COLLECTION EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS

Presented by Kim Morris

Art & Archival P/L

A Bit of History

¨ Collection emergencies can occur anytime, anywhere

¨ In 1985 the NLA suffered a devastating fire that identified the need to plan for Collection Disasters

¨ No collection disaster plans existed in Australia at this time

¨ Many different types of incidents have affected cultural collections before and since

¨ Business recovery planning, risk management, insurance requirements and auditing have made disaster planning more essential

The 3 Phases of Disaster Planning

BeforePreparedness and Prevention¨ Risks identified and assessed¨ Collections prioritised¨ Resources identified¨ Plans prepared, updated and/or refined¨ Key roles allocated¨ Funding and support identified

Prevention (or risk reduction) is easy¨ Building maintenance and repair (maybe not so

easy)¨ Good housekeeping¨ Good storage¨ Correct handling¨ Staff/volunteer training

¨ General staff/volunteer awareness¨ Resources, equipment and supplies identified and

put into place

During

Response (Immediate and Short Term)¨ Identify, assess, report, attend to incidents¨ Document what’s happened¨ Stabilise situations quickly and safely¨ Develop a recovery plan

AfterRecovery (Long Term) planning ̈ Plan prioritise and make decisions¨ Protect or evacuate and treat affected collections¨ Restore access and services to clients/visitors¨ Assess of your plan’s effectiveness and reasons for

the occurrence of the emergency

9 steps to developing your disaster plan

1Identify risks that may effect your building/s

and collections Flood Fire & Smoke Earthquake Storm Terrorist (Bomb) Weather Sewage Water leak Poor storage &

handling Mould

Equipment malfunction

Insect and vermin infestation Vandalism High dust levels Accident Theft Building works/alterationsAnd many more depending on your assessment

Collection Risks

Canberra Hail Storm, January 2007

2Determine the type of materials in your

collection ¨ Books and other

bound material¨ Large and small

sheet material (unbound)

¨ Artworks on paper, canvas, and other supports

¨ Vellum, parchment and leather materials

¨ Photographic materials

¨ Electronic and magnetic media

¨ Sound recordings and film

¨ Objects (organic and inorganic)

¨ Large and small technology items

¨ Material on loan to your organisation

¨ Different collection materials can require different response and handling techniques depending on the type of incident that has affected them

3Prioritisation

There are many ways of prioritising collections:¨ Significance¨ Value¨ Uniqueness ¨ Cultural significance¨ Rarity

¨ Owned by someone else¨ And others depending on your organisation’s

collection focus and policies

Prioritisation can be a complicated process that requires good knowledge of collections, and careful consideration, debate and planning by managers and staff

A simple categorisation of collections:

¨ Category 1 items: those it is essential to save¨ Category 2 items: those it would be good to save¨ Category 3 items: those that it is not essential to

save (at least in their original form)

4Determine resources that already exist on-site

¨ An established security structure¨ Good Building maintenance¨ Cleaning personnel and supplies¨ Good cleaning practices¨ Emergency supplies¨ Emergency plans, risk management reports, business

recovery and crisis management plans, etc.¨ Good storage¨ Smoke detection and Fire suppression systems¨ Fire safety precautions¨ And many more

Recommendations for improvement in established resourcescan be made based on your findings.

5Determine resources that already exist off-site

¨ The fire brigade¨ Police¨ Emergency services¨ Armed forces

¨ Government agencies and services¨ Electricity Gas and Water Companies¨ Contractors

Plans should be developed in close consultationwith the fire brigade. They may be in control of yourbuilding in the event of a major incident

6Availability of resources to make your plan

achievable¨ Funding¨ Equipment for dealing with response and recovery¨ Personnel resources¨ Outside resources

Plans must reflect reality and allow for possible shortfalls

7Write your plan

Based on the information you have gathered:¨ Prevention procedures¨ Preparedness procedures: key contact list with allocated

responsibilities and roles¨ Awareness and training policy¨ Emergency equipment and supplies lists and locations¨ Emergency action procedures¨ Special handling instructions for affected collections¨ Outside resource lists

The plan structure may vary depending on yourorganisation’s needs

8Allocate key responsibilities and tasks

¨ Committee: Policy direction, funding, decision making¨ Collection managers: Knowledge of collections,

prioritisation¨ Building manager: Building maintenance, upgrading

building, cleaning, security¨ Personnel manager: Staff and volunteers, counselling,

OH&S, training, resources¨ IT: Maintenance of computer services, data bases¨ Public relations: keeping people and media advised¨ Front of House: visitor safety¨ Collection emergency recovery team: response and

recovery

In small organisations these responsibilities may be under the control of a few people

9Maintain your plan on a regular basis

Plans can quickly become outdated and should be revised regularly to remain fully useful

Areas that need updating can include:¨ Key staff¨ Contact phone numbers¨ Outside Suppliers¨ Contractors¨ Collection priorities and locations¨ Emergency actions

An out of date plan can be useless where quick decisive action is needed