In light of a recent accident at the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge, TN, our guest blogger, Paul Koehler shares his thoughts on the safety of museum exhibits.

With all the exhibits I've been involved with (38 total years); to my knowledge, they have all been safe for visitors. But this is an interesting topic for discussion and a topic to always be aware of.

Exhibit designers have a variety of training and work experience that makes them good at what they do. Most of them do not have training in engineering.

Our fabrication contractors aren't engineers, but all of them practice what I've always called "intuitive engineering". They instinctively know how to build things sturdy and safe. And they don't have to wait until something is built to declare it unsafe; they can do that while it is still lines on paper.

Early in a project, during a phone call or meeting, the exhibit fabricator's project manager may say, "turn to sheet 12, detail 3. As designed, this is not very safe. We propose to modify it as follows: _______". Some of this knowledge/skill may be because exhibit fabrication grew from the same family tree as house carpentry -- which has a pretty good multi-century track record for safety.

When an exhibit is being fabricated for a national park visitor center, I would always inform the park client that the fabricator will be using screws and fasteners to secure the components to the walls and floors. If the exhibits will be housed within an historic structure, the client is rightfully concerned about penetrations punching into the historic fabric. The client would ask, "well, how much drilling will the contractor need to do?" And the answer is always the same: "for each & every component, whatever it takes to make sure it's securely attached, safe and not going anywhere".

This is not a means of wading into a debate about "this is not really a museum exhibit, this faux iceberg is more a theme park attraction, and should have been built according to theme park safety standards." To me, ALL of it is interesting, cool stuff that costs much time and money to plan, design, build and install. And we all want the same results: for visitors to safely enjoy, learn from, and interact with it all.