The increasing weight of the Dutch is forcing the funeral industry to make adjustments. Manufacturers widen their coffins, professional coffin carriers sometimes come in eight instead of six, and crematoria install ovens with wider doors. This is evident from conversations of NRC with dozens of funeral professionals – from funeral directors to crematorium directors – for a series of articles about death starting Tuesday.
Half of the Dutch are overweight, it turned out the Health Monitor 2020 from RIVM, CBS and GGD: almost 35 percent are moderately overweight, just under 15 percent are obese (BMI over 30). At the beginning of 2020, manufacturer DZU broadened the standard size of its funeral coffins by two and a half centimeters to better match its funeral coffins with “the average stature of the contemporary Dutchman”. Van Wijk Uitvaartkisten added two centimeters to its interior width in 2016 “due to increasing demand”. The internal dimensions of a standard Van Wijk box are now 1.97 cm long and 57 cm wide.
Even that widened standard is not always spacious enough. An extra wide ‘outer model’ box is regularly required. Such a large box also weighs more. A standard box made of chipboard weighs forty kilos empty, a widened box at least fifty. Solid oak can – broadened – reach up to eighty kilos, still without content.
That heaviness is palpable, say four separate carrier organizations. They supply the employees who carry the coffin on their shoulders as a final tribute to the deceased. They usually do that with six. Bearers’ guild Altena from Andel, Brabant, has been asking since a bad experience a year ago (“it was just too heavy, stylish wearing was not possible”) before the funeral to funeral directors for the total weight – the deceased plus coffin. From 140 kilos, Altena has been lifting with eight people instead of six. For carriers of Ferentes, the limit is 150 kilos. More carriers means more costs, about 50 to 100 euros per carrier. Not every insurance covers the extra costs.
Cremation for longer
Crematoria must also take obesity into account in their planning, funeral companies Dela and Monuta say. Cremation takes an average of five quarters of an hour, with an obese deceased “we generally count fifteen minutes longer,” says a spokesperson for Dela, which manages 22 crematoria.
The wider coffins encourage crematoria to opt for ovens with wider doors. The SBC Zuylen crematorium in Breda has two ovens: a narrower one (90 cm wide) and a wider one (110 cm). If the number of cremations in a day is limited, SBC Zuylen chooses to use only one oven for reasons of sustainability and a lower gas bill. That is always the broad one, because experience shows, says director Roel Stapper, that every year a number of crates do not fit through the narrow doors.
Post-mortem carers also notice that the Dutch are gaining weight. They take care of the bodies of the deceased and put on the desired clothes. To do this, they have to turn the deceased from side to side. “You want to do that respectfully,” says post-mortem nurse Chris Hoksberg of Cura Mortu Orum Mortuariabeheer. “But with someone with a very big build, that’s quite a job.” To prevent the turning of the body from degenerating into irreverent lashing, some caregivers, in consultation with family, cut the clothes of the deceased at the back, up to the collar of the blouse or shirt. The front panels fold back inconspicuously over the stomach and chest.
Series ‘After our death’ page C6-7
A version of this article also appeared in NRC in the morning of October 5, 2021
The increasing weight of the Dutch is forcing the funeral industry to make adjustments. Manufacturers widen their coffins, professional coffin carriers sometimes come in eight instead of six, and crematoria install ovens with wider doors. This is evident from conversations of NRC with dozens of funeral professionals – from funeral directors to crematorium directors – for a series of articles about death starting Tuesday.
Half of the Dutch are overweight, it turned out the Health Monitor 2020 from RIVM, CBS and GGD: almost 35 percent are moderately overweight, just under 15 percent are obese (BMI over 30). At the beginning of 2020, manufacturer DZU broadened the standard size of its funeral coffins by two and a half centimeters to better match its funeral coffins with “the average stature of the contemporary Dutchman”. Van Wijk Uitvaartkisten added two centimeters to its interior width in 2016 “due to increasing demand”. The internal dimensions of a standard Van Wijk box are now 1.97 cm long and 57 cm wide.
Even that widened standard is not always spacious enough. An extra wide ‘outer model’ box is regularly required. Such a large box also weighs more. A standard box made of chipboard weighs forty kilos empty, a widened box at least fifty. Solid oak can – broadened – reach up to eighty kilos, still without content.
