Mortuary Cold Storage

Morgues function to provide a clean and isolated environment in which bodies can be autopsied, preserved and/or prepared for death before a funeral. Morticians and autopsy technicians use morgues to ensure that the proper cause of death has been noted and to visually prepare the body for the viewing of the family of the deceased. This preparation phase is psychologically important to the family of the deceased, who are likely to be more at ease seeing the body of the deceased as they were remembered in life.

Cold storage is known to slow down the rate of decomposition and preserves the body for identification, without cold storage decomposition advances rapidly, within 12 to 48 hours in hot climates decomposition will be too advanced to allow facial recognition.

There are two types of mortuary cold chambers:

• Positive Temperature: Bodies are kept between 2°C and 4°C. While this is usually used for keeping bodies for up to several weeks, it does not prevent decomposition, which continues at a slower rate than at room temperature.

• Negative Temperature: Bodies are kept at between -10°C and -50°C. Usually used at forensic institutes, particularly when a body has not been identified. At these temperatures the body is completely frozen and decomposition is very much reduced.

In some countries, the body of the deceased is embalmed before disposal, which makes refrigeration unnecessary.

In many countries, the family of the deceased must make the burial within three days of death, however in some other countries it is usual that burial takes place some weeks or months after the death.

Tough Times Long Distance Funeral Transport  has recently added a cold storage facility to it's services in order to better serve their clients