>> This video series gives funeral directors guidance and tips to improve the quality of occupation and industry items on death certificates. Now, let's consider some special issues, such as self-employed, retired, people who had a disability, company names and acronyms. Self-employed is too vague an answer. For a more specific response, ask about what type of work the decedent did. Next, ask about what type of business they were self-employed in. Examples of answers you might get are a plumber in plumbing, a lawn sprinkler servicer in landscaping, or a computer programmer in marketing. In this case scenario, you are told the decedent was self-employed. You ask for more information. What kind of work did they do? They respond: An artist with a home studio above their garage. The occupation is self-employed artist, and the industry is art studio. Please, never enter retired or unemployed. The decedent likely had an occupation at some point before retirement. Ask questions about the work life of the decedent and jobs that were held throughout their lifetime. Find out which job they held for the highest number of years and list that job as the usual occupation. Unemployed is also not an occupation. If you get this response, probe further. Ask about the job and industry the decedent worked for the longest time before they became unemployed. You are told the decedent was retired. Please ask for more information. What kind of work did the decedent do? They respond: The last job the decedent had was as an insurance crop adjuster, just after he retired from farming. Ask what was his longest-held job. It may not be the most recent. You can probe further with: So, would you say he was a farmer most of his life? You find out the decedent raised soybeans for most of his life. In this scenario, the person was a farmer whose main crop was soybeans. His occupation is farmer, and the industry is soybean farming. Here, it's important to distinguish between livestock and crop farming as their industry. Also note, farmer is different than farmworker or farmhand. Disabled is not an occupation. Many people with disabilities have jobs. Probe further and ask if the decedent ever worked. If they worked before or after they were disabled, enter the longest-held job and the industry. If no job was ever held, enter never worked. Here, you are told the decedent was disabled and not working. Ask for more information. Had the decedent ever worked before or after he became a person with a disability? They respond that the decedent was a roofer until he fell from a scaffold, and then was disabled for the rest of his life. Ask was roofing his longest-held job, or was there another job he held longer. You find out he was a roofer for a residential home builder most of his life. Roofer is his occupation, and home construction is his industry. If you find out the decedent was a homemaker or a stay-at-home parent, ask more questions. They may have served as domestic help for another household or provided paid childcare services in their own home, and both will be considered paid work and their usual occupation. Ask if the decedent ever held a job outside of the home. They might say they also worked as a supermarket stocker for a couple of years. Even if the person was a stay-at-home parent for longer than they were a supermarket stocker, enter supermarket stocker as their longest-paid occupation on the death certificate. If the decedent was ever employed, always fill in the longest-held job for usual occupation and industry items. Here, you are told the decedent was a homemaker. Ask more questions. Did they ever hold a job aside from homemaking? You find out they worked for 18 years as a salesclerk at Tracy's, a department store chain. Afterwards, they left that job and became a homemaker for 22 years. For usual occupation, select the paid job that was held for the most years. Use salesclerk for the usual occupation and department store for the industry. Never use the company name. We'll discuss this more in a moment. Here are some tips for filling out the death certificates when the decedent is a student. For decedents under age 14, enter infant or child for both the usual occupation and kind of industry or business. For students aged 14 and older, if they never had a paid job, enter student never worked as the occupation and the industry. Never use company names in place of the kind of business. A company may engage in several kinds of industry. For example, a major manufacturing company can have both a financial services business and manufacture airplane parts. It also may not be a unique name, and it may allow the decedent to be personally identified. Acronyms should also not be used since they may be obvious to a specific funeral director or informant but are often not unique and can be misinterpreted. For example, the Rhode Island School of Design, abbreviated as RISD, may be interpreted as a town's independent school district. Finally, although your specific form may allow for more, the form that transfers death certificate data only includes 40 characters, including spaces, for occupation and for industry. Longer narratives will be cut off. Complete sentences are unnecessary. Next, we recommend you view part six in the series, which steps you through an example that examines occupation and industry over a lifetime. This video was produced by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, delivering on the Nation's Promise: Safety and health at work for all people through research and prevention. To learn more, visit www.cdc.gov/niosh.