storage cabinets

The results were designed to allow the stakeholders to arrive at decisions regarding cabinet access restrictions, if needed; storage space constraints from disposal of contaminated cabinets; potential re-purposing of cabinets for other uses; and the need for new cabinet purchases. The results supported this design, allowing the museum’s administration to secure resources to move the cabinet replacement program forward at an increased pace.

In consultation with the analytical laboratory chemists, the non-particulate compounds documented by Goldberg were examined as to their volatility, as a possible measure of persistence, and ease of detectability by methods with low limit of detection and high percentage recovery rates from sampling media. The chemicals were sorted as shown below.

The data suggested that even empty wooden cabinets retain or off-gas a significant number of chemicals, some highly toxic. The industrial hygienist on the team argued that while the calculated exposure risk from these chemicals appears to be low, and safe work practices are designed to further protect staff, further mitigation of unnecessary hazard sources is both legally and ethically prudent. The museum safety manager noted that empty cabinets still retained contaminant odors which, regardless of low concentrations, resulted in employee indoor air quality
complaints.

expedited and re-prioritized cabinet replacement schedules, various interim engineering or barrier control options are necessary for minimizing risks to collections stored in lower priority wooden cabinets. The nature of the building as a storage facility is fraught with the challenges of many historic buildings. The size of the building is insufficient for the scope of the collection, which has resulted in storage overflow into corridors and other locations with less-than-ideal environmental conditions and security protocols.

Personal samples are meant to represent actual body exposure, as averaged over a total work day, reflecting work task frequency and duration, break times, and
control measures taken by the worker to limit exposure. Each staff member sampled was employing museum safe work practices, minimizing time spent in front of
open cabinets, and wearing personal protective equipment during all of the tasks surveyed. Therefore, the personal exposure data suggests that using risk control measures can be effective in significantly lowering potential health risk from working with collections and cabinets known to be contaminated with past treatment chemicals.

special floor cleaning precautions by a specially trained labor crew. The greatest impact of the study’s results was the need to effectively revise the Museum’s cabinet replacement plan, a major part of its collection care program, in light of quantitative data, as well as update the Smithsonian Safety Manual to provide further guidance on collectionbased hazards and disposal of collection storage cabinets with hazardous material components (Smithsonian Institution,

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