By: Kara West

Lately, I’ve been thinking and talking a lot about risk management. Recently, I had the pleasure of attending the Smithsonian’s National Conference on Cultural Property Protection at the Getty. Experts in cultural property protection from all over the world filled my brain with reminders of long battled risks, information on new risks, and alerts of rises in risks I had never even heard of (like the recent rash of rhino horn thefts).   There were also many enlightening case studies, new developments in technology, and resources available to mitigate all types of risks.

Two weeks ago, it was my turn to talk about risk management, but at the San Diego Museum Council’s monthly meeting. The goals and approaches that I discussed with the group of staff and volunteers from small local museums wasn’t so different from the those explored the week before among Security Directors from institutions such as the Getty, Smithsonian, Tate, and Rijksmuseum.

Sure most museums may not have the money to build the seismic base isolators the Getty uses for sculptures in their antiquities collection or the iris scanners that the National Gallery of Art has installed, but you probably don’t need to.  Risk management doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. Responsible risk management is about recognizing the risks that your institution faces and managing those risks with the staff and resources that you have available. Risk management is common sense combined with getting the biggest bang for your buck. Sure a nail might hang your painting on the wall, but a tremor hanger will keep it there when the big earthquake tries to shake it off.

Here are my tips for risk management:

1. Admit your risks. What has already happened? If it happened once, it could happen again. Don’t passively sit by thinking lightning cannot strike again.
2. Figure out your hazards. Do some research through FEMA, your local office of emergency management, and the USGS, because you don’t need to plan for everything. Be realistic in what you prepare for.
3. Think about your vulnerabilities. What is your collection composed of and what has the potential to damage it the most? What vulnerabilities does your building have? Is a lack of staff training making you more vulnerable?
4. Consider the impact. It’s hard to imagine sometimes, but if one of the risks you have identified indeed happens, what will be the impact on your collection?
5. Create an action plan. How can you prevent a risk from causing damage? If you can’t prevent it, how can you reduce the impact? This is when you have to be both realistic about your resources and creative with your energy.

Jerry Podany, Senior Conservator at the Getty Villa, helped develop those fancy base isolation systems, but even he recognizes we can’t all have one, nor do we all need them. In his session at the Smithsonian conference, he reminded us all that we can do something to reduce damage to our collection that doesn’t cost a dime. Take that heavy item off the top shelf and put it on the bottom shelf. There, that was easy. Feel better? I do.

Kara West is the Assistant Director for Operations and Field Services at Balboa Art Conservation Center. A collections care specialist, she plans and presents preventive care educational programs throughout the western region and assists cultural institutions with hazard surveys and disaster planning. Ms. West a trained member of both The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and the American Institute for Conservation Collections Emergency Response Team (AIC CERT). She attended the Smithsonian’s National Conference on Cultural Property Protection with the assistance of the Creative Capacity Fund’s NextGen Arts Professional Development Program. Kara can be reached at kwest@bacc.org.