cremation without container?
hello, my grandfather was cremated last night. i went to witness. they had him on a wooden board/tray, not a closed container, and they let me spend a few minutes with him while the machine was warming up.
it didn't occur to me at the time, but i realized they probably should have cremated him in at the very least a cardboard box. i believe the regulations in my province (manitoba) also state that remains need to be in a closed container.
i know grandpa wouldn't have minded, but i can't stop feeling like something wasn't done correctly there. i also don't know if they used that metal tag that many sources say must remain with the remains until they're given back to the family (then again, they could have put it somewhere on his body or the board itself, but i obviously wasn't looking for that at the time). i haven't told my grandmother as she's also incredibly stricken with grief and we're dealing with other family issues in the midst of this.
i think it's probably okay, not like we can re-do it now, but i wanted to hear some professional opinions, if this is a typical or ok practice. i'm also wondering if it's typical/okay for them to run the cremation machine without a staff present, as the young guy operating the machine hopped in his truck and left around the same time we did (15 min after it began). i came back about an hour later just cause i was driving around, and the same guy with another guy pulled in and went inside as i was sitting nearby. I know it was left unnattended for at least the first bit as he said that if i wasn't there to witness, he'd be doing it alone (so no other staff could have been in the building until after he came back an hour later). again i don't think anything super bad can happen at that point, but i wonder if it's common for small funeral homes to leave the remains unattended while actively being cremated.
i should also say that this is a very small funeral home with only 1 cremation machine, so i guess it's not like they can really get him mixed up. also, this funeral home (they have a few different locations in our rural towns) is very highly trusted and is the only one in the town nearest to our home community.
i don't feel like they were doing anything super wrong but again just wanted to get some professional opinions on this. the guy running the machine was otherwise respectful, informative, and kind.
thanks 🤍