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Source: ONE News
They deal with death every day, allowing mourners to view the
bodies of loved ones as they looked in life.
Embalmers perform a key role in Australia's funeral industry,
making bodies presentable for viewing and preserving and sanitising
them for movement across state and international borders, or for
entombment in a mausoleum.
But the profession might be suffering from an image problem.
"At the moment we have a nationwide shortage of embalmers," says
John Scott, national president of the Australian Funeral Directors
Association (AFDA).
"It's not a matter of concern at the moment but it will be."
A recent survey identified embalmers as "in demand" occupations in
the funeral industry and revealed the industry is looking overseas
to plug the holes.
"Due to the current lack of qualified embalmers, the Australian
industry is recruiting from overseas to meet ongoing demand," says
the Serviceskills Australia Funeral Services Environmental Scan
2010.
According to the report there are 173 qualified and registered
embalmers in Australia and 820 funeral services industry
businesses.
The survey also shows that in the 12 months from April 2008 only
two people registered for the embalming certificate.
Sue Channer, human resources manager at West Australian based Bowra
& O'Dea, says the company employs five full-time embalmers and
one part-time.
The company has the capacity to employ more, but the problem has
been finding them.
The company recently successfully lobbied the federal government to
extend the temporary visa of a UK embalmer in its employment.
Channer says she's placed a number of advertisements for embalmers
in newspapers and online, but hasn't been able to fill the
positions.
"I've done a number of adverts for qualified embalmers and I have
not been successful and I've had hardly any applications," she
says.
"Basically, a funeral business can't operate without an
embalmer.
"What you need to think about is what are the health issues to the
community if we couldn't provide the service."
Don Sweet, chairman of the Australian Institute of Embalming, says
the shortage is primarily an industrial issue at this point.
"At the moment it's a concern, it's not to the stage where it's
critical or anything like that," he says.
"The shortage means that there's just not enough around to do the
necessary preparation. Generally people get by, but it's a matter
of staff having to work later, not having shifts off.
"But's a concern and people can see that issues may come up very
shortly if it's not addressed."
Sweet says one of the reasons for the current shortage is that the
older generation of embalmers is retiring or moving into other
areas of the industry.
Sue Channer says it can simply be hard finding someone who comes
with the practical skills, stamina and empathy needed for the job,
which includes draining bodily fluids, closing openings in the body
and infusing dangerous chemicals.
An embalmer may also need to use wax and makeup to repair damaged
bodies.
On top of that embalmers need stamina and fitness to stand through
the day and lift dead bodies, and the empathy to communicate with
bereaved friends and family.
"The mental energy and understanding required restricts the
recruiting ability because too few people can handle the emotional
demands of the position," Channer says.
Sweet admits that working in a mortuary every day isn't for
everyone.
"There are some people, that's their thing, and they want to work
all day in a mortuary and they're happy to do that," he says.
"But it's a matter of horses for courses."
Sue Channer says embalming is just one of those jobs that people
tend to shy away from.
"Maybe Australia needs to promote the profession a bit more," she
says.
