Oklahoma Administrative Code › Title 235 - Oklahoma Funeral Board › Chapter 10 - Funeral Services Licensing › Subchapter 11 - Minimum Standards of Performance › Section 235:10-11-1 - Minimum standards of performance

Current through Vol. 41, No. 20, July 1, 2024
(a) The following minimum standards of
				performance shall be required of each licensed embalmer in the State of
				Oklahoma in each instance in which he/she is authorized or required to embalm a
				dead human remains.
(1)
Licensed
				embalmer; licensed establishment.
The embalming procedure shall be
				performed only by licensed embalmers. Embalming shall be performed only in
				properly equipped and licensed funeral service establishment or commercial
				embalming establishments, in hospitals, or in such facilities as may be
				designated by the medical examiner or by the state health officials in the
				event of a disaster of major proportions. The em-balmer may be assisted by a
				registered apprentice, or practicum student, or he may supervise a registered
				apprentice or practicum student as the registered apprentice or practicum
				student performs the embalming procedure.
(2)
Protective devices.
In order
				to prevent the em-balmer or registered apprentice from becoming unwitting
				carriers of pathogenic organisms into the community, they shall be required to
				utilize such protective devices as required by the OSHA Bloodborne Pathogen
				Standards.
(3)
Clothing.
Clothing exposed to contamination by pathogenic
				organisms shall either be burned or thoroughly cleaned and disinfected before
				delivery to any person, or before any further utilization.
(4)
Technique.
The technique
				utilized to effect eye, mouth, and lip closure shall be any technique accepted
				as standard in the profession. Regardless of the technique chosen, the embalmer
				shall be required to achieve the best results possible under the prevailing
				conditions.
(5)
Washing
				body.
The entire body shall be washed with an antiseptic soap or
				detergent. Fingernails, hair (including mustache and beard) shall be thoroughly
				cleaned and made presentable, either before or immediately after arterial
				injection.
(6)
Body
				orifices.
Body orifices (ears, nostrils, mouth, anus, and vagina) shall
				be treated with appropriate topical disinfectants either before or immediately
				after arterial injection.
(7)
Arterial fluid.
The arterial fluid to be injected shall be one
				commercially prepared and marketed.
(A)
				Liquid, semi-solid, and gaseous contents which can be withdrawn through a
				trocar shall be aspirated by the use of at least 18 inches (mercury)
				vacuum.
(B) Concentrated,
				commercially prepared cavity fluid containing preservative chemicals shall be
				injected and evenly distributed through the aspirated cavities.
(C) Should distention and/or purge occur
				after treatment, aspiration and injection as required above shall be
				repeated.
(8)
Hypodermic injection.
The embalmer shall be required to check each
				body thoroughly after treatment has been completed. Any area not adequately
				disinfected by arterial and/or cavity treatment shall be hypodermically
				injected with disinfectant fluid for maximum disinfection results.
(9)
Incomplete arterial
				circulation.
On bodies in which the arterial circulation is incomplete
				or impaired by advanced decompositions, burns, trauma, autopsy, or any other
				cause, the embalmer shall be required to hypodermically inject all areas which
				cannot be properly treated through whatever arterial circulation remains intact
				(if any).
(10)
High
				risk.
In the event that the procedures in of this Section leave a dead
				human body in a condition to constitute a high risk of infection to anyone
				handling the body, the embalmer shall be required to apply to the exterior
				surface of the body a standard embalming chemical, and to enclose the body in a
				zippered plastic or rubber pouch prior to burial or other disposal.
(11)
Not authorized.
Nothing in
				this Section shall be interpreted to require embalming if the next-of-kin does
				not authorize embalming.
(12)
Supplemental procedures.
Nothing in this Section shall be
				interpreted to prohibit the use of supplemental or additional procedures or
				chemicals which are known to be accepted in the funeral service profession
				which are not specifically mentioned in this section.
(13)
Disposal within 24 hours.
Unembalmed dead human bodies shall be legally disposed of within 24 hours after
				death unless the body is placed in a designated body refrigeration chamber
				which maintains a constant temperature of 40 degrees fahrenheit or less. The
				body shall remain in the refrigerated area until such time as legal disposition
				is to occur. Once removed from refrigeration, either embalming or disposition
				shall occur within eight hours of said removal. No public viewing of unembalmed
				bodies shall be permitted 24 hours after death has occurred. Nothing is this
				section shall prevent a licensed establishment from requiring a viewing for the
				purpose of identification at such time as the establishment deems appropriate.
				Nothing in this section shall require a funeral home to purchase, install, or
				provide such refrigeration facilities not currently in existence and
				use.
(14)
Highest level of
				disinfection.
No funeral service establishment or licensed embalmer
				shall take into its care any dead human body for embalming without exerting
				every professional effort, and employing every possible technique or chemical,
				to achieve the highest level of disinfection and protein stabilization
				possible.
(15)
Variations.
Reasonable variations may be permitted as long as the
				objective stated in this Section is accomplished.