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The importance of a protocol in the recovery and handling of burned human remains in a forensic context
Fire-related fatalities pose many investigative challenges, in part due to their fragility. This can be managed with the creation of protocols, specific to the environment in which they are implemented. Currently, no protocol for the recovery and handling of fire-related fatalities exists in Cape To...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Division of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology
2016
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| _version_ | 1867614458130464768 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Schwab, Petra |
| author2 | Friedling, Louise J |
| author_browse | Friedling, Louise J Schwab, Petra |
| author_facet | Friedling, Louise J Schwab, Petra |
| author_sort | Schwab, Petra |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Fire-related fatalities pose many investigative challenges, in part due to their fragility. This can be managed with the creation of protocols, specific to the environment in which they are implemented. Currently, no protocol for the recovery and handling of fire-related fatalities exists in Cape Town, South Africa. Additionally, the challenges, risk factors, and resources present at forensic scenes in the area have not been documented. From April to December of 2015, fire-related death scenes were attended with Salt River Forensic Pathology Laboratory, which serves the West Metropole of Cape Town. Details of the fatal fire scenes were noted, including the challenges faced, and the settings in which the fires occurred. Emphasis was placed on methodologies used to recover, handle, and transport remains, and the availability and utilisation of resources. The affect these methodologies had on the condition of the remains between scene and autopsy was assessed. In total 32 fire-related death scenes were attended, with 48 decedents recovered. Males predominated (64.6%), and the majority were young adults (75%). Accidental deaths were most prevalent (79.2%), however a fire-related suicide and homicides highlighted the importance of thorough investigation. Informal housing constituted 68.8% of the fatal fire scenes and presented unique scene constraints, including no direct road access at 50% of these scenes. Investigative limitations included: inadequate interagency communication, resulting in a lack of collateral information available at autopsy; deficient scene and contextual documentation; non-standardised recovery methodologies; insufficient availability and utilisation of resources (including safety equipment); and no specialised personnel (e.g. forensic pathologists/ anthropologists) conducting scene recovery. The majority of cases (60.4%) were further fragmented or fractured by time of autopsy, illustrating the necessity for improvement of current methodologies and the importance of the involvement of forensic anthropologists in recovery of fragmentary remains. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/20514 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:52:21.668Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publishDateRange | 2016 |
| publishDateSort | 2016 |
| publisher | Division of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology |
| publisherStr | Division of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/20514 The importance of a protocol in the recovery and handling of burned human remains in a forensic context Schwab, Petra Friedling, Louise J Maistry, Sairita Biomedical Forensic Science Fire-related fatalities pose many investigative challenges, in part due to their fragility. This can be managed with the creation of protocols, specific to the environment in which they are implemented. Currently, no protocol for the recovery and handling of fire-related fatalities exists in Cape Town, South Africa. Additionally, the challenges, risk factors, and resources present at forensic scenes in the area have not been documented. From April to December of 2015, fire-related death scenes were attended with Salt River Forensic Pathology Laboratory, which serves the West Metropole of Cape Town. Details of the fatal fire scenes were noted, including the challenges faced, and the settings in which the fires occurred. Emphasis was placed on methodologies used to recover, handle, and transport remains, and the availability and utilisation of resources. The affect these methodologies had on the condition of the remains between scene and autopsy was assessed. In total 32 fire-related death scenes were attended, with 48 decedents recovered. Males predominated (64.6%), and the majority were young adults (75%). Accidental deaths were most prevalent (79.2%), however a fire-related suicide and homicides highlighted the importance of thorough investigation. Informal housing constituted 68.8% of the fatal fire scenes and presented unique scene constraints, including no direct road access at 50% of these scenes. Investigative limitations included: inadequate interagency communication, resulting in a lack of collateral information available at autopsy; deficient scene and contextual documentation; non-standardised recovery methodologies; insufficient availability and utilisation of resources (including safety equipment); and no specialised personnel (e.g. forensic pathologists/ anthropologists) conducting scene recovery. The majority of cases (60.4%) were further fragmented or fractured by time of autopsy, illustrating the necessity for improvement of current methodologies and the importance of the involvement of forensic anthropologists in recovery of fragmentary remains. 2016-07-20T11:55:17Z 2016-07-20T11:55:17Z 2016 Master Thesis Masters MPhil http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20514 eng application/pdf Division of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology Faculty of Health Sciences University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Biomedical Forensic Science Schwab, Petra The importance of a protocol in the recovery and handling of burned human remains in a forensic context |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | The importance of a protocol in the recovery and handling of burned human remains in a forensic context |
| title_full | The importance of a protocol in the recovery and handling of burned human remains in a forensic context |
| title_fullStr | The importance of a protocol in the recovery and handling of burned human remains in a forensic context |
| title_full_unstemmed | The importance of a protocol in the recovery and handling of burned human remains in a forensic context |
| title_short | The importance of a protocol in the recovery and handling of burned human remains in a forensic context |
| title_sort | importance of a protocol in the recovery and handling of burned human remains in a forensic context |
| topic | Biomedical Forensic Science |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20514 |
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