Apart from individuals with no formal training grossly undercutting the market, some Bahamian funeral directors also worry about persons stealing their equipment. 

The Bahamas Funeral Directors Association’s (BFDA) Public Relations Officer, Randy Curtis said that he lost $50,000 in equipment one year as a result of stealing. 

He said that these items included a church truck, a lowering device, and embalming instruments.

He said, “I use ‘Slaughter’ instruments, which is the top brand. It’s the Rolls-Royce brand of instruments, and they’re expensive, but they produce the kind of work that my clients are accustomed to and one year we had to buy three sets.”

This is why the association is aggressively pursuing to propose legislation to government. 

Last week this Journal reported that the BFDA was actively seeking to propose legislation to government which will regulate its practices. 

This piece of legislation will seek to deal with theft within the industry. 

Mr. Curtis said, “a  lot of these persons who are coming into the field they do not have equipment and they want to ask you to borrow, but they would have someone befriend your staff and say ‘Well, can I borrow so and so?’ They never bring it back.” 

He added, “in the industry, I’ve heard of firms who would have lost up to $7,000 worth of stuff out of the cemetery. If you got a lowering device for $5,000, you’ve got $300 or $400 in chairs, you’ve got $1,000 for the mat that you put around the grave, you could come back and the whole set up is gone.” 

Mr. Curtis also said that the BFDA is scheduled to be ready to propose to the government by the end of the year.