Hi Rachel!
We have a written procedure in place that we have vetted with our Public Safety department since it is also a biohazard issue. We have a preventive conservation team that responds to any biohazard calls in our historic houses. After staff notices the accident, the area must be closed off to guests until cleaned. We have "biohazard kits" which are just backpacks filled with PPE (Gloves, masks, protective eyewear...), sorbent material (we use Zgoop), plastic biohazard bags, a disposable dustpan and broom, water spray bottle, bleach tablet, and step-by-step instructions. Since we care for many sites, we keep these in our office so that we can bring them with us when needed, and replenish them easily afterwards.
Our calls are most often on the floors in public walkways so we use the sorbent materials as directed, even on original flooring as it is just sawdust-based. After the sorbent material has absorbed as much as possible, we then dampen/mist it with water before sweeping into a dust pan so it clumps and does not get kicked up into the air. It is possible to lightly re-dampen carpet with water, add more sorbent material and repeat the steps. If it is on carpet we only use water, if it is on hardwood we add the bleach tablets (for about a 10:1 mixture of water-bleach). We then discard the biohazard waste in our biohazard bags and coordinate with Public Safety to dispose of it safely if it is a significant risk.
In the case of biohazard material getting on collections, we are lucky to have conservators in-house that we collaborate with. Generally, our preventive team can immediately remove solids and blot up excess hazard to minimize the impact it has. For any deeper cleaning we like to work with the conservators to be safe. I discussed specifics with my supervisor and he said as a general rule, if it's unfinished wood, 10:1 water-peroxide or bleach should work. To be extra safe, it is a good idea to do a small test patch in any scenario. Is your door painted? It would depend on the kind of paint, but it is possible that the diluted disinfectants mentioned previously might work, but again do a test patch and ideally consult with a conservator beforehand.
One of our previous Technicians, Annika Blake-Howland, along with our textiles conservator, Gretchen Guidess, presented a talk discussing some of our procedures in the 48th (virtual) annual meeting of
Wooden Artifacts Specialty Group (WAG) of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works (AIC) in 2020
titled, Biohazard at the Palace: Collaborative Response in Collection Care for Historic Interiors.I hope this helps!
------------------------------
Olivia Bascle
Senior Historic Interiors Technician
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Williamsburg VA
(434) 996-2927
------------------------------