A Myrtle Beach funeral director has been fined and placed on probation for not using cremation containers that comply with state law. McMillan-Small Funeral Home and Crematory was cited for selling a type of cremation container but not using that type on every occasion, according to an investigation conducted by the S.C. Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.

Funeral director Steve McMillan signed a consent form agreeing to the violation but said the crematory has used the same containers for 10 years and he thought they complied with the law. "We have always been more than willing to have anyone or group tour our facilities, and each year when the state board does their inspections, they have always given us a good rating," McMillan said.

State laws in place since July 1, 1994, have required what is termed an "alternative container" to be used in cremation if a cremation casket is not used. The state does not require caskets to be purchased for cremations.

Alternative containers usually are made of thick cardboard and are required to be made of combustible material, to be leak-resistant and rigid enough for easy handling, and to provide protection for the health and safety of crematory personnel. The law does not state that such a container must have a lid.

"The cardboard cremation tray we were using, which we felt met state requirement, did not meet the state's approval due to the fact it did not encase the remains. After meeting with the [Labor, Licensing and Regulation] agent, I implemented their requirements immediately," McMillan said.

Department officials said state law prohibits them from revealing details of their investigation and would not comment on the type of cremation container McMillan-Small was using. The agency also would not say whether it plans to re-word its definition of an "alternative container."

"I think that the law needs better interpretation," said George Goldfinch, another Grand Strand funeral director.

McMillan-Small was fined $2,500 and placed on probation six weeks ago. It will be subject to random inspections for two years. The funeral home was most recently inspected June 23 and passed all items on the inspection checklist.

The state's more than 500 funeral homes are inspected and regulated by the State Board of Funeral Service under under the Labor, Licensing and Regulation Department. The department governs 39 boards and has 45 investigators and 25 inspectors. It conducts unannounced inspections of all the state's funeral homes about once a year.

Jim Knight, director of the department's office of communications and governmental affairs, said investigations are prompted by complaints which, in the case of funeral homes, usually come from families of the deceased.

In the case of McMillan-Small, the complaint was filed by Jay Poole, a former McMillan-Small employee now working at Whitner-Evans Funeral Home in Bennettsville.

According to Poole, families at McMillan-Small were charged $49.50 for cremation containers and were shown a covered container, but cardboard trays were used in the cremation process.

McMillan said the funeral home never displayed a covered cremation container but did show families a cardboard unit with higher sides than the trays that were used. The boxes were used when families wanted to view a body prior to cremation but didn't want to buy a casket.

"In retrospect, maybe we should have shown them the tray and the cardboard unit," McMillan said.

Another complaint made by Poole involved an incident in which a bag of organs was left behind after an autopsied body was shipped to North Carolina.

Poole said the organs later were cremated at McMillan-Small.

McMillan said he was unaware of the incident at the time it happened, but upon questioning his staff, he found that the mistake had been made. He said his staff made the decision to cremate the organs because it was too late to return them to the body. "My employees made the right judgment call," McMillan said.

According to the Labor, Licensing and Regulation Department, the majority of complaints against funeral homes involve financial issues and contractual misunderstandings. Rarely do they involve improper handling of human remains.

Of the 22 complaints filed against S.C. funeral homes in 2003, five disciplinary actions were taken, including the one against McMillan-Small. None of the other incidents involved burial or cremation procedures. The department lists disciplinary actions against funeral homes on its Web site, www.llr.state.sc.us/. Knight said four or five disciplinary actions per year is the average.

"The agency is striving every day to better inform the public about the practitioners," Knight said.

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