HTA-licensed mortuaries, standard PFE1(e)

Who has been in the mortuary, on what business, and when they arrived and left

That is what the Human Tissue Authority’s guidance asks a mortuary to be able to say about visitors and contractors. Your own staff are in the swipe card record. The engineer, the contractor and the visiting professional usually are not. This page is about them, and only them: it is not for families attending a viewing.

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What the HTA says

PFE1(e) and the guidance beneath it, in the HTA’s words

One source: the HTA’s post-mortem licensing standards and guidance. The quotations are verbatim.

HTA guidance under PFE1(e)

Who has been in, on what business, and when they came and went

“There should be documented procedures for access as well as a system for recording who has been in the mortuary or body store, the nature of their business and when they arrived and left.”

Three things in one record: the person, the reason, and both times. A paper book at the mortuary door usually has the first, sometimes the second, and very often no time out.

HTA standard PFE1(e)

Oversight of visitors and contractors

“Security arrangements protect against unauthorized access and ensure oversight of visitors and contractors who have a legitimate right of access.”

The standard itself. The spelling is the HTA’s. It sits under PFE1, that the premises are secure and safeguard the dignity of the deceased.

HTA guidance under PFE1(e)

Visitors and contractors are supervised

“Authorised visitors and contractors should also be supervised while in the mortuary.”

An engineer servicing a fridge or a contractor fixing a door is there with a member of staff, and the guidance expects them to have been told the security arrangements first.

HTA guidance under PFE1(e)

The records are audited

“Records of access (electronic and paper-based) and CCTV footage should be regularly audited to ensure adherence to relevant policies and procedures.”

The guidance goes on to say audits should scrutinise the purpose, frequency and duration of access. A record that cannot be filtered by person or by date is a record nobody audits.

HTA guidance under PFE1(e)

Families at a viewing are a different matter

“Relatives who visit for a viewing should not be able to access the body store area.”

Nothing on this page is about the bereaved. A family attending a viewing is looked after by your staff, and how that visit is recorded is for your staff and your procedure, not for a screen.

None of this tells you to buy anything, and the guidance does not say the record must be electronic. What it describes is a record with a name, a reason and two times on it, that somebody then audits.

At the door

What an iPad at the mortuary entrance records towards it

For the people who do not carry your swipe card. It stands at the staff and contractor entrance, not at the viewing room.

Who, from where, to see whom, and both times

A contractor, an engineer, an undertaker’s staff or a visiting professional signs in on the iPad with their name and organisation and the member of staff they have come to, and signs out when they leave. The time in and the time out are both recorded without anyone writing them. Where you switch it on, they also tap the reason for their visit from a short list you write, such as a collection, a repair or a post-mortem examination.

Your security arrangements, accepted by name

The wording you need them to see, for example that they will be supervised at all times, that phones and cameras stay outside and which areas they may enter, is put on screen and accepted before they go further. Each acceptance is stored against the person with a timestamp.

A record that can be audited

Filter by date, by organisation or by member of staff and export it to a file that opens without our software, to lay beside the swipe card data and the CCTV review your procedure already asks for.

Out of hours, with nobody at a desk

The iPad works at any hour without a member of staff beside it, and can send a message to a Teams or Slack channel when somebody signs in, so the people responsible know that night and not at the next audit.

The visitor management kiosk in full Contractor sign in Sign in with nobody at a desk How long to keep a visitor record What the kiosk does not do

On the day of an inspection

Five questions, and where the answers come from

Each of these is the guidance turned into the question an inspector asks. Three of them the kiosk answers only in part, and the answers say which.

Who, other than mortuary staff, has been in here since the last inspection?The sign in and sign out record, filtered by date, with each person’s organisation and the member of staff they came to.
What was the nature of their business?Where you switch on the reason for visit, the reason each person chose at sign in from your own list, beside their organisation and the member of staff visited. Without it, the organisation and the member of staff often answer it, but not in words.
When did they arrive and when did they leave?Both times, on every visit that was signed out. Anyone still signed in at 23:59 UTC is signed out automatically and the record does not say so, which matters for work that runs past midnight.
Were they told your security arrangements, and were they supervised?The wording each person accepted, with its time. Where you switch on the escort record, the member of staff your people named as accompanying them, entered on the dashboard. The kiosk does not see the supervision happen.
How are these records audited?By your own audit, from the export. The kiosk does not audit anything.

