2019 Presentation Abstracts:

Revitalizing and Transforming a National Treasure: Planning for Safety during the National Air and Space Museum Renovation
Matthew Gross, Safety and Health Specialist, National Air and Space Museum

The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM) recently began a seven-year project to revitalize its building and to transform its exhibits, an endeavor which will impact nearly every part of the museum. The large scope of this project provides an array of unique safety and health challenges beyond common construction hazards. The need to deinstall and relocate of nearly all artifacts in the building introduces a range of collections-based hazards and artifact safety concerns. While construction occurs on one side of the museum, NASM building will also remain partially open to the public, requiring special attention to public and staff safety. This presentation will review a range of recommendations and lessons learned throughout the design, mobilization, and construction phases of this project including Prevention through Design (PtD), owner/architect/contractor collaboration, artifact safety, and public safety. This information should prove valuable to professionals at any museum or cultural institution which is preparing for a construction project.

Taking the Lead in Lead Safety: Mitigating Lead Exposure in Stained Glass Conservation
Ariana Makau, President & Principal Conservator of Nzilani Glass Conservation, MA Stained Glass Conservation RCA, London; AIC-PA
Karen Gunderson, MPH, CIH, CHMM, Consulting Industrial Hygienist State Fund Compensation Insurance

Stained glass workers must adhere to OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) as well as Federal and local construction regulations when working with lead. Balancing the realities of day-to-day stained-glass treatment with regulatory expectations may seem overwhelming at first, and often results in avoidance of consultation by health and safety specialists.

An overview of improvements implemented at Nzilani Glass Conservation (a private stained glass company based in Oakland, California) will be presented from the point of view of Ariana Makau, its business-owner/principal conservator, who has worked closely with industrial consultants to keep in up-to-date compliance. Case studies will include work on the monumental 1930’s stained, painted and leaded glass New and Old Testament Windows, by Connick Studios, at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco; Emmanuel Church in Marshall Gold State Park in Coloma, California with an 1880’s window; and work in private residences to exemplify real-world applications and challenges.

Greater scrutiny on stained glass preservation work without budgets earmarked to achieve regulators’ goals leave those with the best intentions with very few options: go out of business, self-regulation of smaller jobs where governmental standards are met (but the burden of cost is carried by the practitioner), or leave work to those who can’t or won’t adhere to safety standards. As the Chair of Health and Safety of the Stained Glass Association of America (SGAA), one of Makau’s goals is to define safe practices by clarifying how different approaches in stained glass restoration affect its preservation and those who work on it.

The talk will demonstrate how effective teamwork between regulatory agencies, lead workers and additional stakeholders contribute to alleviating misinformation; producing more accessible, practical recommendations, and a safer environment for everyone. It also seeks to level the playing field for projects, redirecting the primary metric from budget costs to a qualified, safe workforce.

Lightning Round

Managing Mental Health in Cultural Heritage Emergency Response: A Safety Approach for Operational Resilience
Rebecca Kennedy, AIC-PA, Collections Manager, Curae Collections Care LLC; Nora Lockshin, AIC-PA, Senior Conservator, Smithsonian Institution Archives

The mental health of individuals and teams during a short or long-term emergency can determine how they make appropriate decisions, whether for the people or the property they are responsible for and is a critical part of a holistic safety plan for emergency response. The period following an emergency that has negatively affected a cultural institution can cause mental health issues, ranging from shame to blame, to grief regarding the status of the collection or how the response was handled. A continuous high stress environment, anxiety from overwork in an uncertain situation, and inability to detach or rest can lead to depression. Response to pressure can lead to taking shortcuts or non-compliance with personal safety, engaging in substance abuse, all of which risk bodily injury or abuse to self or others. Any of these reactions can be overwhelming and can lead to further neglect of health, safety and security on the work site, in a demotivating spiral that can affect recovery and successful outcomes for all concerned. All workers have potential to develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This presentation will cover concepts such as the psychosocial Phases of Disaster, techniques of Operational Stress Control, and practice with a Trauma Informed Approach to avoid retraumatization. Case studies and resources for managing mental health including skills and tools to recognize the early signs of stress, encourage communication, avoid or handle triggers and defuse situations, to help mitigate these problems and set a path for positive outcomes will be provided.

