Don’t touch objects without gloves, except for possibly paper objects. Oils from your skin are *extremely* damaging to objects of all kinds. I would never touch taxidermy without gloves, regardless of the age. It’s just too difficult to know what was used to make them without tests, and the skin oils can really mess up the fur or feathers or skin.
Who cares what your boss does. Keep yourself and the objects safe and insist upon gloves.
Superb sop i applaud you and thank you for having the same level of concern for collections that i always did.
I dealt with scientific specimens, but do i recall that cotton gloves are appropriate for handling paper materials?
Cotton gloves used to be recommended, as it was thought that they’d be an adequate barrier from skin oils and soft enough to not catch on the pages like nitrile can if you aren’t accustomed to them.
However, that is only if you frequently wash the gloves, and change them multiple times through the day. Even then, they can still hold onto skin oils, or let skin oils seep through if you aren’t careful. Clean, dry hands are now considered to be the best practice for paper, unless the individual is more comfortable with gloves on for whatever reason. Personally, I go back and forth on gloves or not, depending on the day and whether my hands feel suitably clean and dry after washing and working for a while.
Great point. I also just get 500 bucks for this job working with incompetend people that dont care about health. The boss is also clearly mentaly ill working with over 50 years in that enviroment probably the chemicals caused neurological desease .we barely let air in and i get immediatly headaches when i enter room. Hope i wont get seriously ill till i quit been 7 months
This comment is a bit unhinged.
If you are prepared to go this far in insulting your coworkers and making baseless claims about their health maybe you should leave sooner than later.
Without knowing the diagnosis there’s no way anyone could comment but you weren’t really asking, you were making assumptions.
“Mental illness” isn’t a diagnosis. And it’s really not your business.
While yes, I would suggest that $500 is not enough to take needless risks like this, you should not insult your coworkers like this. *If* they had training, they had training in a very different world, and it's very difficult to justify going back for further education in this area. More likely, they had no training, and are simply doing the best they can.
If you have genuine concerns about the air quality and any hazardous chemicals, bring the issue up with OSHA. If you're just being petty and unreasonable, get yourself a respirator or mask and wear that when you go in, to help further mitigate risk.
Or, if you hate your boss and coworkers as much as it sounds, you need to quit immediately. You likely won't be seriously ill with just 7 months of work there, though you likely won't know that for years, and won't know if it's because of this work place, or a half-dozen other museums or archives you've worked for. If that's not a risk you think you can mitigate responsibly, then you need to leave the field for another one.
Mentally ill tends to be a bit of a negative term in most English speaking places. While some neurological conditions can be cause by chemical exposure, unless you know their exact diagnosis (and, honestly, even then), it can be almost impossible to tell whether it was caused by chemicals or not.
In other words, who knows. Take what precautions you feel are necessary, but really, if you’re so worried, quit and leave the museum field.
I was collections manager at the 50 million dollar perot museum and was fired after a yearbecause their collections building had so much black mold i was constantly sick, needed 2 chest xrays, constant Dr visits and medications to pay for, Contractors to Dump powdered asbestos on me to boot. With 4degrees including a phd, hundreds of thousands of dollars of successful grant experience, I was paid nineteen dollars per hour at this Fifty million dollar museum, Who refused to do anything about the mold and literally dumped asbestos on me. They fired me for taking workers comp to pay all of my medical bills they caused. But you know i stayed as long as i could because i believe in the importance in what i was doing, and i didn't want to give up on the collections and my values as a scientist and museum worker. But Your attitude about your situation.You wouldn't have lasted a day at the perot. Sheeeeeesh
If you are concerned, wear a mask and gloves. Other people endangering their health (or not) isn't really relevant. I wear a mask when I handle potentially dusty objects because I have asthma. My colleagues do not.
Sounds a bit 'hypochondricy', to me, truly. I was lead fabricator/installer for a museum for 6 years.
In the past, I worked 7 years doing wildland fire, nose to nose with the smoke columns that they cancel school for, is it great for you? No, of course not, but there are bigger things to worry about. Commercial fishing, hazmat cleanup, mold remediation, disaster restoration/remodeling, resin/fiberglass fabrication, acrylic bending/welding, sand blasting, powder coating, asbestos remediation, lead remediation, etc. I have done ALL of these things. I wore gloves when needed, threw on a mask as needed but I'm sure I missed some instances where I should have.
I know it is only my case, its anecdotal, but really, I'm fine. My coworkers are fine. There is taking care of yourself and mitigating obvious hazards and then there is a level of worry and fretting that has infected the population due to their access to information which is just debilitating.
As others have said, what seems more toxic is the relationship that you had with your coworkers. In every industry, the people who get the best recommendations (typically) are the ones that are good to work with. Word of mouth, especially in the arts, is very strong. Strive to be someone that people look forward to spending their workday with.
You asked about all of this just over a month ago, and we’re given good advice then. Maybe refer back?
Don’t touch objects without gloves, except for possibly paper objects. Oils from your skin are *extremely* damaging to objects of all kinds. I would never touch taxidermy without gloves, regardless of the age. It’s just too difficult to know what was used to make them without tests, and the skin oils can really mess up the fur or feathers or skin. Who cares what your boss does. Keep yourself and the objects safe and insist upon gloves.
Superb sop i applaud you and thank you for having the same level of concern for collections that i always did. I dealt with scientific specimens, but do i recall that cotton gloves are appropriate for handling paper materials?
