FIRST Steps & Considerations

Are people involved safe? Is there still a risk to people? This section will review some initial steps and considerations in coping with a disaster.

NYCOSH: New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health is a resource center where you will find more than 100 pages of news and information about on-the-job-safety and health, pluse more than 1,500 links to more information on the internet that you can use to enhance occupational safety.

NYS Department of Health: Environmental and Occupational Health

Mold

Moisture that results from fire suppression, leaks, and other sources can cause mold growth. Check the following links to learn the best ways to deal with this potentially toxic threat.

Facts About Mold
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/epi/epimold.shtml

Mold as a Threat to Human Health
http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byorg/abbey/an/an18/an18-6/an18-602.html

Mold: A Follow-up
http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byauth/kaplan/moldfu.html

Mold: The Whole Picture - pt. 1
http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byorg/abbey/an/an23/an23-4/an23-402.html

Mold: The Whole Picture - pt. 2, Assessment of Mold Problems
http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byorg/abbey/an/an23/an23-5/an23-502.html

Mold: The Whole Picture - pt. 3, A Neglected Public Health Problem
http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byorg/abbey/an/an23/an23-6/an23-602.html

Mold: The Whole Picture - pt. 4, Effect of Mold on Schools, Homes & Human Beings
http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byorg/abbey/an/an23/an23-7/an23-702.html

Fungi in Buildings
This link provides identification of many common fungi in outdoor air and North American buildings.
http://www.dehs.umn.edu/iaq/fungus/

Air Quality

Find out about the various kinds of air quality issues that may arise from a disaster.

Building Structure

Disasters often compromise the structural integrity of a building. What can you do to ensure that no one is hurt upon re-entering a damaged structure?

Health and Safety Universal Precautions for Post-Flood Buildings
This site covers only information relating to the health and safety hazards of buildings after floods. It DOES NOT contain detailed instructions about cleaning or claims procedures.
http://siri.uvm.edu/library/flood.html

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Safety FIRST

New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health
entire site addresses health related topics for the workplace as well as information and tips for dealing with disasters.
http://www.nycosh.org/index.html

Publications

BCIN, the Bibliographic Database of the Conservation Information Network, is the Web's most complete bibliographic resource for the conservation, preservation and restoration of cultural property.
http://www.bcin.ca/

English Heritage produces a wide variety of free publications with subjects covered from repair, conservation and management of historic areas, listed buildings or scheduled monuments to grants and funding or more general information on some aspect of English Heritage's work
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/default.asp?WCI=WebItem&WCE=2751

AATA Online enhances the preservation of our global cultural patrimony by providing high quality, peer-reviewed abstracts of the international literature of conservation and heritage management in a free online database. Updated quarterly, AATA Online currently includes abstracts of over 100,000 citations, enabling practitioners from many fields of heritage preservation to identify and select resources relevant to their work.
http://aata.getty.edu/NPS/

Preservation Sourcebook Update 2000 This preservation sourcebook provides an annotated bibliography of preservation/conservation publications, a descriptive listing of preservation/conservation resources available on the Internet and a directory of preservation service providers.
local link

Case Studies

Contra Costa County Courthouse Fire
http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byorg/bapnet/misc/court.html

Trial By Tornado - One records facility's response to a devastating tornado demonstrates the necessity of a solid disaster recovery plan.
http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byauth/jonesw/tornado.html

Prevention & Preparedness

Smithsonian Institution Staff Disaster Preparedness Procedures outlines procedures for specific types of disasters, from fires and floods to civil unrest and terrorism.
http://www.nara.gov/arch/techinfo/preserva/primer/eng8.html

Emergency Planning and Recovery Techniques is an online resource created by the Lower Hudson Conference that discusses prevention, planning, response, recovery, and several other aspects of disaster planning.
http://www.lowerhudsonconference.org/EMPART/

2001 Philadelphia Area Emergency Response Resources List
The purpose of CCAHA's 2001 Philadelphia Area Emergency Response Resources List is to assist institutions in the preparation of their own Emergency Telephone List and in the selection of emergency supplies and equipment to have on-site. Topics covered in the Resources List include:
- Suggested list of emergency supplies and equipment to have on-hand
- Emergency supplies and equipment vendors
- Service providers for emergency response
- Conservators: national and local resources
- Mold recovery: cleaning & safety supplies and equipment
http://www.ccaha.org/technic.html

DRC, The Disaster Research Center, the first social science research
center in the world devoted to the study of disasters
http://www.udel.edu/DRC/about.html

National Fire Protection Association
http://www.nfpa.org/Codes/index.asp

CCAHA offers emergency assistance for institutions and individuals with damaged paper-based collections by offering conservation treatment, technical information, training programs, and consultation services including on-site assistance at the time of an emergency and resources for writing emergency preparedness and response plans.
http://www.ccaha.org/disaster.html

Northern States Conservation Center
Providing collection care, preservation and conservation treatment services to collectors and collecting institutions.
http://www.collectioncare.org/cci/ccic.html

EPIX, Emergency/Preparedness Information Exchange
http://epix.hazard.net/index.html

Williamstown Art Conservation Center
http://www.williamstownart.org/home.htm

Northeast Document Conservation Center
NEDCC is a regional conservation center specializing in the preservation and conservation treatment of paper-based materials including historic documents, maps, books, scrapbooks, photographs, works of art on paper, historic wallpaper, and disaster assistance.
http://www.nedcc.org

New York State Emergency Management Office
http://www.nysemo.state.ny.us/

NSCC, Northern States Conservation Center
http://www.collectioncare.org/cci/cciep.html

COOL (Conservation online), Disaster preparedness and response
http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/bytopic/disasters/

SOLINET - Preservation & Access
http://www.solinet.net/preservation/preservation_home.cfm

CCI - Canadian Conservation Institute
http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/

Salvage & Recovery

Funding Sources

Grants Action News
http://www.assembly.state.ny.us

New York Landmarks Conservancy
http://www.nylandmarks.org

New York State Program for the Conservation & Preservation of
Library Research Materials
http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/cp

Federal Agencies

Federal Emergency Management Agency
http://www.fema.gov/