Total Worker Health for the Museum and Cultural Heritage Environment
Kate McPhaul, PhD, MPH, RN, COHN-S, Baldeep Rai, Morgan Young-Spiers, Anne McDonough, MD, MPH

Background:
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s (NIOSH) Total Worker Health™ (TWH™) approach holistically conceptualizes employee wellness as being an integration of occupational safety, health protection, and health promotion efforts. Effective workplace wellness programs have shown to lower employer healthcare costs, increase employee productivity, and decrease absenteeism. These occupational benefits are especially important in museums, such as the Smithsonian museums and research centers, due to the specialized nature of each employee’s role; thus, the health of Smithsonian employees is hypothesized to influence the collections, exhibits, and overall visitor experience. Museum specialists face unique workplace health and safety hazards that occupational health professionals (OHPs) have the knowledge and expertise to help manage, making the role of OHPs integral in employee wellness programs.

Methods: The Smithsonian Occupational Health Service (OHS) is evaluating its Employee Wellness Program using the TWH framework. Specifically, OHS has inventoried all the SI programs, assets and offerings using the TWH framework and is developing the methodology for a secondary data analysis of wellness clinical visits as well as key informant interviews to understand the effectiveness of SI Wellness as well as the barriers for employees who do not currently take advantage of SI Wellness Programs.

Results: The findings of this ongoing program evaluation will reveal the level of success of the Smithsonian’s various wellness programs. It will also inform the extent to which other museum and cultural heritage programs can or should engage in employee wellness support. Community partnerships may be valuable for smaller museums and programs.

Conclusion: The results of this study will provide evidence for necessary wellness program changes to increase program access and enhance the health and safety of Smithsonian employees, ultimately positively impacting the quality of the Smithsonian’s exhibits, collections, and visitor experience.

Navigating Hidden Hazards in Collections: Emotional, Physical, and Chemical
Steven Pickman, AIC PA, Objects Conservator, Steven Pickman Objects Conservation LLC; Kate McPhaul, PhD, MPH, RN, COHN-S, Manager, Occupational Health Services Clinics, Smithsonian Institution; Miriam Doutriaux, Collections Manager, Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution; Grant Czubinski, Registrar, Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Background: The Smithsonian Latino Center is developing an exhibit, Cuban Refugee Raft, which is a representative artifact of the Balseros. This small open vessel, or chug, was constructed from items on hand and used by two young Cuban refugees to cross the 90 miles of waters between Cuba and Southern Florida in 1992. Delivered by a US Coast Guard cutter to Miami for storage and later recovered by a private individual as part of a larger preservation effort around the balsas, the raft was donated to the Smithsonian in 1994 and has been in storage (following a short exhibition schedule) for the last 24 years.

Hazard Assessment: Existing documentation on the composite artifact itself was scant with limited information available about its overall construction and condition. Treatment needed to be carried out within a limited scope, budget, and timeline, preserving the overall integrity and visual impact of the raft while stabilizing any physical and chemical deterioration present. Concerns during the development phase of treatment methodology, procedures, and protocols left the contract conservator needing more information and advice regarding potential biological and chemical contaminants present on surfaces, confirming or modifying existing proposed actions.

Discussion: Treatment became a collaborative effort between the contract conservator, project managers, occupational health, and other relevant stakeholders. This case study discusses the communications, actions, and resources that were utilized towards the successful treatment of the raft. Implications for small projects which lack sophisticated safety and health resources yet may have significant potential exposures to the conservator, co-workers, their families and the viewing public will be explored.

