Your Museum Emergency Plan in 10 Steps

What is the Museum Emergency Plan? Why do we need one?

The Museum Emergency Plan is your assessment of the hazards that could threaten the museum and the actions you could take if one occurs. It considers the safety of everyone who works in the building, visitors, objects and the building itself. Preparing the Plan is one of the most important things you can do for the welfare of your museum, because it enables you to identify problems before they occur and encourages you to consider every aspect of the building, its contents and the people who use it.

The Plan does three things:

  • It enables you to think through what could happen to the museum, to prepare for it and to minimise the possible damage.
  • It gives you the information you need in a hurry
  • It helps you make decisions at a difficult time

If someone smells smoke in the gallery, or a pipe bursts in the store, do you know what to do? Who would you call? Should you move objects out of the way? You’ve been coping with problems as they happen – wouldn’t it be helpful if you had a chance to sit down and think about them in advance? Now is the time to do it.

How do we start?

Does the museum already have a Plan? It may be helpful to improve an existing one, but don’t be afraid to start afresh. If your existing Plan looks good, then refer to it as you go through the Steps, and see where it can be improved as well as updated.

1.Assemble your group.

Plans work best when everyone in the museum is involved, although a small group may do the main work.

2.Assess the situation.

Walk through the whole building and look outside as well. List everything that could go wrong – from a traffic accident or an earthquake to a burst pipe in the attic or someone collapsing in the gallery. Do you have electricity, water, gas or oil in or near the building? Is the museum near a road, a railway or a flight path? Are there trees nearby? A restaurant, chip-shop or pub? How separate is its structure from neighbouring buildings? Is there an old ventilation system? The emergency services, your local authority and insurance company may be able to provide information and advice as well.

3.Consider the consequences

Having drawn up a list of all sorts of hazards and incidents, you can begin to sort them and decide what is likely to happen to the museum. What would be the immediate and long-term consequences? You may already have carried out this form of risk assessment for some hazards, but now you will be considering a wider range of effects. A small fire might not damage objects, but smoke, chemicals or powder from fire extinguishers and water from hoses can cause problems in a much larger area. What will happen if a pipe leaks, or the gutters overflow? The collection may also become hazardous – substances may change chemically or physically after exposure to heat, water or movement.

4.What can we do about it?

The safety of people always comes first. What information and equipment do you need for evacuation, first aid, notifying the authorities, turning off the gas, water and electricity in the building, security?

If there is no risk to people, what action is it feasible for them to take to minimise the damage? Can you move objects away from peril? Some museums have a list of important objects (a snatch list) which can be moved and which they would take care of first. Is this practical for your museum?

Some actions can be undertaken in advance. It may be possible to minimise the damage, for example, by lifting large items off the floor onto small blocks, or by placing a layer of polythene underneath water pipes in the attic to lead water away from vulnerable boxes below. Are boxes touching an external wall? If the gutters overflow and the wall becomes damp, the lack of airspace can cause mould to grow in the boxes very rapidly. Moving them an inch or two away from the wall now can prevent permanent staining and damage in future. How well is the building maintained?

How safe is your documentation and how recent is your back-up copy?

5.What do we need?

You will need information (telephone numbers, insurance policy details, floor plans) equipment and space. You may wish to have a box of emergency supplies for dealing with small incidents in the museum and a different one kept in another location. The museum kit might include gloves, face masks, sponges, disinfectant, buckets, a squeegee, cloths, paper towel, polythene sheet, zip-lock plastic bags, waterproof tape, cotton tape, torches, simple tools, a disposable camera, old sheets, warning signs, a record book and pencils. In the external kit you might also wish to have protective clothing, collapsible plastic crates, emergency record sheets for objects removed from the museum, which may be dirty, damaged and hard to identify. Where will you work during and after the incident?

Some items such as storage space and dehumidifiers may have to be hired or borrowed and it will be helpful to have the information on this in advance. You may wish to subscribe to an emergency drying service, such as Hanwell. Is your first aid kit up to date and easy to find?

6.Who will help?

It may be helpful to have one person who will act as the main contact. They may be in a convenient location or able to stay by the phone. (Remember, landlines and even mobile phones may not be operating for a while.) A rota of people may each have a list of others to contact, to spread the load. Who will be in charge? Who will contact the insurance company? Who will authorise expenditure?

What other people can you call on for help? Voluntary service organisations, youth groups, local schools and even companies may be able to provide manpower under your direction, especially if they have been contacted in advance. You may be able to come to an arrangement with a local bakery or greengrocers to borrow plastic crates, a local freezer centre may be prepared to let you store items in clean, sealed polythene bags in the freezer to prevent further damage while treatment is arranged. Can someone lend you a generator? A camping stove? Just having someone provide hot drinks and sandwiches while people are working in cold, wet conditions can make a big difference.

7.What should we do?

In the middle of an emergency, it’s a real help to have clear procedures, so that you don’t worry about doing the wrong thing. What do you do with smoke-blackened paintings? Muddy books? Soggy stuffed animals? Should you keep them cold, warm them up, let them breathe or put them in bags? First aid for objects may help prevent much greater long-term damage. A conservator or museum service should be able to provide useful information on this.

The Plan will enable you to provide emergency services with useful information including floorplans, locations of hazards and controls and special items.

8.Gather it all together

Now that you have identified the information, equipment and people you need, it’s time to assemble it in a useful form. You may want to have one or two copies encapsulated or filed in plastic pockets to make them waterproof and keep copies of the main information sheets by the steward’s desk or reception. How many copies do you need, and where will they be kept? Don’t forget to keep a note of who has a copy.

9.Rehearse

It’s time for a dry run. You don’t need to simulate an emergency, but a practice session at a convenient time will help you to find out how long it takes people to assemble, how well things work, and what each person needs to do. Do people feel confident to carry out their tasks? Would training help?

10.Refresh

After an incident, don’t forget to update the Plan, noting what worked (and what didn’t).

Have regular reviews to update the Plan. It helps to put the date of the next review on the front of the Plan as well as the date it was issued (so that everyone can check they have the most recent copy). You may wish to recall all the copies and update them together. Much of the information will stay the same, and it may help to have the items most likely to need changing (such as telephone numbers) on a separate page.

I always tried to turn every disaster into an opportunity.

John D. Rockefeller, US oil industrialist & philanthropist (1839 – 1937)

Helena Jaeschke, CDO

Exeter Museums ServiceNovember 2005