That heaviness is palpable, say four separate carrier organizations. They supply the employees who carry the coffin on their shoulders as a final tribute to the deceased. They usually do that with six. Bearers’ guild Altena from Andel, Brabant, has been asking since a bad experience a year ago (“it was just too heavy, stylish wearing was not possible”) before the funeral to funeral directors for the total weight – the deceased plus coffin. From 140 kilos, Altena has been lifting with eight people instead of six. For carriers of Ferentes, the limit is 150 kilos. More carriers means more costs, about 50 to 100 euros per carrier. Not every insurance covers the extra costs.
Cremation for longer
Crematoria must also take obesity into account in their planning, funeral companies Dela and Monuta say. Cremation takes an average of five quarters of an hour, with an obese deceased “we generally count fifteen minutes longer,” says a spokesperson for Dela, which manages 22 crematoria.
The wider coffins encourage crematoria to opt for ovens with wider doors. The SBC Zuylen crematorium in Breda has two ovens: a narrower one (90 cm wide) and a wider one (110 cm). If the number of cremations in a day is limited, SBC Zuylen chooses to use only one oven for reasons of sustainability and a lower gas bill. That is always the broad one, because experience shows, says director Roel Stapper, that every year a number of crates do not fit through the narrow doors.
Post-mortem carers also notice that the Dutch are gaining weight. They take care of the bodies of the deceased and put on the desired clothes. To do this, they have to turn the deceased from side to side. “You want to do that respectfully,” says post-mortem nurse Chris Hoksberg of Cura Mortu Orum Mortuariabeheer. “But with someone with a very big build, that’s quite a job.” To prevent the turning of the body from degenerating into irreverent lashing, some caregivers, in consultation with family, cut the clothes of the deceased at the back, up to the collar of the blouse or shirt. The front panels fold back inconspicuously over the stomach and chest.
Series ‘After our death’ page C6-7
A version of this article also appeared in NRC in the morning of October 5, 2021
The increasing weight of the Dutch is forcing the funeral industry to make adjustments. Manufacturers widen their coffins, professional coffin carriers sometimes come in eight instead of six, and crematoria install ovens with wider doors. This is evident from conversations of NRC with dozens of funeral professionals – from funeral directors to crematorium directors – for a series of articles about death starting Tuesday.
Half of the Dutch are overweight, it turned out the Health Monitor 2020 from RIVM, CBS and GGD: almost 35 percent are moderately overweight, just under 15 percent are obese (BMI over 30). At the beginning of 2020, manufacturer DZU broadened the standard size of its funeral coffins by two and a half centimeters to better match its funeral coffins with “the average stature of the contemporary Dutchman”. Van Wijk Uitvaartkisten added two centimeters to its interior width in 2016 “due to increasing demand”. The internal dimensions of a standard Van Wijk box are now 1.97 cm long and 57 cm wide.
Even that widened standard is not always spacious enough. An extra wide ‘outer model’ box is regularly required. Such a large box also weighs more. A standard box made of chipboard weighs forty kilos empty, a widened box at least fifty. Solid oak can – broadened – reach up to eighty kilos, still without content.
That heaviness is palpable, say four separate carrier organizations. They supply the employees who carry the coffin on their shoulders as a final tribute to the deceased. They usually do that with six. Bearers’ guild Altena from Andel, Brabant, has been asking since a bad experience a year ago (“it was just too heavy, stylish wearing was not possible”) before the funeral to funeral directors for the total weight – the deceased plus coffin. From 140 kilos, Altena has been lifting with eight people instead of six. For carriers of Ferentes, the limit is 150 kilos. More carriers means more costs, about 50 to 100 euros per carrier. Not every insurance covers the extra costs.
Cremation for longer
Crematoria must also take obesity into account in their planning, funeral companies Dela and Monuta say. Cremation takes an average of five quarters of an hour, with an obese deceased “we generally count fifteen minutes longer,” says a spokesperson for Dela, which manages 22 crematoria.