Modernizing Our Specimen Preparation Safety Procedures
Cailin Meyer, MA, MS

Vertebrate specimen preparation is an integral part of natural history museums that carries significant intrinsic risks from potential exposure to zoonoses, venomous animals, chemical hazards, and punctures and lacerations. Working safely in a preparation lab requires dedicated continuing education on zoonoses and specimen handling, as well as an understanding of how changing environments may affect distributions of pathogenic agents. Specimen preparators must be aware of not only more “publicized” diseases such as rabies, ebola, or the plague, but also less well-known diseases such as echinococcus, hantaviruses, or psittacosis. Furthermore, multiple specimens remain venomous after death, and must be handled appropriately to avoid accidental exposure. This lightening talk provides an overview of zoonotic hazards for natural history collections, introduces the complexities of these risks for collections personnel, and discusses the importance and impact of USDA and CDC permitting procedures to collections work.

The Use of Low-Cost Sensors to Measure Mercury Vapor from Tin-Mercury Amalgam Mirrors
Melissa King, graduate fellow, Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation; Rosie Grayburn, Ph.D., Department of Art Conservation, University of Delaware, USA and Department of Conservation, Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, USA; Joelle Wickens, Ph.D., AIC PA, Department of Art Conservation, University of Delaware, USA; Carlos Diego Lima de Alburquerque, Ph.D., Department of Chemistry, University of Victoria, Canada; Kevin Telmer, Ph.D., Department of Geography, University of Victoria, Canada and Artisanal Gold Council, Canada; Alexandre Brolo, Ph.D., Department of Chemistry, University of Victoria, Canada

Gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) originates from the deterioration of tin-mercury amalgam mirrors. This amalgam under glass was the dominant composition for mirrors from the 16th through the late 19th century. Over half of the mirrored surfaces within the collection at the Winterthur Museum are at risk of deteriorating to GEM, and some are actively dripping liquid mercury. What are the implications for human health and safety when mirrors are on display, in storage, or undergoing treatment?

To test the levels of GEM off-gassed from an actively dripping mirror, we used low-cost sensors fabricated from gold-doped paper filter membranes created as wearable sensors for the artisanal gold mining industry (de Barros Santos 2017). Sensors were placed within an enclosed room with the mirror. An iPad with a microscope attachment was used to photograph the sensors over time to monitor their color change as a means to evaluate cumulative exposure of GEM. A commercially available GEM sensor (Jerome® 431-X) was used to quantify levels before, during, and after the experiment.

Quantitative data analysis from the sensors is still pending, but the Jerome® 431-X sensor detected an increase in GEM over the six months the mirror was stored in the room. GEM levels were higher when the mirror was stored within a polyethylene bag for a portion of the study. The highest recorded reading was 0.00265 mg/m3 when the NIOSH and ACGIH® TLV® permissible exposure limits (PEL) over an 8-hour shift are 0.1 mg/m3 and 0.025 mg/m3 respectively.

Ultimately it was decided not to use polyethylene bags to capture dripping mercury, but to keep the mirrors in a room with good airflow and a method to capture dripping mercury below. The sensors have the potential to be a low-cost option for organizations to monitor GEM levels near these types of mirrors.

Reference
de Barros Santos, Elias, Paleah Moher, Stacy Ferlin, Anne Hélène Fostier, Italo Odone Mazali, Kevin Telmer, and Alexandre Guimarães Brolo. “Proof of concept for a passive sampler for monitoring of gaseous elemental mercury in artisanal gold mining.” Scientific reports 7, no. 1 (2017): 16513.

The Poison Book Project
Melissa Tedone, Ph.D., AIC-PA, Associate Conservator/Lab Head for Books & Library Materials,
Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library and Affiliated Associate Professor, Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation; Layla Huff, Department of Conservation, Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library and Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD; Sara Leonowitz, Department of Art Conservation, University of Delaware; Phillip De Paola, Department of Art Conservation, University of Delaware; Meghan Abercrombie, Department of Conservation, Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library; Rosie Grayburn, Ph.D. Department of Conservation, Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library and Department of Art Conservation, University of Delaware; Emily Guthrie, Winterthur Library

Emerald green (copper acetoarsenite) is an extremely toxic, bright-green pigment suspected to color Victorian-era English bookcloths (1837-1900). Successful bookcloths were a closely guarded trade secret during the nineteenth century, and our current understanding of their materiality and manufacture is still limited. In order to correlate the presence of emerald green and other potentially toxic pigments with specific publishers and dates, Conservation staff and interns at Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library conducted a survey of bookcloth pigments.

