Hazards in Collections

Understanding what your collection items are made of is an important part of identifying hazards. You also need to understand how items interact with the environment when on display or in storage, and how they deteriorate. Both can affect human health and the natural environment.

Types of hazards

Hazards are things that might pose a risk to staff, volunteers, or visitors. They can also disfigure or permanently damage collections.

From poor environments

• Mould or microorganisms can grow in certain environmental conditions. This can cause breathing or allergic issues and staining.
• Rocks and minerals can absorb water, release harmful gases, and contain harmful elements like radon or heavy metals.
• Limestone can develop pyrite disease, producing sulphuric acid as a byproduct.
• Plastics and plasticisers release byproducts when the material breaks down, for example cellulose acetate film releasing nitric acid.
• Cyanide can be present in silver- or gold-plated objects. Potassium cyanide used for cleaning leaves a residue that produces toxic hydrogen cyanide when wet.

Handling

• Arsenic, asbestos, mercury, and uranium can all be hazardous on exposure.
• Removing fossils from rock can produce silica dust.
• Heavy metals can be present in the object itself, for example lead.
• Heavy or unsecured items, overstacked material, and unstable or hidden sharps all pose a risk.
• Firearms, military explosives, detonators, and fireworks.
• Mercury mirrors and thermometers.

Manufacture processes

• Acids, alkalis, and copper arsenate used in textile manufacture.
• Fireproofing and suppressive materials, for example asbestos. These are not always obvious. Asbestos was used in a wide range of objects including toys, newsprint, and domestic items.
• Uranium used in glass for colouring, for example vaseline glass. Heavy metals used in ceramics and glazes.

Harmful materials in objects

• Toxic pigments and paints, for example cadmium, cobalt, and antimony, used in art, objects, and textiles.
• Radioactive material in minerals, paints, medical equipment, and aircraft or maritime material.
• Residue medicines or poisons from pharmaceuticals in old glass containers and science tools. First aid kits can contain broken mercury thermometers and picric acid used as an antiseptic. Picric acid can crystallise, becoming unstable, toxic, and explosive.
• Solvents and chemicals such as petroleum in industrial heritage collections, as well as other flammable or combustible liquids and battery acids.

Taxidermy and biological specimen preservation

• Toxic fixatives in anatomical specimens, for example formaldehyde or paraformaldehyde.
• Past preservation treatments and carcinogens, for example pesticides for pest control or preservatives to inhibit corrosion.
• Natural science collections treated with arsenic salts, or fumigated with sulphur, ethyl bromide, or methyl bromide. Moth balls were used routinely for pest eradication.
• Possible biological hazards from spirit collections, and animal or human remains.

This list is not exhaustive. For further information about what might be in your collections, see the London Museum e-tool  Hazards in Collections.

Building fabric and fixtures

• Paints, including lead-based or modern paints, that stop historic structures from breathing. This can result in salts, mould growth, and flaking paint.
• Asbestos in walls, vinyl floor tiles, and insulation materials on pipework.
• Old electrics and mechanical air exchange systems.

From outside

• Guano and bird droppings, rat urine, animal or pest infestations, wasps, and bees.
• Vandalism, broken windows, and hazardous litter such as needles.

Operational

• Off-gassing of paints and dust from exhibition mount-making.
• Well-sealed display cases can build up off-gassing vapours from some objects.
• Machines without safety guards, power tools, and broken or damaged steps or ladders.
• Old cleaning products, paints, or chemical materials.

Almost all museum collections will have some items that can cause harm if mishandled, kept in unsuitable conditions, cleaned by untrained staff or volunteers, or left to deteriorate.

Museum managers must make sure that collection care regimes and policies raise awareness, identify hazards, and provide access to resources and safety materials. This allows staff to deal with hazardous objects safely and effectively. SHARE Museums East have created a helpful poster with seven steps for identifying collection hazards.

Exposure rates to some hazards vary from person to person and may not cause issues until symptoms appear or employees feel unwell. Unlike a cut or a trip, exposure to a harmful substance or environment is not always obvious and symptoms may not immediately be linked to the workplace.Some hazardous material can be transferred without realising it, through clothing, waste material, packaging, airflow, and equipment used for dusting and vacuuming. It can then reach areas where food and drink is consumed.

Staff, volunteers, and visitors must never eat, drink, or smoke in collection spaces. This protects collections and reduces pest activity, but it also prevents ingestion or inhalation of harmful substances.

A risk assessment helps you understand what hazards may be present in your collections and how to control them. This limits exposure and allows staff, volunteers, and visiting researchers to work safely.

Your risk assessment should set out safe working practices for hazardous collections. This includes current legislation, use of in-date PPE, spill kits, robust waste management, and good ventilation or extraction equipment.

If an object smells or looks unusual, shows growths or powdery deposits, fluoresces under UV light, or has been historically treated with a material known to be hazardous, apply caution and use PPE.

Other handling and care procedures include:

• Make sure you can move the object safely without disturbing surfaces or handling it too much.
• Work in a well-lit area and examine objects under visible, raking, and UV light to get a clear picture of any surface conditions.
• Protect other collections and workspaces with sheeting or tissue to prevent cross-contamination.
• Depending on the risk of a possible or known hazard, wear breathing apparatus or ventilate the workspace.
• Document, photograph, and record any notes. Label items appropriately and ask a professional to take samples if you are still unsure, for example paint scrapes. Arsenic and lead testing kits are available. Ask a conservator how to use them without damaging collections.
• Dispose of any materials in line with legislation.
• Wash hands and clean materials thoroughly afterwards. Make sure equipment is dry before storing.

These practices should be part of any risk assessment and planning for working with collections.

In some cases, items may need to be disposed of or removed from collection or public areas so correct waste management and adherence to legislation to ensure no threat occurs to the natural environment must be undertaken, for example radioactive material should not be sent to landfill.

Some items may need the contractor removing the hazard to have a license, for example asbestos.

Ensure that ethical processes have been followed, governing bodies have approved and you have documented disposal methods and guidelines in accordance with best practice. Further information can be sought from Arts Council England disposal toolkit guidelines for museums

Collections Trust provides a wide range of advice guides on collections care and preserving your museum’s collections.

Institute for Conservation Geological Collections Collections care guide