are:
- Competence and skills of funeral home staff.
- Procedures for handling customer complaints.
- Service Quality Monitoring System.
- Care of the deceased and hygienic measures, Burial, Embalming/Tanatopraxy.
- Removal, transfer and transport.
- Funeral home facilities: preparation areas, public, staff and administration rooms.
- Funeral: removal of deceased, presentation, ceremony, decoration, procession, funeral, burial, exhumation and disposal of ashes.
- Advisory service: ceremony information, fees, obituaries, music, invoicing, etc.
- Pre-funeral arrangements.
Guarantees of EN 15017
The standard establishes the following guarantees:
- Integration with the ISO 9001 Quality Management standard.
- It ensures the quality of funeral services including the highest respect for the deceased and relatives and with respect to the local legislation in force.
- It ensures that funeral services and facilities and the underlying principles are transparent in pricing.
- It contains framework recommendations, which take due account of the different provisions of national laws relating to funeral services in each country, of traditions in terms of ethical funeral practices, cultural and regional funeral rites, as well as hygienic and environmental considerations.
- It sets out the relevant services as well as the reporting requirements to be fulfilled by the funeral director.
- Describes the profile of professional qualifications and further educational training for funeral directors and other funeral service personnel.
Ethical rules of EN 15017
The UNE 15017 Standard is based on the following ethical rules:
- Professional and ethical relations with the client’s relatives.
- Sincere respect for the beliefs and customs of the families. The right of the persons making the arrangements to choose the funeral director and to decide between burial or cremation.
- The right of families to be informed of the estimated total cost of the funeral.
- Absolute confidentiality assured at all times, subject only to legal requirements.
- Honesty and integrity of funeral personnel in the performance of their duties.
- Strict compliance with the laws, rules and regulations concerning the profession at national and international level.
- Objectivity, honesty and sensitive publicity.
- Continuous efforts to raise professional funeral knowledge to a higher level.
- Integrity in professional relationships, both national and international.
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