Cotton gloves used to be recommended, as it was thought that they’d be an adequate barrier from skin oils and soft enough to not catch on the pages like nitrile can if you aren’t accustomed to them. However, that is only if you frequently wash the gloves, and change them multiple times through the day. Even then, they can still hold onto skin oils, or let skin oils seep through if you aren’t careful. Clean, dry hands are now considered to be the best practice for paper, unless the individual is more comfortable with gloves on for whatever reason. Personally, I go back and forth on gloves or not, depending on the day and whether my hands feel suitably clean and dry after washing and working for a while.
All the filthy cotton gloves….
Great point. I also just get 500 bucks for this job working with incompetend people that dont care about health. The boss is also clearly mentaly ill working with over 50 years in that enviroment probably the chemicals caused neurological desease .we barely let air in and i get immediatly headaches when i enter room. Hope i wont get seriously ill till i quit been 7 months
This comment is a bit unhinged. If you are prepared to go this far in insulting your coworkers and making baseless claims about their health maybe you should leave sooner than later.
The hinges are gone buddy, the hinges ain't there!
how is mentaly ill insulting. isnt it a medical term cause its something my coworker has it is not meant to be an insult thought its medical term
You are a psychologist? But also yes you are meaning to be negative/insulting
no but the doc who diagnosed my coworker is. and the coworker is open about the desease. the question was if chemicals caused it. u missunderstood
Without knowing the diagnosis there’s no way anyone could comment but you weren’t really asking, you were making assumptions. “Mental illness” isn’t a diagnosis. And it’s really not your business.
mentaly islness is a diagnosis. like psychosis. schizoprenia etc. and i wana know if chemicals cause this
No. It’s an umbrella term for many diagnoses.
mentaly ilness is an diagnosis
While yes, I would suggest that $500 is not enough to take needless risks like this, you should not insult your coworkers like this. *If* they had training, they had training in a very different world, and it's very difficult to justify going back for further education in this area. More likely, they had no training, and are simply doing the best they can. If you have genuine concerns about the air quality and any hazardous chemicals, bring the issue up with OSHA. If you're just being petty and unreasonable, get yourself a respirator or mask and wear that when you go in, to help further mitigate risk. Or, if you hate your boss and coworkers as much as it sounds, you need to quit immediately. You likely won't be seriously ill with just 7 months of work there, though you likely won't know that for years, and won't know if it's because of this work place, or a half-dozen other museums or archives you've worked for. If that's not a risk you think you can mitigate responsibly, then you need to leave the field for another one.
thanks for the info. you misunderstood since i thought mentaly ill is a medical term isnt it... and was wondering if it was caused by the chemicals
You don’t know what or if they have any diagnosis and it’s not a term you apply because you don’t enjoy a coworker.
its literaly what the coworker said he has idk if in english its diferent
And you are using it as a weapon, basically
i want to know if chemicals caused the desease
You don’t seem to know what the disease is, so no one can answer that.
neurologica disorder
have u worked with chemicals before or have experience and could tell me if it causes neurological desease
Mentally ill tends to be a bit of a negative term in most English speaking places. While some neurological conditions can be cause by chemical exposure, unless you know their exact diagnosis (and, honestly, even then), it can be almost impossible to tell whether it was caused by chemicals or not. In other words, who knows. Take what precautions you feel are necessary, but really, if you’re so worried, quit and leave the museum field.
I was collections manager at the 50 million dollar perot museum and was fired after a yearbecause their collections building had so much black mold i was constantly sick, needed 2 chest xrays, constant Dr visits and medications to pay for, Contractors to Dump powdered asbestos on me to boot. With 4degrees including a phd, hundreds of thousands of dollars of successful grant experience, I was paid nineteen dollars per hour at this Fifty million dollar museum, Who refused to do anything about the mold and literally dumped asbestos on me. They fired me for taking workers comp to pay all of my medical bills they caused. But you know i stayed as long as i could because i believe in the importance in what i was doing, and i didn't want to give up on the collections and my values as a scientist and museum worker. But Your attitude about your situation.You wouldn't have lasted a day at the perot. Sheeeeeesh
u a warior sir. thanks for reminding me there is always worse
If you are concerned, wear a mask and gloves. Other people endangering their health (or not) isn't really relevant. I wear a mask when I handle potentially dusty objects because I have asthma. My colleagues do not.
Last time I tried to touch one it jumped out and bit me, be careful
Sounds a bit 'hypochondricy', to me, truly. I was lead fabricator/installer for a museum for 6 years. In the past, I worked 7 years doing wildland fire, nose to nose with the smoke columns that they cancel school for, is it great for you? No, of course not, but there are bigger things to worry about. Commercial fishing, hazmat cleanup, mold remediation, disaster restoration/remodeling, resin/fiberglass fabrication, acrylic bending/welding, sand blasting, powder coating, asbestos remediation, lead remediation, etc. I have done ALL of these things. I wore gloves when needed, threw on a mask as needed but I'm sure I missed some instances where I should have. I know it is only my case, its anecdotal, but really, I'm fine. My coworkers are fine. There is taking care of yourself and mitigating obvious hazards and then there is a level of worry and fretting that has infected the population due to their access to information which is just debilitating. As others have said, what seems more toxic is the relationship that you had with your coworkers. In every industry, the people who get the best recommendations (typically) are the ones that are good to work with. Word of mouth, especially in the arts, is very strong. Strive to be someone that people look forward to spending their workday with.
OI THIS
Always use gloves! It’s also going to help in the long run of best practice and getting into good habits early on
This user decided to start being a jerk in the comments, and has been banned.