Collections-based hazards (CBH) are materials occurring in collections that may pose a risk to the health of those working in the museum, visitors, or to the collections themselves.
The health and safety of our colleagues come first and foremost. Collections-based hazards require extra caution and attention in normal operations and emergency events. For this reason, PRICE and PRICE Support Team members have developed training materials and collated resources on various kinds of CBH as part of an ongoing effort to raise awareness and learn more about our own collections.
Flipbook Tool & Training Course
The following materials are intended to be a resource for staff during daily interactions with collections. The information contained in the flipbook can be customized and scaled to organizations of all sizes, specialties, and collection types.
Created initially for Smithsonian staff, these materials are intended to provide an overview of known CBH at the Smithsonian. It is not comprehensive. Health, safety, and compliance topics encountered at the Smithsonian and other cultural institutions raise their own regulatory or compliance issues.
Disclaimer: The following material is for general informational purposes only. Any information provided does not constitute advice for particular situations, nor is it intended as a substitute for regulatory compliance. Users of this material should seek additional guidance for specific situation(s).
Despite being identified as empty, it is still important to note that this bottle (above) likely contained an arsenic product in the past and therefore has the potential to have trace arsenic residue on and inside the bottle and stopper. Collection items such as this should be labeled properly and treated as a hazard, and appropriate PPE and PPE disposal protocols should be maintained.
