JISCMail - NATSCA Archives

Hi Luanne

Probably a good overall reference on this is the SPNHC publication ‘Health and Safety for Museum Professionals (2010)’, taking into account this is written around North American legislation. You will also probably need to work with local fire officers and council HSE inspectors. For us here at the National Museum Wales we have been able to have sensible debates with both. Effectively our system is;

· Appropriate risk assessments covering the overall stores, then focusing on key issues such as manual handling, COSHH, and lone working.

· The stores are on the museums disaster management plans.

· The storage areas are then appropriately labelled with clear signage.

· Spill kits and PPE are available at access points.

· Fire equipment available and clearly placed.

· If you have environmental controls then try and keep as cool as is sustainable and cost effective, though like any collection area stable is best if possible and ventilation will be a required. We have limited controls but the store is a effectively brick and stone box and hence good thermal mass stability.

There is much debate (and confusion) over flash points of ethanol, and in the USA some states will only allow the use of isopropanol as a result. However we have stressed that our collections are in diluted ethanol which raises the flashpoint to above 20C. However I won’t try and get into this here but it is one of the reasons NHM Darwin1 is run cool. For us the fire inspections have been happy with the quality of storage and ventilation so this has not been an issue.

We also have extensive areas of the collection in formaldehyde solutions and have always stressed these are very dilute solutions (4% v/v active ingredient), not concentration and have appropriate PPE masks available in case of a spill.

I should also add that John Simmons book ‘Fluid Preservation’ also has useful guidance on this, and hopefully we’ll have some data coming online at some point from a ‘fluid standards’ project being worked upon!

Hope that’s helps – contact off list if you want to discuss further, copies of paperwork or images of the store. Whilst the paperwork is important I find the visual impact of sensible precautions of spill kits, fire equipment and signage helps greatly in reducing the perceived risks of the fluid collections.

Best wishes

Jules

Prif Gadwraethydd, Gwyddorau Naturiol

Principal Conservator Natural Sciences

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From: The Natural Science Collections Association discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Luanne Faulknall
Sent: 13 January 2017 09:43
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Spirit collections and health and safety

Hi,

Happy new year everybody!

Could anyone point me in the way of good guidance on health and safety and spirit collections please? My museum have recently become very concerned about this with the effect of impeding all access to the spirit store. I need some good solid evidence to demonstrate that this is not necessary.

I'd also be interested to know what procedures you have in place if you manage spirit collections, especially on a limited (i.e, non-existent) budget.

Thanks as always,

Luanne

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