[Nhcoll-l] Collection and curatorial staff health issues

[White, Rich]

Could this be a case of "closed building syndrome"?  What are the CO2 levels in the building work areas like?  You need to eliminate this possibility first.

Assuming you've eliminated "sick building" and other obvious sources of new contamination, none of you are going to like the following suggestion, but it is something with a long history behind it, and well known to most Industrial Hygienists who have worked in the commercial/corporate settings.  I'm not aware of any documented cases in museum settings, but there is no a priori reason why this might not be the case.

You should look closely at the HR environment in the affected area.  Have there been HR issues there of late?  Has stress increased because of rumored or threatened layoffs, reductions in force, reduced budgets, new policies and procedures with less than enthusiastic reception?  A recent change in management?

Richard S. White, Jr.
Director of Museum and Facilities
Safari Club International Foundation
4800 West Gates Pass Road
Tucson, AZ 85745

520-954-4947

From: nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Bentley, Andrew Charles
Sent: Friday, September 06, 2013 12:01 PM
To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Collection and curatorial staff health issues

Hi all

We have recently had a spate of health issues specifically related to one area of our building and the staff associated with this area.  The symptoms are respiratory (tightening of throat and shortness of breath) and skin related (lesions, rashes etc.) and isolated to this particular area of the building which houses our bird collections, people space and a library.  We recently renovated this area which may have disturbed some old underlying issue in this area.  Our EHS unit on campus has been through and done the usual mold and VOC testing and results suggest that all levels are below acceptable levels and guidelines.  There is no smoking gun as it were and we have initially, tentatively eliminated the above causes.  At this point we are stumped and were wondering if any similar symptoms have been found or encountered at any other collection facilities and, more importantly, if anyone has any ideas as to what could be causing this.  We would be particularly interested in hearing from any institution that may have tested for these and other potential harmful side effects of collections.

The only other factors that we can potentially point to is that we occasionally get (or used to get) bats and squirrels entering the space and "roosting" in the ceiling spaces of this area of the building.  We have also been made aware of a malady called bird breeder's lung or hypersensitivity pneumonitis (http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/indoorenv/mold.html#5) and wonder if anyone has had issues with this in collection environments - specifically dry bird collections.

Any help or suggestions would be gladly accepted.

Thanks

Andy

    A  :             A  :             A  :
 }<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<)))_°>
    V                V                V
 Andy Bentley
 Ichthyology Collection Manager
 University of Kansas
Biodiversity Institute
 Dyche Hall
 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard
 Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561
 USA

Tel: (785) 864-3863
Fax: (785) 864-5335
 Email: abentley at ku.edu<mailto:abentley at ku.edu>
http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu<http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu/>

SPNHC President-Elect
http://www.spnhc.org

                           :                 :
    A  :             A  :             A  :
 }<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<)))_°>
    V                V                V

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20130906/ff31f2ae/attachment.html