English-language books published between 1837 and 1900 align with the rising use of bookcloth on publisher’s case bindings. This initial data set was further narrowed to the library’s circulating collection, which poses a greater risk to patrons. X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) was used to collect elemental information from bookcloths. When arsenic and copper were found together, Raman spectroscopy was used to test for emerald green. All analyzed books were photographed in anticipation of a future database.

To date, 192 books have been analyzed with XRF. One book (Rustic Adornments For Homes of Taste, by Shirley Hibberd, London: Groombridge and Sons, 1857) was confirmed as containing emerald green. So far, 40% of the bookcloths tested may contain iron-based pigments, while38% contain lead, 22% contain zinc, and 2% barium as a major element. Additionally, mercury and chromium were detected in single items.

So-called “poisonous” books will be removed from the circulating collection, rehoused in an appropriate enclosure, and moved into the rare book collection. A warning with safe handling recommendations will be added to the library catalog record, and the item enclosure will also be labeled with this information.
Ongoing analysis of both the circulating and rare book collection at Winterthur will continue to look for other instances of emerald green and other pigments of concern. This data will reveal trends in the use of pigments in bookcloth manufacture during the nineteenth century, particularly the use of potentially hazardous pigments which require special storage and handling. This information will be used to build an open access database which can assist institutions without their own analytical capabilities in identifying potential hazards in their book collections.

Afternoon Presentations

Toxins Within Collections
Jim Fuller, PharmD, MA Candidate Museum Studies Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI); Sarah M. Halter, MA, Executive Director, Indiana Medical History Museum

This presentation will provide a brief overview of the Indiana Medical History Museum collection, background on poisons and toxins within collections, and a summary of our research question results.

Completing an internship at a small specialty museum afforded the opportunity to complete a research project to survey other museums related to best practices surrounding toxic collections items.

Recognizing the long-standing historical practice of preserving natural objects with pesticides and other chemicals (such as, but not limited to, mercury and arsenic), our research focused on how museums are recognizing, handling and potentially mitigating any of these toxins that may remain within their collections. This information was then used to help inform the Indiana Medical History Museum as we work to address similar issues in their own historic collections.

By creating a short, 5 question survey, we collected responses from 16 museums (representing 11 states) that helped us understand how other museums are: assessing, identifying, and mitigating toxins within collection objects, performing active testing, promoting appropriate Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) use, handling broken objects and or spills, and identifying good reference materials.
Using these survey results, we summarized key findings, created recommendations for our museum, and identified limitations of our study.

Silica Dust Concerns Among Museum and Conservation Managers and Professionals
David F. Goldsmith, PhD, Georgetown and George Washington Universities, Washington DC
Thomas Galassi, MPH, CIH, Director (Ret.), Directorate of Enforcement Programs, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

Background: Museum and conservation staff are exposed to silica dust while cleaning stonework, while digging in any anthropology or paleontology projects, while restoring marble sculptures, or any number of dusty activities. Managers, employees and volunteers must be informed of the risks to health from inhaling silica as well as performance standards. This talk will describe where respirable silica dust hazards exist in museum and conservation work, what the new silica standards say about dust control, and the types of illnesses that may arise from short- and long-term exposures.

New Silica Dust Standard: On March 24, 2016 OSHA issued a revised silica dust rule setting levels in construction and general industry at 50 ug/m3 for 8 hour workday—1/2 of the 100 ug/m3 previous standard. More information available https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/03/25/2016-04800/occupational-exposure-to-respirable-crystalline-silica. OSHA is now labeling respirable silica a known human carcinogen, as it has been judged by International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) since 1996. This new silica standard applies to work at the Smithsonian and other museum and conservation endeavors.

