Memorial mason registration scheme guidance notes

Introduction 

The memorial mason registration scheme aims to establish a uniform standard of workmanship and working practices throughout all of the Council’s cemeteries.

The scheme will address the standards required for the installation, repair and maintenance of memorials; both new and existing, insurance cover, health and safety requirements and administrative requirements with a view to producing a common approach at every cemetery under the Council’s management.

Through adoption of this scheme it is the intention to identify and promote the best practice of the industry by all registered participants.  

Purpose 

The scheme was developed to ensure that memorial masons working within Westmorland and Furness controlled cemeteries operate to the highest standards of workmanship and competence.

The establishment of this scheme will promote a partnership that will encourage formal and informal communication, long-term working relationships, innovation and development initiatives between all registered parties.

The Council’s ultimate objectives are to ensure that the Council’s cemeteries meet all health and safety standards and are safe environments for those visiting or working within them. 

Scope 

The scheme will be available to any memorial mason who presently works, or intends to work, within the Council’s cemeteries. 

Following the implementation of the scheme those memorial masons not registered under this scheme will not be permitted to work within any cemetery under the management of the Council.

The monumental mason must ensure that any work carried out in his name is in full compliance with the scheme and the Councils Cemetery Regulations and any other applicable Council policy, and that any persons working for him directly or as a subcontractor for him complies with the same. 

Administration of the scheme 

The scheme will be administered by the Council or its appointee, thereafter known as the Bereavement Services team. 

The scheme year will run from 1 April to 31 March. Applications will be accepted at any time within the calendar year however all memberships will cease on 31 March. Applications for membership will not be pro-rata and the full fee will be applicable upon whatever date the application is accepted. 

Re-registration will be offered from 1 March each year to masons already registered within the scheme. 

Requirements of the scheme 

All registered participants to the scheme will be expected and obliged to adhere to the requirements of this scheme. These are the minimum acceptable requirements of the Council and may be up-dated from time to time. Memorial masons are welcome to exceed these requirements and will be encouraged to propose suggestions or ideas that they believe will improve or enhance the scheme. Any suggestions or ideas adopted by the Council will be applied equally to all registered participants. 

Eligibility

To be eligible to join the scheme Memorial Masons must be a member of either the National Association of Memorial Masons (NAMM) or the British Register of Accredited Memorial Masons (BRAMM). Memorial masons who are not registered with either of these schemes are ineligible to be a member of the scheme.

Memorial masons who have been barred from performing work in any cemetery, whether in the Council’s area or elsewhere, within the previous two years may be ineligible to join the scheme. In these instances each case will be considered individually and membership offered, or withheld, at the discretion of the Bereavement Services team. 

Memorial masons must submit details of such disciplinary actions with their application to join the scheme. Failure to disclose details of disciplinary actions, which subsequently come to the attention of the Bereavement Services team, may result in the immediate expulsion from the Registration Scheme and the imposition of an immediate ban on working within the Council’s cemeteries for a period of two years. 

Insurance requirements 

General risk

Every participant on the scheme shall be insured for public liability to the value of five million pounds (£5,000,000) for any one incident. 

Proof of the above must be submitted upon application to the scheme and on any subsequent renewal within the membership year. It is the requirement of the memorial mason to submit this and ensure a copy of this is made available to the council.  

Workmanship, materials and construction 

All memorial masons registering on the scheme, and any subcontractors they employ, must be able to demonstrate an acceptable standard of workmanship, to the approval of the Bereavement Services team. 

Memorial masons and their staff or sub-contractors shall be suitably qualified, experienced and competent to perform all works necessary when erecting, dismantling and repairing memorials to meet current industry standards and statutory Health and Safety requirements and guidelines. 

The standard of workmanship may be evidenced by qualifications obtained from an accreditation schemes operated by a recognised industry body. This includes the National Association of Memorial Masons (NAMM), RQMF, or the British Register of Accredited Memorial Masons (BRAMM).

A letter detailing the qualification and experience of each member of staff or contractor and, where available, trade references should accompany the application for registration, where applicable. 

