Posted By Gavin Gibson Assuming that none of the 'tenants' object, and assuming that they are responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the cemetries, then I don't see any problem. Just carryout a risk assessment and beware of the manual handling issues.

Posted By Dave Wilson Hopefully this is with gravestones which are very old etc and have not been tended for some considerable time. Understand the problem mate but you are really playing with peoples emotions here and unless it is handled extremely delicately and tactfully then may get an awful lot of angry and upset people. Suppose you travelled a long way, maybe 'Australia' etc to visit grannie who you haven't seen for 60 years etc and find on arrival that her headstone has been 'vandalised'! and then find out, for whatever reason, it was done by the LA.

Posted By Dave Wilson Couldn't have put it better Jim but didn't know what the relationship between both parties would include.

Posted By Paula Badger The child killed at Salford is now part of what is the Trafford Council group in what used to be many small areas. In coming from Salford and having family of the 1921's buried in multiple paupers graves, these of my grandparents who died young are unstable due to the limestone deposits they are built on. Indeed, my father was a grave digger, sad reflection of a resistance sapper decorated in the second world war, but who fell in Urmston cemetary through 6 graves as coffins rotted and escaped only because he has another person to lift him out. There is little money spent on graveyard geology and maintaining for years a plot paid for for other descendants. They are in part land takers and fill a void in economic as well as social sectors. Much is made of funerals, but little on the safety of the diggers and those who frequent in urban sprawl or rural idealic surroundings the vast marble,granite or concrete slabs. There should be more care put into the industry that has a billion pound income in death, as with no graveyard, no funerals, no costs. The sea is the cheapest graveyard there is and used by mariners. Therefore, the upkeep of graveyards is the health and safety issue of the local authority leasing the land and the persons putting headstones up as fee paid contracts of trading. A life has been lost that could have been saved and what a way to die. Crushing injuries are very hard to treat even if there is someone to administer first aid, hypothermia in contact with the ground ensues. The answer is well kept and geological sampling of water and settelement around old gravestones and maybe cctv cameras in an age of vandalism.

Posted By Jason Gould Thank you all The last comments seem to be what has happened. Obviously these thing have to be done. It does however cause some uproar and i felt soory for the safety advisor as im sure he would have received some nasty post. Well i know what i would do under such circumstances. I wonder that if theres any requirments that have now been put on the stonemasons etc. as to depth etc.

Posted By Darren Grey In cases of immediate danger, burial authorities in England and Wales are empowered under the provisions of the Local Authorities Cemeteries Order 1977 Article 6(1) to take immediate action to make safe a dangerous memorial (this would include laying it flat). However, the burial authority are prohibited from taking direct action to remove an unstable memorial which presents no immediate risk without following the procedures laid down in Schedule 3 of the order (These include placing an ad in the local paper). Also it is worth noting that not all burial authorities in the UK are LA's.