Before you ask

The questions a mortuary manager asks first

Does the HTA require a visitor log in a mortuary?

Its guidance under standard PFE1(e) says there should be documented procedures for access as well as a system for recording who has been in the mortuary or body store, the nature of their business and when they arrived and left. It does not say the system must be electronic. The standard itself asks that security arrangements ensure oversight of visitors and contractors who have a legitimate right of access.

What do inspectors look at?

The guidance says records of access, electronic and paper-based, should be regularly audited. One HTA inspection report from March 2023, on a shortfall against PFE1(e), records of an establishment’s own audit of its signing in log: “Three records reviewed were incomplete with no sign out time recorded.” The missing time out is the commonest gap in a paper book, and it is the one an iPad closes without anybody remembering.

Is this for families visiting for a viewing?

No. The HTA’s guidance says relatives who visit for a viewing should not be able to access the body store area, and a sign in screen is the wrong thing to put in front of a bereaved family. This is for contractors, engineers, undertakers’ staff and visiting professionals.

What did the Fuller Inquiry recommend about visitors?

Recommendation 37 of the Phase 2 report, addressed to local authorities with an HTA-licensed mortuary, says of people other than mortuary staff visiting during working hours, such as contractors, cleaners and other visitors: “Their attendance must be recorded and audited.” It is a recommendation, which the government’s interim update of December 2025 accepted in principle. It is not a requirement, and this page does not treat it as one.

Staff already have swipe cards. What does this add?

The people without one. A swipe system records your own staff; the engineer, the contractor and the visiting professional are let in by somebody else’s card and appear in no access record at all. A sign in at the door puts them in a record with a time in and a time out.

How long are the records kept?

For the period you set, up to 730 days, after which the kiosk deletes them. The HTA guidance quoted here gives no period for a record of access. If your records policy asks for longer, export the history and keep the exports.

Being straight with you

What this does not do

It is not for bereaved relatives. A family attending a viewing should never be asked to use a sign in screen, and how those visits are recorded is for your staff.
We are not advisers on the Human Tissue Act or on HTA licensing, and nothing here is advice. This is general information about the HTA’s published standards and guidance.
It is not the controlled-access system the guidance also asks for. It opens no door and replaces no swipe card. It records the people who do not carry one.
The reason for a visit and who supervised a visitor are recorded only where you switch those features on. The reason is the one the visitor chose; the supervisor is the one your staff named. The kiosk sees neither happen.
Anyone still signed in at 23:59 UTC is signed out automatically, and the record does not say which sign outs were automatic. Work that runs past midnight needs signing out and in again, or a note in your own log.
The record is held in our cloud service, in the European Union (Ireland). An NHS trust or a council will have its own information governance review, and that comes first.
The Fuller Inquiry’s recommendations are recommendations. Nothing on this page says any of them is yet a requirement.

Sources

Check any of this yourself

Human Tissue Authority, Post-mortem licensing standards and guidanceThe HTA’s page, last updated 8 June 2026; the guidance text is headed September 2022. Standard PFE1(e) and the guidance beneath it are quoted here. Read 13 November 2026.
The David Fuller Inquiry, reports and government updatesThe Phase 2 report (HC 1092, July 2025), recommendation 37, and the interim update of 16 December 2025. Read 13 November 2026.
Human Tissue AuthorityThe HTA publishes its inspection reports. The sentence quoted from a March 2023 report is given without naming the establishment.

General information about published standards and guidance, not advice on them. The quotations are short extracts, acknowledged here and linked above. Standards and guidance are revised; read the current text before you rely on a quotation here.

Also asked of sites like yours

The other things somebody may ask you to evidence

Each of these is a page about one standard, one duty or one visitor, written the same way as this one: what it actually asks for, what an iPad at reception records towards it, and where it does not help.

Every standard on one page: the clause numbers, the version and the date each was read, on one printable table.

Advise sites on this standard? Referral terms are on one page.

Next step

Tell us how contractors are recorded at your mortuary today

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