California's 24-hour refrigeration rule for funeral homes

What section 1223 requires

• No embalming, preparation or storage room may be in a public storage or mini-storage facility.
• Each room must have enough disinfectant to clean the room and its contents.
• Unembalmed remains held for more than 24 hours must be refrigerated at an approved facility with sufficient capacity.
• A storage room holds remains before disposition. It cannot be a chapel, a viewing room, an office, a closet or another room that the public uses.

What section 1223.1 allows: a shared storage room

A licensed funeral establishment can share its preparation room or storage room with other licensed establishments. The Cemetery and Funeral Bureau must approve the arrangement first. The rule sets these conditions:

• The establishments have common ownership, or they have a contract to share the room.
• Under common ownership, one establishment is the main office, and the others are within a 60-mile radius of it.
• The host establishment gives each user a separate, labeled area and has enough capacity for all users.
• A system identifies and labels the remains.
• The facility meets Business and Professions Code section 7616 and passes a Bureau inspection.
• The establishment sends a written request on the Bureau's form, and an inspection confirms compliance before sharing starts.

Why this matters on a busy week

The 24-hour rule does not stop when your cooler is full. A funeral home that plans ahead has a refrigeration option ready before the busy week starts. A funeral home that does not plan ahead must find one on the same day.

Questions to ask any outside storage provider

• How does your arrangement meet sections 1223 and 1223.1, and what does the Bureau require from my establishment?
• Do you keep a separate identification record and an assigned position for each decedent?
• Do you monitor and record temperature, and can we see the records?
• Who can enter the storage area, and do you record each access?
• What records do we get at receipt and at release?
• Can we reserve capacity under a contract?

The Bureau is the authority on what counts as an approved facility. If you are not sure that an arrangement meets the rules, ask the Bureau before you use it.