Level 4 – Adapted commercial
Adapted civic structures built for large-scale inhabitation, industrial processes, or business activities. Historic structures that possess elaborate architecture. In your action plan, include appropriate elements from previous levels.
Examples
Good enclosure: basic professional, commercial, or civic building adapted to museum, archive, or gallery use.
Plan B
None
Site
Drainage ensured close to foundation walls, but overall site may not yet be adapted to 100-year cycle of weather extremes, or is affected by adverse elements from neighbouring properties, which are strong pest attractors.
Plan B
Include in the site development planning the means to reduce the possibility of flooding and to eliminate places where rodents could live.
Building
Often has a mineral-based exterior surface (e.g. jointed stone, brick). Has multiple doors to the exterior, a mudroom, or a divided entrance hall. Single layer of doors, such as emergency exits, are sealed tightly with brush strips, rubber blades, and rodent-proof metal. Structure has an HVAC system system for air conditioning, heating, and forced air movement.
Plan B
Improve sealing of doors, windows, and other perforations to prevent pest access. Improve interior partitions to limit rodent travel by reducing gaps under doors and screening perforations.
Portable fittings
It has exterior garbage bins or a purpose-designed loading bay garbage collection area (the bay is inside one exterior door, but has a well-fitting inner door that cuts the bay off from the corridor). More extensive use of display cabinets, which may not all be insect proof but greatly lower the incidence of insect infiltration. All collections are placed on shelving or on pallets. There may not be easy access for pest inspections throughout the storeroom because of overcrowding. Hallways are also used as overflow storage.
Plan B
Create an enclosed space for quarantining incoming goods and artifacts as well as for disinfesting new acquisitions. Obtain a chest freezer, CO2 fumigation bubble, or nitrogen treatment chamber. Train several staff to properly and safely use this equipment and to comply with regulations. Incorporate inspection needs when rehousing collection.
Procedure
Basic visual inspection of collection arising from its use rather than from systematic inspection. Few traps used in areas with major exterior openings. Annual storage room sanitation procedures limited to vacuuming, but only in corridor spaces, not under lower shelves. Gallery cleaning more frequent, but does not keep up with dust, litter, hair, etc. that is deposited in restricted spaces.
Plan B
Conduct annual cleaning, reduce clutter, vacuum under shelving, inspect rarely accessed collections. Quarantine and eradicate pests before objects are introduced into collections. With an established IPM program and a low internal pest incidence, new collections are the highest risk for introducing infestation, along with used packaging and food service activities. Disposing of garbage (especially foods) on a daily basis and immediately cleaning spills is necessary. Hire a pest control operator (PCO) to clean public food areas. Hire a PCO to clean collection areas only if heavily infested and in need of remedial action (baseboard sprays only, avoid area fumigation or pesticide application on objects). Use a trapping program to detect pests. If the building is reasonably tightly enclosed, regular trapping will tell more about what is going on in collections than what is crawling into the building that day.
Prognosis
Expect local outbreaks of pests, caused from importing pests along with objects rather than from building infiltrations. Insects are more commonly imported than rodents.
Plan B
Reduction of chronic textile, fur, and skin/hide pest infestations. Annual levels may be chronic, but should occur less often and with less severity.
Expected deterioration
Anticipated effects show up within the equivalent time to the building's lifetime on robust materials, within a century on soft materials, and within decades on delicate materials.
Plan B
Less frequent infestation by insects than seen in previous levels.
CCI Technical Bulletin Nº 29.
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