Brookwood Cemetery Memorial Mason Registration Scheme

Introduction

This Memorial Mason Registration Scheme is one of the measures taken by Brookwood Park Limited to ensure the safety of visitors and staff within Brookwood Cemetery. This scheme is designed to ensure that any work involved with the installation, removal or renovation of memorials is carried out safely, by people who are not only competent but also who are suitably insured and working to nationally recognised standards.

Only memorial masons currently registered with this scheme may carry out work to memorials within Brookwood Cemetery.

Any memorial mason, whose company is on the RQMF or BRAMM registers, may apply for membership of this scheme, using the scheme’s application form below. There is presently no fee for application or membership of this scheme. However, there are minimum requirements with which a memorial mason must comply. Failure to comply with these requirements may result in both the registered company and the contractors/sub-contractors being removed from the scheme and unable to work in Brookwood Cemetery.

Requirements

Insurance
Every participant in this Scheme must have the following insurance covers in place:

Public Liability insurance with a minimum indemnity limit of £5,000,000
Employer’s Liability insurance with a minimum indemnity limit of £10,000,000
It is the responsibility of each company registered with this scheme to ensure that its employees and/or subcontractors have the relevant insurances required under this scheme and to supply evidence of possession of the required insurance covers following renewal of policies.

Guarantee
Every participant in this scheme shall provide a written guarantee for each individual memorial in respect of its safety and stability for a period of not less than 10 years. The guarantee should be given to the person paying for the memorial work upon its completion, with a copy provided to the Brookwood Cemetery Manager.

In providing this guarantee, every participant in this scheme should take into consideration that any memorial installed or renovated will be subject to inspection by Brookwood Park Limited or its appointed agent every 5 years to ensure its continued stability. Any joint or component found to be faulty shall be repaired or replaced at no charge by the relevant participant in this scheme within one calendar month of being notified by Brookwood Park Limited.

Workmanship, Materials and Construction
Memorial masons and their employees and/or subcontractors must be suitably qualified, experienced and competent to perform all works necessary when erecting, dismantling and repairing memorials to meet current industry and statutory Health and Safety requirements and guidelines.

The standard of workmanship will be evidenced by qualifications and registration with either The Register of Qualified Memorial Masons (RQMF) or the British Register of Accredited Memorial Masons (BRAMM).

All memorials shall be erected to BS 8415, by conforming to the most recent edition of the National Association of Memorial Mason’s ‘Code of Working Practice’ (NAMM CoWP) or the British Register of Accredited Memorial Masons’ ‘Blue Book’.

A representative of Brookwood Park Limited may inspect the installation of a memorial as the work is in progress, or shortly after the work is completed. Where memorial work is found to be unacceptable, the memorial mason responsible will be required to rectify the situation to the satisfaction of the Brookwood Cemetery Manager.

This would apply where the memorial does not comply with the details provided on the memorial application form or is not installed to the required standards.

This may require the immediate removal of the memorial from the cemetery or work to bring it to the required standard within a period specified by the Brookwood Cemetery Manager.

Eligibility
Applicants for membership of this scheme must submit with their application form details of any action taken against them by any other Cemetery Operator within the previous 2 years to prevent them working in any Cemetery.

Failure to disclose such information may result in the registered company, its employees and/or subcontractors being removed from the scheme and unable to work in Brookwood Cemetery.

Cemetery Regulations
Every participant in this Scheme, including employees and/or subcontractors, must comply with the Brookwood Cemetery Rules and Regulations.

Administrative Procedures

Application to carry out memorial work
No work involving the installation, removal or renovation of a memorial may take place without the written authorisation of the Brookwood Cemetery Manager, issued in the form of a Permit.

An application to undertake memorial work must be made using the Memorial Application Form available from both the Office and the Web Site of Brookwood Cemetery.

The completed Memorial Application Form should be submitted with:

1. A copy of the memorial company’s invoice to the client
2. An Administration Fee, representing 10% of the total invoice value for new memorials
3. The Memorial Permit Fee: £500 for a memorial or headstone, £175 for a cremation tablet and £70 for an additional inscription fee.

The documents may be submitted in person or by post or courier. The payments for the Administration Fee and Memorial Permit fee may be made directly into Brookwood Park Limited’s bank account.

Authorisation
Subject to approving the Memorial Application Form and receiving the correct payments in full, the Brookwood Cemetery Manager will issue a Permit to undertake the work. The Permit may be collected in person from the Brookwood Cemetery Office, or sent by post, fax or email.

Appointment
The Memorial Mason must make an appointment to visit the Brookwood Cemetery Office in order to be shown the correct location within the cemetery and to undertake the approved memorial work.

Breach of the scheme’s requirements
Brookwood Park Limited expects all participants in this scheme to comply with its requirements, but will take appropriate action in cases where a memorial company breaches the requirements. The action taken will be proportionate to the breach.

Stage 1 – initial request to correct breach
In any case where Brookwood Park Limited finds that a participating memorial company is in breach of the requirements of the scheme, the Brookwood Cemetery Manager or other representative will verbally request action to rectify the breach. This verbal request may be confirmed in writing.

Examples include where a participating company completes work to a memorial that does not comply with the approved memorial application or relevant fixing standards set out in the NAMM CoWP or BRAMM “Blue book”. Brookwood Park Limited will request that the work be rectified within a specified period. This may include a request to remove the memorial from the cemetery.

Stage 2 – failure to comply with the initial request
In the event that the participating company fails to comply with Brookwood Park Limited’s initial request to rectify a breach of the requirements of the scheme within the period specified without a satisfactory explanation, a formal written instruction will be issued specifying the action required by the participating memorial company and placing a time limit for its completion.

Stage 3 – failure to comply with formal request
In the event that the participating company fails to comply with Brookwood Park Limited’s formal written instruction within the specified time limit without a satisfactory explanation, that company’s membership of the scheme will be terminated and they will not be permitted to undertake further work within Brookwood Cemetery unless and until they are readmitted into the scheme. Both the RQMF and BRAMM registers will also be informed.

Gross Misconduct
Brookwood Park Limited regards some actions by any participating memorial company as being so serious as to constitute gross misconduct. Such actions include, but are not limited to:

Installation, removal or renovation of a memorial without a permit issued by Brookwood Park Limited.
Abusive or aggressive behaviour towards any representative of Brookwood Park Limited or towards members of the public visiting the cemetery.
Any participant in the scheme found to have taken such action will be suspended from the scheme with immediate effect, pending any appeal by the participant concerned.

Appeal
A memorial company in membership of this scheme is entitled to appeal against any decision taken under these procedures concerning breaches of the scheme’s requirements. Any such appeal should be made in writing within two weeks following the action concerned taken by Brookwood Park Limited.

The Brookwood Cemetery Manager will consider the appeal within a period of one calendar month of its receipt at the Brookwood Cemetery Office and in so doing may request additional information from the appellant.

The decision of Brookwood Park Limited is final.

Modification
Brookwood Park Limited reserves the right to modify the requirements of this scheme from time to time.

Assignment
No aspects or obligations of the Registration Scheme agreement may be assigned, subcontracted or transferred to a third party without the written approval of Brookwood Park Limited.