[Nhcoll-l] Thresher Shark Models and asbestos plaster

[Kathryn Makos]

Greetings,

 

The University of Glasgow must have an Occupational/Environmental Health and
Safety Department so I would contact them promptly before you disturb much
art plaster on that shark model.  There are well established ANSI & NIOSH
standards for bulk sampling that they will be best equipped to both safely
collect and analyze for you.  That is their job.no need for you to try this
one on your own.

 

Plaster models of a certain age (say,pre-1980) almost certainly have
chrysotile asbestos because that form was such a perfectly moldable yet
strong and unbreakable additive to plaster. I don't know if/when Scotland
banned the sale of asbestos products, but many places of employment (or
taxidermy-model making shops) may have hung on to supplies even though
banned for sale now.

 

Kathryn Makos, MPH CIH 

(Retired:Smithsonian Institution OSHEM)

Chair, AIHA Museum & Cultural Heritage Industry Working Group

 

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