The wider coffins encourage crematoria to opt for ovens with wider doors. The SBC Zuylen crematorium in Breda has two ovens: a narrower one (90 cm wide) and a wider one (110 cm). If the number of cremations in a day is limited, SBC Zuylen chooses to use only one oven for reasons of sustainability and a lower gas bill. That is always the broad one, because experience shows, says director Roel Stapper, that every year a number of crates do not fit through the narrow doors.
Post-mortem carers also notice that the Dutch are gaining weight. They take care of the bodies of the deceased and put on the desired clothes. To do this, they have to turn the deceased from side to side. “You want to do that respectfully,” says post-mortem nurse Chris Hoksberg of Cura Mortu Orum Mortuariabeheer. “But with someone with a very big build, that’s quite a job.” To prevent the turning of the body from degenerating into irreverent lashing, some caregivers, in consultation with family, cut the clothes of the deceased at the back, up to the collar of the blouse or shirt. The front panels fold back inconspicuously over the stomach and chest.
Series ‘After our death’ page C6-7
A version of this article also appeared in NRC in the morning of October 5, 2021
The increasing weight of the Dutch is forcing the funeral industry to make adjustments. Manufacturers widen their coffins, professional coffin carriers sometimes come in eight instead of six, and crematoria install ovens with wider doors. This is evident from conversations of NRC with dozens of funeral professionals – from funeral directors to crematorium directors – for a series of articles about death starting Tuesday.
Half of the Dutch are overweight, it turned out the Health Monitor 2020 from RIVM, CBS and GGD: almost 35 percent are moderately overweight, just under 15 percent are obese (BMI over 30). At the beginning of 2020, manufacturer DZU broadened the standard size of its funeral coffins by two and a half centimeters to better match its funeral coffins with “the average stature of the contemporary Dutchman”. Van Wijk Uitvaartkisten added two centimeters to its interior width in 2016 “due to increasing demand”. The internal dimensions of a standard Van Wijk box are now 1.97 cm long and 57 cm wide.
Even that widened standard is not always spacious enough. An extra wide ‘outer model’ box is regularly required. Such a large box also weighs more. A standard box made of chipboard weighs forty kilos empty, a widened box at least fifty. Solid oak can – broadened – reach up to eighty kilos, still without content.
That heaviness is palpable, say four separate carrier organizations. They supply the employees who carry the coffin on their shoulders as a final tribute to the deceased. They usually do that with six. Bearers’ guild Altena from Andel, Brabant, has been asking since a bad experience a year ago (“it was just too heavy, stylish wearing was not possible”) before the funeral to funeral directors for the total weight – the deceased plus coffin. From 140 kilos, Altena has been lifting with eight people instead of six. For carriers of Ferentes, the limit is 150 kilos. More carriers means more costs, about 50 to 100 euros per carrier. Not every insurance covers the extra costs.
Cremation for longer
Crematoria must also take obesity into account in their planning, funeral companies Dela and Monuta say. Cremation takes an average of five quarters of an hour, with an obese deceased “we generally count fifteen minutes longer,” says a spokesperson for Dela, which manages 22 crematoria.
The wider coffins encourage crematoria to opt for ovens with wider doors. The SBC Zuylen crematorium in Breda has two ovens: a narrower one (90 cm wide) and a wider one (110 cm). If the number of cremations in a day is limited, SBC Zuylen chooses to use only one oven for reasons of sustainability and a lower gas bill. That is always the broad one, because experience shows, says director Roel Stapper, that every year a number of crates do not fit through the narrow doors.
Post-mortem carers also notice that the Dutch are gaining weight. They take care of the bodies of the deceased and put on the desired clothes. To do this, they have to turn the deceased from side to side. “You want to do that respectfully,” says post-mortem nurse Chris Hoksberg of Cura Mortu Orum Mortuariabeheer. “But with someone with a very big build, that’s quite a job.” To prevent the turning of the body from degenerating into irreverent lashing, some caregivers, in consultation with family, cut the clothes of the deceased at the back, up to the collar of the blouse or shirt. The front panels fold back inconspicuously over the stomach and chest.
Series ‘After our death’ page C6-7
A version of this article also appeared in NRC in the morning of October 5, 2021