Curating safety

Of all workplace hazards fire is probably the most universal. It causes death and severe injury to persons and, in the United Kingdom, results in financial losses of between 400 and 500 million each year. In museums a fire, unlike other hazards, does not distinguish between employee and visitor, or between priceless artifacts of antiquity and modern reproductions all are at risk. Consequently, fire precautions must assume a central position in the safety management of museums, and fire prevention should be the concern of curators, safety officers and all other grades of staff. 

As mentioned earlier, any information obtained from the artifacts of a preliterate society helps us to understand them. There is another very important reason to determine the nature of the dyes used in museum textiles. This applies particularly to textiles which are to be exhibited. Thanks to the work of Padfield and Landi (15), we have a reasonable amount of information about the lightfastness of natural dyes. With some exceptions, indigo, madder, and cochineal are the most important they have relatively poor lightfastness. We shall have to determine the fastness of the yarns dyed from Peruvian plants. When we know these facts, we can then help the curator or conservator to make decisions regarding exhibition, lighting, conditions of storage, and safety of conservation treatments. 

A HNOs wash line was disconnected and foe uranyl nitrate feed line was modified so it can be disconnected immediately after charging foe pot. Safety showers in foe immediate area were enclosed. A dry chemical extinguisher was provided in case of fire. Water hoses were removed from the area. These changes create a dry environment they aUow processing 2.C U in a sin e pot with adjacent equipment shutdown. If additional denitration requires use of adjacent equipment, and enclosure for each pot curating at 2.0% U would be needed. 

Curate and access information that supports your position and conclusions. We discuss this concept in more details in Chapter 15, Becoming a Curator for the Safety Management System . 

Chapter 15, Becoming a Curator for the Safety Management System... 

F. Howie, Safety Considerations for the Geological Conservator , Geological Curator, 4, 1987, pp. 379-401. 

By establishing a curation process for safety system resources and history, information resources can be used to establish more effective action plans, job improvement goals and objectives. The JHA process should have a built-in method to ensure they are updated and kept current as changes are made in the workplace. 

A data management plan describes the creating, organizing, documenting, storing, and sharing data. The plan would cover protection and confidentiality, preservation, and curation. It provides a framework that supports the safety management system documents, materials, and information. 

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