Registration scheme compliance

Compliance with current Health and Safety legislation is imperative and memorial mason’s will be expected to provide a Health and Safety Policy (where required by law) and a suitable set of risk assessments and safe methods of working covering the full range of work they may expect to carry out in the cemeteries, on request.

Each memorial mason signing the registration scheme application form will be deemed to have agreed to comply with the: 

• Local Authority Cemetery Order 1977 
• Cemetery regulations 
• NAMM Code of Working Practice
• Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
• British Standard B8145.18 or any subsequent updates
• The Council’s Safety Policy 
• Memorial masons registration scheme
• All other relevant statutory requirements 

All memorial masons are required to indemnify the Council in respect of their work. 

Procedures for the erection of memorials 

All memorials installed by the participants of this scheme must fully comply with all of the Council’s standard administration and operational procedures. 

Application to erect a memorial 

An application for all proposed memorials and inscriptions must be submitted to the Bereavement Services office for approval.

Download the memorial mason registration scheme application form

All applications will be completed in full and where information is not supplied information should be given as to the reason for this. The required information includes:

• name and registration number of monumental mason 
• name, section and grave number of the cemetery 
• name, address, telephone number and signature of all the grave owner(s)
• name, address and telephone number of the applicant, if different to the owner(s) 

We also need the memorial details including, but not limited to: 

• material 
• size 
• fixing method 
• inscription 
• sketch of proposed memorial with sizes 
• a photo of the existing memorial where an alteration is proposed

Upon receipt of the approval invoice following an application, full payment will be made to the council before a permit for works will be issued. Memorials should not be erected until the permit has been received. 

Erection of or additional work to memorials 

Memorials must not be erected, nor shall any additional work including refurbishment works be carried out to a memorial unless the application has been approved, and a permit issued. The memorial mason shall give the supervising officer adequate notice if marking of the grave is required. Masons will agree to ad-hoc supervision and inspection of works upon direction by the Bereavement Services team. 

All memorials shall be erected to conform to the most recent edition of the National Association of Memorial Mason’s Recommended Code of Working Practice.

Following the erection of a memorial it should be noted that they will be subject to inspection at least every five years to ensure health and safety requirements are met. 

Every memorial shall have cut upon it, or permanently affixed thereto, the number of the grave, and section if applicable, on which it is to be placed. The presence of a NAMM approved ground anchor must be indicated by the engraving of an asterisk * before the grave number. 

Once a memorial is fitted or works is competed a copy of the permit should be returned completed by the mason to confirm the work has been completed. This should be returned as soon as practical following the completion of works and at most a maximum of seven days. 

Inspection of memorials 

The Bereavement Services team, other Council staff or another person so appointed by the council, may inspect the erection of a memorial either, as the work proceeds, or shortly after the work is completed. Where work is found to be unacceptable, either not conforming to the NAMM Recommended Code of Working Practice or any other reason, the Bereavement Services Team will instruct the memorial mason to return and rectify the work to meet the Council’s standards. 

Post-work inspection 

The Bereavement Services team, other Council staff or another person so appointed by the council, may inspect a memorial following erection, or completion of other work, either as part of routine maintenance, or in response to a complaint from the public or Council staff. 

Where there is reasonable doubt that the work does not conform to these specifications, the Bereavement Services Team may instruct the memorial mason to dismantle their work in order to verify compliance with the scheme’s standards. In the event that work does not meet the required standards the memorial mason will re-erect the work to the appropriate standards, the costs of dismantling and re-erection in these circumstances being their responsibility. In the event that the work complies with the required standards the costs of dismantling and re-erection will be the responsibility of the Council. 

Disciplinary procedures 

To ensure that the Council standards are maintained and that all participants to the registration scheme are operating uniformly to these standards the Bereavement Services Team will operate a disciplinary procedure which shall be applied fairly to all participants of the scheme. 

The disciplinary procedure will be based on the Rules of this Registration Scheme and the Cemetery Regulations according the following steps: 

Stage 1: Minor breach of the rules or specification 

A minor breach of the Rules or Cemetery Regulations will result in a Verbal Warning given by the Bereavement Services Team, assuming the breach is corrected timeously. 

