Future of memorials may not be set in stone

From the archive, first published Wednesday 15th Mar 2006.

MORE than 5,000 memorials in Pembrokeshire cemeteries are to be inspected under new safety laws.

Health and Safety legislation requires local authorities to thoroughly inspect its cemeteries in order to detect memorials which may be dangerous to visiting members of the public and to staff who work in them.

Pembrokeshire County Council, which manages 12 cemeteries, will be starting the safety survey later this month and it is likely to have repercussions for those who tend the graves of loved ones.

The county council's superintendent and registrar, David Seaman said: "It has wrongly been assumed that memorials are permanent structures that have been installed to the highest standards and therefore last forever without any need for repair.

"Unfortunately this assumption has cost the lives of six people in the UK in the past 12 years. Most of them have been children, and there have been a countless number of accidents."

The council will be employing a specialist contractor to test the memorials in its cemeteries and the work is expected to last several months.

Mr Seaman said: "Where we find unsafe memorials, temporary support will be provided whenever possible but it may be necessary to lower some memorials to the ground while we contact the owners."

Where a memorial has been inspected and found to be in need of attention, the registered owner of the grave can either take steps themselves to make the memorial safe, or ask the council to deal with the matter on their behalf. The council will offer the grave owner three options of re-fixing the memorial for a modest set fee by a county council-approved mason; lowering the memorial at no cost and a permanent removal and disposal of the memorial, again at no cost. In the case of memorials erected since 2000, guarantees regarding the stability of the memorial will still exist. The firm of masons which carried out the original work will be expected to repair the memorial to a proper standard at no cost to the grave owner.

Archive Home