8th Safety and Cultural Heritage Summit
Preserving Our Heritage and Protecting Our Health
Co-presentations by IH/Safety and Conservation/Collection Care Professionals
The Potomac Local Section of the American Industrial Hygiene Association, the Washington Conservation Guild, the Smithsonian Institution’s Office of Safety, Health and Environmental Management and the Smithsonian National Collections Program will once again collaborate with the Lunder Conservation Center to host a Virtual Professional Development Seminar with the theme of Control of Health and Safety Hazards in Museums, Historic Sites, Conservation Treatment and Collection Care.
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Virtual Conference
Thursday, January 22 and Friday, January 23, 2026
1:00 pm - 5:00 pm ET each day
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Click here for the list of presentations. Presentations are also listed below.
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Please Register at Summit Registration
Registration - $20
REGISTRATION EXTENDED - Register by January 19, 2026
Questions? Email SafetyCulturalHeritageSummit@si.edu
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8th Safety and Cultural Heritage Summit Presentations
Exposure Assessment and Controls
● Interpreting PCB regulatory language for artifacts on display
● Museum occupational exposure assessment study.
● The critical role of health and safety collaboration in hazardous collections surveys.
● Valentine’s Day vandalism in the National Archives rotunda: A collaborative recovery effort.
● Mitigating mercury: Analyzing, documenting and stabilizing a collection of mercury tall clock pendulums.
● Germicidal Ultraviolet Disinfection of Public Spaces.
Health/Safety/Sustainability Programs
● Developing a sharable guide based on experience in adapting established OEHS practices to a museum setting.
● Moving toward a balanced approach to the screening, interpretation, and reporting hazardous residues on the collections at NMAI.
● Applying systems thinking to the preservation of light sensitive materials.
● Paper trails & safety tales: Power BI for instant health & safety insights in book and paper conservation.
● Going Greener: A comparative inventory of greener products for the preservation site in the European legislative and research framework.
● Reducing energy while preserving experience and engagement.
Statewide effort to improve safety for staff and collections (case studies from Ready or Not: Cultural Heritage Disaster Preparedness Project.