Compliance with the current OSHA standard: There are various means to comply with the new standard, including using wet methods, work under hoods and engineering controls in museum laboratories, education of workers, and uses of administrative work rules limiting exposure. Wearing masks should be considered the last means of silica dust control.

Health effects: Acute or very high silica dust exposure can lead to acute or accelerated silicosis (in Southwest regions coccidioidomycosis), while longer-term exposure (>7-10 years) increases the risk of silicosis, silico-tuberculosis, auto-immune diseases, kidney diseases, and cancers of the lung, kidney, and skin. These illnesses are all preventable. Museum managers must provide protection for their workers and for volunteers.

Caution–Do Not Touch: Solutions to Tracking Pesticides on Native American Objects.
Alexander “Lexi” Echelman, MA

The abatement of pesticides on Native American collections has largely been the focus of conservators working in Natural History museums rather than collections care specialists. While discussions of pesticide remediation and detection fall under conservators’ specialties, collections care specialists can help in the pattern detection of toxin use on Native American objects—thus enabling conservators to remediate pesticide levels and prepare the item for repatriation if necessary. This talk proposes a working model to expand theories of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) to include items covered in pesticides—which occurred before the advent of IPM in the 1990s. Collections care specialists in the field have the responsibility to erect multi-user database systems that can involve medical toxicologists as well as Native American representatives in the care and stewardship of a poisoned object undergoing repatriation through the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).These tracking systems can do many functions such as: 1) creating patterns in pesticide use based on collector and/or museum and 2) involve toxicologists so that museum staff and Native Americans alike know what remediation levels are safe for handling toxic objects. Standardization of safety principles is essential to protecting both museum staff and Native Americans, and this database can disseminate information that will streamline safety documentation procedures. By examining a brief history of the museum registrar profession as well as the use of databases for documenting complex objects in museums, this talk will utilize case studies to conclude that collections care specialists can assist in documenting pesticide-laden objects—and do so in a way that involves many key stakeholders in a respectful manner

Wonder Twins – Activate! Collaboration between PRICE and OSHEM
Samantha Snell, AIC-Associate, Collections Management Specialist, PRICE Chair, National Collections Program, Smithsonian Institution; Michael Kilby, P.E., Associate Director for Fire Protection, Office of Safety, Health and Environmental Management, Smithsonian Institution

The Preparedness and Response in Collections Emergencies (PRICE) Team was established in October 2016, and since that time has developed and implemented trainings, workshops, and guidelines to improve the Smithsonian’s capabilities to respond and recover from collections emergencies. Though the collections community is PRICE’s primary focus, all staff are invited to participate in our various opportunities and discussions. By incorporating staff from all corners of the Smithsonian with a broad range of expertise, we gain a more holistic understanding of collections stewardship.

Safety is paramount during PRICE trainings and workshops. In the presentation, we discuss our collaborative efforts with the Smithsonian’s Office of Safety Health and Environmental Management (OSHEM) and highlight some of our training opportunities, focusing on the safety considerations related to the PRICE Fire Salvage Workshops. In the wake of numerous high profile and significant fires at cultural heritage institutions this year, we hope this information – from our experience in the effects of a controlled-environment fire – will be helpful to those who may have to respond and support recovery activities for actual events.

Avoiding Major Fire Losses at Museums and Cultural Institutions
Joshua Stewart, PE, Fire Protection Engineer, Smithsonian Institution

Recent fires at the Notre Dame in Paris and the Museu Nacional in Rio have put a spotlight on fire protection at museums and cultural institutions. In mere hours, a fire can make hundreds of years of architecture, history, knowledge, and science disappear. This talk will describe some of the factors that led to the fires being as severe as they were. The speaker will also describe aspects of the Smithsonian fire protection policy, through the lens of the collections storage program.