Air carrier captain reported odor emanating from human remains shipment prior to pushback.

Attributes
ACN	1551246
Time
Date	201806
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Hazardous Material Violation Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor

Narrative:

Ten minutes prior to departure the loading crew reported odor emanating from human remains shipment. I directed that the shipment be removed from the aircraft. Apparently the human remains container was not hermetically sealed as required by company policy. ZZZ station personnel offered to open; what I can only imagine to mean as being the outer shipping container; in order to investigate whether the shipment was leaking. Seepage of gases by themselves would deem the shipment a threat to any other contents of the baggage compartment. I'm glad that ZZZ personnel brought me into the decision loop. But my main concern is that making field repairs to biologically active material is never a good idea. I would think that the shipper is responsible for this.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier Captain reported odor emanating from human remains shipment prior to pushback.

Narrative: Ten minutes prior to departure the loading crew reported odor emanating from human remains shipment. I directed that the shipment be removed from the aircraft. Apparently the human remains container was not hermetically sealed as required by company policy. ZZZ station personnel offered to open; what I can only imagine to mean as being the outer shipping container; in order to investigate whether the shipment was leaking. Seepage of gases by themselves would deem the shipment a threat to any other contents of the baggage compartment. I'm glad that ZZZ personnel brought me into the decision loop. But my main concern is that making field repairs to biologically active material is never a good idea. I would think that the shipper is responsible for this.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.