This group examined aspects of the effects of environmental factors on the deterioration of cultural objects and the appropriateness of a medical analogy to the conservation field. The medical analogy reveals a number of useful procedures that, if implemented in the conservation field, may aid in the process of understanding, reducing, or preventing factors of decay. The second section of this report explores factors likely to affect hypothetical objects and the ability of the group to assign a degree of risk to those factors. The third section outlines the process of object examination, insofar as it serves to determine factors affecting deterioration, and is the basis of management-level decisions regarding care of the object. During this examination some gaps in the ability to assess damage are identified. Finally, in the appendix, the authors suggest an approach to filling some of these gaps.