Page 1 of 5
Title / Receive and transfer a deceased person to a mortuary when working as an orderly in a health or disability context
Level / 3 / Credits / 6
Purpose / People credited with this unit standard are able to: describe procedures for the transfer of a deceased person to a mortuary, transfer a deceased person from a medical unit to a mortuary, and receive a deceased person from an external agency and transfer that person to a mortuary, when working as an orderlyin a health or disability context.
Classification / Health, Disability, and Aged Support > Health and Disability Principles in Practice
Available grade / Achieved
Explanatory notes
1Legislation and codes relevant to this unit standard include:
Health and Disability Commissioner (Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights) Regulations 1996 (the Code);
Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Act 1995;
Burial and Cremation Act 1964;
Coroners Act 2006;
Cremation Regulations 1973;
Health and Disability Services (Safety) Act 2001;
Health Information Privacy Code 1994;
Human Tissue Act 2008;
New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000;
Resource Management Act 1991.
2New Zealand Standard relevant to this unit standard:
NZS 8134.1:2008 Health and disability services Standards – Health and disability services (core) Standards.
3References
Chief Advisor Tikanga, Auckland District Health Board. (2003). Board guidelines – Tikanga recommended best practice. Retrieved 25 March, 2011, from
Māori Pacific Ethnic Services, New Zealand Police. (2009). A practical reference to religious diversity. (2nd ed.). Wellington: Author, available at
Te Puni Kōkiri. (1999). Hauora o te tinana me ōna tikanga: A guide for the removal, retention, return and disposal of Māori body parts and organ donation: Service providers. Wellington: Ministry of Māori Development.
4This unit standard cannot be assessed against in a simulated environment. For assessment, candidates must demonstrate competence in the workplace through paid or unpaid employment, or in placements in a service provider workplace negotiated by an education provider.
5Candidates’ practice must reflect appropriate values, processes, and protocols in relation to working with Māori and Pacific peoples and/or people from other cultures, in a range of settings and environments.
6The terms ‘respect for the deceased person’, and‘respect for the deceased person’s culture’ should be interpreted in relation to the Code and s 18 of the Human Tissue Act 2008. Legally, the Code only covers living people, but this unit standard requires that candidates act in accordance with the Code's statements of consumers' rights when receiving and transferring a deceased person, and in their interactions with the deceased person's family/whānau. Similarly, the Human Tissue Act 2008, s 18, requires that a ‘person collecting or using human tissue [which can include a whole human body] must take into account, so far as they are known to the person based on information available to the person in the circumstances, the cultural and spiritual needs, values, and beliefs of the immediate family of the individual whose tissue is collected or used’. Whilst an orderly neither ‘collects' nor 'uses' human tissues, this unit standard requires that orderlies comply with the same standard established by s 18 of the Act when receiving and transferring a deceased person.
7Definitions
Candidate refers to the person seeking credit for this unit standard.
Client in the context of this unit standard refers to a person accessing services in a health or disability setting. Clients, who may also be known as consumers, patients, or tūroro in particular contexts and settings, may include outpatients in a medical facility.
Culture refers to the totality of socially transmitted beliefs, values, customs, behaviour patterns and/or practices, together with all other products of human work and thought that are common to – or characteristic of – a particular group or community. The concept of culture may reflect factors and indicators such as: age, ethnicity, disability, gender, occupation, organisational background, immigrant or refugee status, institutional care, religion or spiritual beliefs, sexual orientation, and socio-economic status.
Hinengaro refers to the mind, psychological, thoughts, intellect.
Medical unit in the context of this unit standard refers to a private room, ward, specialist department, or operating theatre within a medical facility.
An orderly is a person employed in a medical facility who undertakes a variety of assistive and support tasks that do not involve the medical treatment of clients.
Organisation’s policies and procedures are the policies and procedures of the employing organisation of the candidate and include ethical codes, standards, and other organisational requirements.
An outside agency refers to: New Zealand Police/Nga Pirihimana o Aotearoa, StJohn Ambulance, a licensed funeral director.
Receive in the context of this unit standard refers to the physical hand-over of a deceased person from an outside agency, at or within a medical facility.
Tangihanga refers to a funeral ceremony.
Transfer in the context of this unit standard refers to conveying a deceased person from one medical facility to another medical facility, or within a medical facility.
