Training Personnel
Contents
Statement of Purpose
These links and documents contain information about best practices for training personnel working with natural history collections.
Introduction
Contributors
Staff Training
Be sure to train all employees and volunteers and to document that training. Likely modules will include:
- Animal care and use
- Proper curation practices
- Digitization protocols
- Georeferencing
- Chemical safety and disposal
- Radiation safety (if you have a radiograph)
- Field safety (including small boat operation and scientific diving, if relevant to your activities)
- Emergency protocols
- Prepare a spill kit, and replenish it after the (inevitable) use of said kit. This should include an absorbent scatterable material, absorbent pads, PIGs for confining flow, plastic bags, plastic dustpan and brush, personal protective equipment (goggles, gloves, lab coat), forceps for handling glass, cardboard boxes. Note that metal dustpans are spark hazards and should not be used around an alcohol collection.
- Prepare a chemical safety and use protocol in plain language to supplement material safety data sheets.
- Develop an emergency plan and a disaster plan.
- Include a strategy for handling electrical outage and providing backup electricity to freezers.
- Example emergency plan for powering freezers at the Oregon State Ichthyology Collection
Some of the features of the physical emergency systems built into the Oregon State Ichthyology Collection’s new facility can be found in this PDF: Emergency/disaster plan - sample KU document https://www.dropbox.com/s/dxwus8hlyvt34x2/Fluid%20Collections%20Disaster%20Plan%202010.pdf?dl=0 Dplan (www.dplan.org) demo disaster document - https://www.dropbox.com/s/ilkgsx7qjt1nmqk/dplan.org%20demo%20disaster%20plan%20document.pdf?dl=0 Insurance - difficulty in insuring natural history collections as specimens are unique in terms of date and location of collection. In most cases are irreplaceable and thus uninsurable
