Description
Prepare, embalm, disinfect, and restore human remains for viewing, burial, or cremation, ensuring dignity, public health, and legal compliance; collaborate with funeral directors and related professionals on presentation, timing, and disposition.
- • Receive, identify, and log remains; verify embalming and cremation authorizations.
- • Conduct case analysis and select appropriate embalming techniques and chemicals.
- • Perform arterial and cavity embalming, aspiration, and injection procedures.
- • Disinfect, bathe, and position remains; set facial features and close mouth and eyes.
- • Apply cosmetics, hairdressing, and shaving to achieve a natural appearance.
- • Repair trauma, disease, or autopsy damage using suturing, tissue building, and wax.
- • Dress and casket remains for visitation or services.
- • Prepare remains for cremation, including identification verification and pacemaker removal.
- • Prepare, package, and document remains for shipment or out-of-state disposition.
- • Maintain embalming room cleanliness; sterilize instruments and equipment.
- • Manage hazardous and biohazardous waste disposal according to regulations.
- • Monitor refrigeration units and storage conditions; maintain holding logs.
- • Complete embalming reports, case files, and chain-of-custody documentation.
- • Coordinate with funeral directors, cemeteries, crematories, and medical examiners.
- • Remove deceased from place of death and transport to funeral facility, as assigned.
- • Inventory and order chemicals, supplies, and PPE; maintain SDS records.
- • Ensure compliance with OSHA, EPA, and state funeral board rules and infection-control protocols.
- • Advise and train apprentices or attendants in embalming-room procedures.
- • Safeguard and catalog personal effects; return items to families per policy.
- • Communicate with families, when appropriate, about viewing expectations and special requests.
Related specializations
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Related Pathways
Healthcare & Human Services
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Source
Tasks & skills:
O*NET occupational data (work activities, skills, knowledge).
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Sources & Standards:
This site includes information from O*NET by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Career Clutch has modified some of this information for student readability. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Last reviewed: Jan 2026
