Remembrance Parks Central Victoria (RPCV) operates 11 cemeteries and memorials across Victoria - including in Bendigo, Eaglehawk, Kangaroo Flat and White Hills - and has been enforcing its adornment policy since December last year.

The policy forbids the use of glass, porcelain, terra cotta and clay vases, pots and keepsakes at grave sites "due to the safety risk posed by sharp pieces when broken" and also bans "hazardous" stones, pebbles, decorative fencing, solar lights and metal spikes.

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Plot holders, however, have criticised the organisation for a lack of communication that tribute items would be removed, and the reason for their removal.

Jenny Gray said her parents were both buried at Eaglehawk Cemetery and she visited every day to ensure the graves were neat and tidy.

She said she had several pottery vases removed, however what's left was more of a hazard than the vases themselves.

"They said it's all health and safety, but there were shards of the pottery vase left on the headstone on the grass in front of it," she said.

"We maintain it so that there was nothing stuck in the grass area, because I'm aware they've got to mow it and everything ... but there's a lot more health and safety issues in this cemetery than the memorial items left on the graves."

Other people feel the adornment policy goes too far and there's no way they can memorialise their lost loved ones.

Philippa Sinderberry said she and a friend both have young children buried at the cemetery.

Ms Sinderberry said she had a friend remove her child's tribute items before they could be thrown out, however another friend wasn't so lucky.

"They lost toy cars that their children played with ... that's not rubbish," she said.

"Since then their graves have been bare because we're either too afraid to leave anything or bring anything back and we just don't know what's going to happen next."

Ms Sinderberry said she was heartbroken hearing other peoples' memorials had been altered, with flowers thrown out and in some cases, handmade tributes broken.

"I understand that it needs to be safe, you don't want spikes in the grass, you want to minimise the risk of things breaking, but breaking people's things that have been here for so long and taking toys from babies' graves, that's not OK," she said.

The issue has attracted national media coverage and sparked outrage among local MPs.

Member for Northern Victoria Region Wendy Lovell called on Victorian Minister for Health Mary-Anne Thomas to sack the entire RPCV board of directors and replace them.

In a media statement, RCPV supported the enforcement of the adornment policy, however admitted communication could have been better.

"We understand and sympathise with families that want to memorialise and decorate the graves of their loved ones. This is a deeply emotional issue," the statement said.

"While our actions to-date have been motivated by compliance with occupational health and safety laws, we recognise that we should have provided better support to families and communicated more widely before acting the way we did."

RPCV said it's responsibility was to "uphold the regulations and rules enshrined in legislation and set by WorkSafe".

"Our policies on memorials on graves and memorial sites is designed to protect the health and safety of staff and visitors to our cemeteries, to help protect the environment and support the different cultural and religious needs of the wide range of people in Victorian communities," the statement said.

"We also have a responsibility to families who want to decorate graves of their loved ones and we must do better to explain to families what is permitted and not permitted on interred sites.

"We will support any person or family who wants to work with us to navigate the rules to ensure they are compliant."

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According to the statement, RPCV senior executives have met with "some families" to help modify their adornments to ensure they are compliant.

"Among the families we are currently working with some have what looks like unsafe and non-compliant seats installed at their loved ones' grave sites," the statement said.

"We have undertaken to have the seats independently checked for safety and if they are not compliant, we will install trust owned seats to replace them."

The statement said RPCV "look forward to working co-operatively with all Remembrance Park families".

While RPCV said it was committed to protecting staff and visitors, several plot holders at Eaglehawk Cemetery told The Advertiser the cemeteries' real health and safety concerns were not at places of burial.

Lisa Kidman, who has been at the forefront of the adornment policy protests, said she broke her ankle after falling in an uneven ditch.

Another woman, Valerie Smith, said she slipped over loose gravel and broke her finger.

Dianne Phillips said at Bendigo Cemetery there had been a lack of upkeep in grave sites, with falling headstones as well as weeds and destroyed paths throughout the grounds.

"You could open a book with the amount of safety issues they need to deal with, rather than taking from our loved ones," she said.

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