Mourners ordered to sign safety waivers

Heavy heart: A funeral scene from ITV's Where The Heart Is.

It seems that not even a funeral is safe from the compensation culture sweeping Britain. For pallbearers are being asked to sign waiver forms in case they hurt their backs carrying the coffin into church.

Funeral directors are so worried about them slipping a disc and then suing for compensation that they are insisting relatives or friends who want to shoulder the coffin confirm in writing before the ceremony starts that they are aware of the risk.

The move came to light after former comrades of Second World War veteran Jack Hole, who died aged 86, were approached by a top-hatted undertaker as they prepared to carry his body into a crematorium in Cardiff - and asked to sign a form.

The Welsh Guardsman served with distinction at the Battle of Monte Cassino, braving enemy fire to carry vital supplies to troops trapped higher up the rocky hill south of Rome.

But when the widower's former comrades stepped forward to carry the coffin draped in regimental colours, they were astonished to find themselves entangled in bureaucratic red tape.

"We were flabbergasted,' said former Welsh Guards corporal Chris Powell, 73. "The undertaker explained it was a declaration that absolved them of any liability if we slipped a disc lifting the coffin.

"The pallbearers were in their 70s but they were all six-footers and thought it was ridiculous.

"I've been a bearer at a number of funerals in the past few years but I've never heard of anything like this before. I think even the undertaker was a bit embarrassed. This is health and safety gone mad.

"Old Jack couldn't have been more than 111/2 stone. But he had a droll sense of humour and I'm sure he'll have had a good laugh about it somewhere up there."

Dominic Maguire, of the National Association of Funeral Directors, said: "It is very sad but it's an indication of the increasingly litigious and health-and-safety obsessed society in which we live.

"When volunteer pallbearers present themselves, they may appear robust but it is only sensible for the funeral director to ask for their signatures.

"Funeral directors should use their discretion but I expect this to become a routine procedure in the near future."

Geoff Hinton, manager of James Pidgeon & Son, the undertakers at Mr Hole's funeral, said: "A lot of firms are doing this now because the health-and-safety rules are so strict.

"People are getting heavier and a solid coffin can be a considerable weight. The pallbearers at Mr Hole's funeral were elderly and we thought it was our responsibility to ensure they knew the risks involved."

But Tory MP Phil Davies attacked the move, saying: "It is absolutely ridiculous. It just makes me despair. The whole compensation culture is getting out of hand."

A spokesman for the Health and Safety Executive said: "This would be a civil liability issue and is nothing to do with the HSE.

"But it is worth pointing out that waiver forms have no force in law and would not absolve an organisation from responsibility."

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