A verbal warning shall be maintained on the memorial mason’s record for a period of 12 months then, if no further breaches occur, the warning will be removed from the record. Three of more minor breaches on a mason’s record at any one time will result in a stage 2 warning being given as per stage 2. 

Stage 2: Breach of the rules or specification 

A breach of the rules or cemetery regulations will result in a written warning issued by the Bereavement Services team, assuming the breach is corrected timeously.

A written warning shall be maintained on the memorial mason’s record for a period of 18 months then, if no further breach occurs, the warning will be removed from the record. 

Stage 3: Subsequent breach of the rules or specification

If, during the 18 month period, imposed by stage 2, another breach of the rules or specification is committed, or the original stage 2 breach is not rectified timeously or to the satisfaction of the Bereavement Services team, this will result in the issuance of a final written warning. 

A final written warning shall be maintained on the memorial mason’s record for a period of 36 months then, if no further breach occurs, the warning will be removed from the record.

Gross misconduct 

Certain circumstances shall be considered gross misconduct and will not be subject to the above stages of the disciplinary procedure. The Bereavement Services team will decide, at their discretion, the instances of gross misconduct. 

Gross misconduct is considered as:

• installation or erection of a memorial not approved by the Bereavement Services team
• refusal to rectify an error in the installation or erection of a memorial when instructed to do so by the Bereavement Services team
• abusive or aggressive behaviour to any council staff, council appointed contractors or members of the public
• failure to adhere to our management and safety of memorials policy, or the conditions of permit application
• causing nuisance, soliciting or promoting business within the curtilage of the Councils’ cemeteries 

This list is not exhaustive.

Exclusion from the registration scheme 

Exclusion from the registration scheme will result when memorial masons are found guilty of gross misconduct or commit a further breach of the rules or specification whilst the 36 month term, as described in stage 3, is in effect. 

An exclusion from the registration scheme will be for a period of two years, during this period a memorial mason will be forbidden to undertake any work whatsoever within the Council’s cemeteries and graveyards. 

In instances of exclusion for gross misconduct the Bereavement Services team may consider advising other local authorities of the circumstances, at their discretion.

Re-registration to the scheme following an exclusion 

Any memorial mason re-registering on the registration scheme following exclusion will be monitored for a period of 18 months.  A memorial mason committing any breach of the rules or specifications, or an act of gross misconduct, during that period will be excluded from the registration scheme for an undetermined period, but not less than 36 months, at the discretion of the scheme administrator. 

Disciplinary procedure appeal 

A memorial mason not satisfied with treatment under the disciplinary procedures is entitled to appeal against any decision taken under these procedures. All appeals shall be made in writing within two weeks following the disciplinary decision, stating the reason for the appeal and only these reasons will be admissible at the appeal. 

During the period of appeal the council reserves the right to refuse permission to work for the duration. 

In the first instance an appeal will be heard by the Lead Officer for Bereavement Services. 

If the memorial mason remains unsatisfied following an appeal, the memorial mason shall be entitled to make a final appeal, in writing, through the Council’s formal complaints procedure. 

Review

An annual review of the scheme shall take place to allow either party, the memorial masons or the Council, to review the rules, requirements and performance of the registration scheme. Following the conclusion of a mutual review of the registration scheme masons shall be required to re-register for a period of one further year. 

Modifications 

All participants to the scheme may propose amendments to the scheme with a view to positive or innovative improvements. The Bereavement Services team shall conduct an initial appraisal of these proposed modifications and if these proposals appear, in the opinion of the Bereavement Services Team, to indicate an improvement to the scheme, all participants will be advised of these proposals. 

The scheme will be reviewed annually at which time any amendments agreed will be made. 

Assignment 

No aspects or obligations of the registration scheme agreement may be assigned, subcontracted or transferred to a third party without the approval of the Bereavement Services team, confirmed in writing. 

Policy contact

Josh McLeod, Bereavement Services Lead
Telephone: 01539 793 125 
Email: josh.mcleod@westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk