Dead bodies at a workplace FATALITY are more than ten toes up!

The human body is such a complex and interesting series of energy give and take. But what happens when an individual’s health deteriorates and, finally, they come face-to-face with death itself? Yes we have all seen the dead people on TV or read thriller novels or heard many a twisted Halloween tale, but when it comes to people dying either in a workplace accident, by natural causes at home or at the office or in nursing home or tragic events dead bodies do certain things and sometimes people are witness to these events.

It can become very unnerving or upsetting for people to view a dead body that has just passed on for what ever reasons, and as  a supervisor at work you need to be trained and comfort your staff in what they might see or witness.  Please remember  FRED or WILMA might be dead but mother nature and the human body will do some strange and unnerving things.

 Putrefying, bloating and blistering: This is what happens to your body after you die

What I noticed first was the colour of the muscles – a light, putrid brown,’. ‘The bones, by contrast, fairly glistened.’
And what about the eyes, Majority (63%) of the patients died with their eyes fully closed, however, 37% had bilateral ptosis at death, with incomplete eye closure. In this study, central nervous system tumor involvement and/or acute hepatic encephalopathy appeared to be pre-mortem risk factors of bilateral ptosis at death. The death rattle is a common term used in the hospital to describe the chilling sound made by an individual very near death. It occurs after loss of the cough reflex and loss of the ability to swallow. This causes an excess accumulation of saliva in the throat and lungs. Although it rarely causes pain to the patient, family members often find the sound unsettling and disturbing. Anyone who has ever heard the unsettling death rattle will never forget the way it sounded. Suctioning, anti-pain and anti-anxiety medications are normally administered to alleviate the patient’s discomfort, and to allow the unavoidable dying process to proceed. In short terms, the heart is weak and overworked and this makes the body want to hyperventilate (breathe abnormally fast) and, subsequently, there is no more energy to breathe for a period of time (apnea). This means the organs are getting less blood and, thus, less oxygen. Without oxygen, the cells in the organs begin to die, then the organs die and finally the individual dies.
Hour 1
What is certain is that after your heart stops beating, this creates a few key conditions. First, your blood stops flowing and begins to pool and settle wherever it is at in your body. Essentially, it congeals and turns your body purple and pink. Next, with no blood flowing, your body begins to turn cold, a phase known as algor mortis . here are two types of death. Somatic death is characterized by the discontinuance of cardiac activity and respiration, and eventually leads to the death of all body cells from lack of oxygen, although for approximately six minutes after somatic death—a period referred to as clinical death—a person whose vital organs have not been damaged may be revived. Molecular death is the progressive disintegration of the body. Your question refers to an activity known as “Spontaneous Movement.” This involves the twitching or movement of legs and arms etc hours after death has occurred. Movement in the dead is caused by biochemical reactions and not by ghostly inhabitation or spirit visitations. At one time it was thought to be caused by an accumulation of carbon dioxide in the blood and muscles, but it has since been discovered that it is hydrogen sulphide (H2S). The phenomena only occurs in circumstances such as elevated temperatures, increased tonus induced by specific poisons – eg. parathion –, and also extreme positions of the body at the time of death. Sometimes these gasses may pass the vocal cords and produce a sound. 

At the moment of death, all of the muscles in the body relax, a state called primary flaccidity. Eyelids lose their tension, the pupils dilate, the jaw might fall open, and the body's joints and limbs are flexible.

With the loss of tension in the muscles, the skin will sag, which can cause prominent joints and bones in the body, such as the jaw or hips, to become pronounced. Tache noire, literally meaning “black spot,” is a dark, reddish brown strip that will form horizontally across the eye ball. During life the eye balls are kept moist by blinking, but sometimes they are no longer protected upon death. Therefore, tache noire will occur in individuals whose eyelids are not closed post mortem. Similarly, other mucous membranes like the tongue will darken after prolonged air exposure to the normally moist tissue. If the individual drowned, or the body was found in water, the tache noire would not be present.

Within minutes of the heart stopping, a process called pallor mortis causes the usually pinkish tone of a Caucasian person to grow pale as blood drains from the smaller veins in the skin.

At the same time, the body begins to cool from its normal temperature of 37° Celsius (98.6° Fahrenheit) until reaching the ambient temperature around it. Known as algor mortis, the decrease in body temperature follows a somewhat linear progression.

Death Chill: Immediately after the heart stops beating, the body rapidly cools down until it reaches room temperature. This is known as Algor Mortis.

(Two degrees Celsius in the first hour; One degree each hour thereafter.) This enables forensic scientists to approximate the time of death if necessary, assuming the body hasn't completely cooled and depending upon other external factors, such as indoors vs. outside, humidity, etc.

Hours 2 to 6
Because the heart no longer pumps blood, gravity begins to pull it to the areas of the body closest to the ground, a process called livor mortis.

If the body remains undisturbed long enough (several hours), the parts of the body nearest the ground can develop a reddish-purple discoloration from the accumulating blood. Embalmers sometimes refer to this as the "postmortem stain." “Sometimes after death the body may make noises that sounds like it is breathing.

Beginning approximately in the third hour after death, again depending upon numerous factors, chemical changes within the body's cells cause all of the muscles to begin stiffening. Known as rigor mortis, the first muscles affected include the eyelids, jaw and neck. Over the next several hours, rigor mortis spreads upward into the face and down through the chest, abdomen, arms and legs until it reaches the fingers and toes.

Interestingly, the old custom of placing coins on the eyelids of the deceased might have originated from the desire to keep the eyes shut, since rigor mortis affects them soonest. Also, it is not unusual for infants and young children who die not to display rigor mortis, possibly due to their smaller muscle mass.

Hours 7 to 12
Maximum muscle stiffness throughout the body occurs after roughly 12 hours due to rigor mortis, although this will be affected by the decedent's age, physical condition, gender, the air temperature, etc. At this point, the limbs of the deceased are difficult to move or manipulate. The knees and elbows will be slightly flexed, and fingers or toes can appear unusually crooked.

Hour 12 and Beyond

Rigor Mortis: Without the heart pumping, blood coagulates in the veins, arteries and capillaries, causing the entire body to stiffen. Rigor mortis sets in around two to six hours after death.

Decomposition: For a few days after death, some cells (such as skin cells) are still alive. Because of this, the live bacteria starts to break down and putrefy the body.

Colour: First the body turns green, then purple, and then eventually black.

Smell: The putrefying body gives off a sulphurous gas with a horrific smell, similar to rotten eggs.

Bloating: This gas also builds up inside the body, causing the corpse to expand, the eyes to be pushed out of their sockets and forces the tongue out of the mouth.

Blistering: A week after death, the body’s skin will blister so much that the slightest touch will cause it to fall off.

No they are not happy to see you but Erections

Depending on the position of your body at the time of your death, your blood will pool in a particular area and, because this blood still contains whatever oxygen and nutrients are left, it naturally feeds, one last time, the nearby cells, dying though they may be. After you die, the membranes of your cells become more permeable to calcium; certain types of muscle cells, meanwhile, are activated by calcium ions. End result? While ultimately this process leads to rigor mortis, in the shorter term, your muscles may contract. One (ahem) muscle in a man's body may contract and so cause an erection, which may even lead to ejaculation following death. Ladies, we warned you: stand back!

Pee and Poo

While some muscles spontaneously contract after death — and though all muscles eventually tighten into rigor mortis — others are loosening their grip entirely. Meanwhile, the part of your brain that regulates involuntary functions is shutting down. Specifically, the region of your brain that controls the muscles that hold your sphincter closed becomes incapacitated following death. Just like those rare occasions where you laughed so hard you peed in your pants, you will pee and poop in the spontaneous relaxation of your muscles following death. In fact, it’s not just the muscles but also the gas produced inside your body following death that will cause peeing and pooping. There’s really not much to say about this, right? Death is simply not pretty, nor was it meant to be. This is a putrid, reddish-brown fluid with a very foul smell that can emerge from the oral and nasal passages. It is easily mistaken as a brain injury, assault or just simple blood. It emerges as a result of the gases forming throughout the body. When gas formation occurs in the stomach and intestines, the abdomen can become tense and distended. Subsequently, the increase in abdominal pressure causes a purge of foul, blood-tinged fluid from the mouth, vagina and nose. A similar feces-mixed fluid will also emerge from the rectum. 

After reaching a state of maximum rigor mortis, the muscles will begin to loosen due to continued chemical changes within the cells and internal tissue decay. This process occurs gradually, over a period of one to three days, and will be influenced by external conditions such as temperature (cold slows the process down). Rigor mortis dissipates in the reverse order in which it occurred, i.e., from the fingers and toes, through the arms and legs, and then up through the chest to the neck and face. Eventually, all of the muscles will again relax, reaching a state known as secondary flaccidity.

Defecation

Your muscles relax and anything that you may or may not have been holding in will come out.

1.  Post-mortem caloricity.

Normally, dead bodies experience algor mortis (cooling of temperature) immediately following death.  In some cases, the body temperature will actually rise for about two hours after death before it begins to cool.  This phenomena is called, “post-mortem caloricity.”

1.  Self cannibalization.

While there are exogenous facts that cause decomposition (perhaps worms, flies, cats), much of the body’s decomposition occurs endogenously … the bacteria, acids, etc. within our own body live on and have a glorious feast on their deceased host.

1. Postmortem priapism

Also called “angel lust” or “death erection”, some dead bodies can actually have an erection.  Although rare and usually cause by swift and violent manners of death, priapisms do occur.  In fact, crucifixion victims often had angel lust, which means Jesus may have died with a death erection.  Per Leo Steinberg there are a number of Renaissance crucifixion paintings that depict Jesus in such a manner.

1. Livor mortis

When you die, your body will turn all sorts of pretty colors.  Soon after death, gravity will pool the red blood cells to the part of your body that’s closest to the ground.  If you die face down, your face will get all reddish.  If you die on your back, your back will turn all pretty shades of crimson.  Eventually (unless the deceased is embalmed), those colors will stain skin they’re touching (embalmers call this “postmortem stain”).

Muscle Movement

This is extremely rare.  And usually only occurs in the smaller muscles.  Out of the thousands of bodies my family has seen, only one still had muscle movement after death.  The deceased’s fingers were twitching “like he was playing the piano”.

Dead bodies fart.

Some dead bodies fart a bunch.

One of the side effects of modern technology is a blurring of the time between life and death. The brain can be almost completely gone, but the heart can keep pumping. If the heart is stopped for a minute, there's no breathing, and the person was dying anyway, most doctors just pronounce people dead while their brain is technically still alive for the next few minutes. The brain's cells spend those minutes scrambling for the oxygen and nutrients they need to stay alive - to the point where they often damage themselves irreparably even if the heart starts up again. Those minutes before the damage is too extensive could be extended, with the right drugs and under the right circumstances, to days. Ideally, this would give doctors a chance to save you, but it's not guaranteed. I know what most of you are thinking, "What fun! The biggest problem I had with dying is that it could be quick and painless, with no chance that my living brain is stuck inside a corpse for days on end." Well, now you don't have to worry about that.

Skin cell growth

This is another function of different parts of the body dying at different rates. While loss of blood circulation can kill the brain in minutes, other cells are not as in need of constant care. Skin cells, which are used to living on the outskirts of the body and grabbing what they can through osmosis, can stay alive for days. Its a good thing they don't have brains, or I'd feel sorry for them, the poor doomed things.

Degloving is the actual removal of the body’s skin post mortem. Most notably, the fingers and nails detach with sheets of skin thick enough to form “gloves” or “socks” as some people call them. It occurs as a result of the gaseous swelling of the neck, trunk and limbs, that become so swollen that one can mistake it for gross obesity. When the putrid gases are under a substantial amount of pressure, they flee from the body and the entire mass of decaying soft tissues disintegrates. The word “degloving” is an appropriate term because you can actually remove the skin of the hands like you would remove a glove from your own hand. 

Maceration means “to soften by soaking” in Latin. It refers to infants that die in utero, between the sixth and the ninth month of pregnancy. Their decomposition is slightly different due to prolonged exposure or “soaking” in the amniotic fluid. They resemble a corpse soaked in water. The infant’s skin will look like scalding or “boiling burns” due to their skin slipping off the body. Serosanguineous fluid-filled blebs form on the infant, and the bones are very soft and flexible. If the child is kept in utero for several days, the skull collapses and the brain will begin liquefying. If the infant is removed from the uterus within 24 hours after they die, and air enters their body, putrefaction occurs instead of maceration.