Uplift in the context of this unit standard means physically to collect a deceased person at an agreed time and place in order to transfer that deceased person to another place.
Wairua refers to spirituality, spiritual element, the soul, or spiritual part of a person that exists beyond death.
Whakapapa refers to genealogy, cultural identity.
Whenua refers to afterbirth, placenta, earth, land.
Outcomes and evidence requirements
Outcome 1
Describe procedures for the transfer of a deceased person to a mortuary when working as an orderly in a health or disability context.
Evidence requirements
1.1The transfer of a deceased person is described in terms of the organisation’s policies and procedures.
Outcome 2
Transfer a deceased person from a medical unit to a mortuary when working as an orderly in a health or disability context.
Rangeevidence is required for two transfers of a deceased person;
one transfer must demonstrate respect for the deceased person’s culture, and one transfer must demonstrate respect for Māori cultural concepts of whakapapa, whenua, wairua, hinengaro, and tangihanga, in accordance with the references, the legislation, and the Code.
Evidence requirements
2.1Procedures for uplifting a deceased person from a medical unit are carried out in accordance with the organisation’s policies and procedures and any requirements of a coroner or the police.
2.2Transfer of a deceased person from a medical unit to a mortuary is carried out in accordance with the organisation’s policies and procedures.
2.3Transfer of a deceased person from a medical unit to a refrigerated unit is carried out in accordance with the organisation’s policies and procedures.
Rangemust include – identification of the deceased person, positioning of a mortuary trolley in a refrigerated unit.
2.4Documentation for uplift and transfers is completed in accordance with any requirements of a coroner or the police, legislative requirements, and the organisation’s policies and procedures.
2.5Procedures to finalise the transfer of a deceased person are carried out in accordance with the organisation’s policies and procedures.
Rangecleaning and storing equipment, ensuring the security of premises.
Outcome 3
Receive a deceased person from an external agency and transfer that person to a mortuary when working as an orderly in a health or disability context.
Rangeevidence is required for two transfers of a deceased person;
one transfer must demonstrate respect for the deceased person’s culture, and one transfer must demonstrate respect for the Māori cultural concepts of whakapapa, whenua, wairua, hinengaro, and tangihanga, in accordance with the references, the legislation, and the Code.
Evidence requirements
3.1Procedures for receiving a deceased person from an external agency are carried out in accordance with the organisation’s policies and procedures and any requirements of a coroner or the police.
3.2Transfer of a deceased person from the place of reception to a mortuary is carried out in accordance with the organisation’s policies and procedures.
3.3Transfer of a deceased person from the place of reception to a refrigerated unit is carried out in accordance with the organisation’s policies and procedures.
Rangemust include – identification of the deceased person, positioning of a mortuary trolley in a refrigerated unit.
3.4Documentation is completed in accordance with any requirements of the coroner, police, references, legislation, or the Code, and the organisation’s policies and procedures.
3.5Procedures to finalise transfer of a deceased person are carried out in accordance with the organisation’s policies and procedures.
Rangecleaning and storing equipment, ensuring the security of premises.
Replacement information / This unit standard was replaced by unit standard 28532.This unit standard is expiring. Assessment against the standard must take place by the last date for assessment set out below.
Status information and last date for assessment for superseded versions
Process / Version / Date / Last Date for AssessmentRegistration / 1 / 20 May 2011 / 31 December 2018
Review / 2 / 16 April 2015 / 31 December 2018
Consent and Moderation Requirements (CMR) reference / 0024
This CMR can be accessed at
Please note
Providers must be granted consent to assess against standards (accredited) by NZQA, before they can report credits from assessment against unit standards or deliver courses of study leading to that assessment.
Industry Training Organisations must be granted consent to assess against standards by NZQA before they can register credits from assessment against unit standards.
Providers and Industry Training Organisations, which have been granted consent and which are assessing against unit standards must engage with the moderation system that applies to those standards.
Requirements for consent to assess and an outline of the moderation system that applies to this standard are outlined in the Consent and Moderation Requirements (CMR). The CMR also includes useful information about special requirements for organisations wishing to develop education and training programmes, such as minimum qualifications for tutors and assessors, and special resource requirements.
Community Support Services ITO LimitedSSB Code 101814 / New Zealand Qualifications Authority 2018 / / New Zealand Qualifications Aut