Deaccessioning and destruction of hazardous artifacts

We are reviewing our deaccession policy.  I would like to hear from
any institutions that has a clause in their deaccession policy
referring to the destruction of artefacts which are hazardous or
pose a risk to other collections or to staff (eg. severely
mould-contaminated documents).   Have any of you, as conservators,
been part of the decision-making process to determine that an
artefact is dangerous and should be destroyed?  What was the
procedure for making that decision?  And how was the artefact
destroyed?

Karen Potje
Head, Conservation/Preservation
Canadian Centre for Architecture


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 18:54
                   Distributed: Friday, May 20, 2005
                       Message Id: cdl-18-54-020
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