Mass Fatality PPE Stockpile Guide: How Much to Keep and How to Store It

Short answer: Plan PPE per decedent, not per staff member. Multiply the PPE each person uses per decedent by the number of people handling each one, then by your planning surge, and add 20 to 30% for breakage, sizing misses and re-donning. Store it sealed, by size, with a written rotation date.

Why mass fatality PPE runs out

Hospitals, medical examiners and funeral homes that went through 2020 learned that PPE runs out before cooler space does. Supply chains tighten at the same moment demand spikes, and every responder change, meal break and torn glove consumes a full set. The CDC's guidance on handling human remains and OSHA's postmortem care guidance both assume standard precautions plus fluid-resistant gowns or coveralls, gloves and eye protection for every handler, which is a lot of single-use PPE.

The per-decedent math

Use this formula for each item:

Units needed = decedents × handlers per decedent × units per handler × 1.25 safety factor

A typical intake, storage and release workflow touches each decedent two to four times: recovery or removal, intake and documentation, storage moves, and release. Count every handler at every step.

Planning table for a 100-decedent surge

Glove case counts vary by product, so check the pack size on each glove page. Adjust handlers and steps to your own workflow.

Match the PPE to the incident

• Natural disaster, heat, flood or pandemic surge: SMS coveralls for dry handling and PE-coated fluid-resistant coveralls for intake and fluids. Microporous cool-back coveralls help with heat stress in tents and trailers.
• Transportation or industrial incident with fuels or chemicals: Tychem 2000 or Tychem 4000 coveralls with chemical gloves and boots.
• Known or suspected chemical, biological or radiological contamination: remains are decontaminated by hazmat teams in Level A or B. See our PPE levels A–D guide and the Tychem 10000 Level A suit.

SMS coverall, hoodfrom $89.95PE-coated coverall, hood & bootsfrom $135.95Microporous cool-back coverallfrom $124.95Tychem 2000 QC127from $198.95

Storage, sizing and rotation

• Store sealed cases off the floor in a cool, dry, dark room. Heat and UV degrade films and elastic.
• Stock sizes in a bell curve: roughly 10% M, 30% L, 30% XL, 20% 2XL and 10% 3XL and up for coveralls.
• Label each shelf with size, lot and the date received, and rotate older stock into daily use.
• Keep a one-page donning and doffing sheet with the stockpile.

For cooler and storage capacity planning, see our mass fatality surge capacity page.