 |
|
|
DISASTER PREVENTION AND PLANNING: PART I By Miriam Kahn, Preservation Consultant, MBK Consulting Local History Notebook, January / February 1995 As we all are aware, disasters usually strike without notice; if you have any warning you are one of the lucky institutions. It is vital, therefore, to prepare for these unpredictable events in order to protect your collection and institution from irreparable damage and loss. Planning for disasters is essential for every museum, historical society, library, and archival facility. In the last few years, there have been a number of disasters that have rocked the world of our many diverse cultural institutions. The floods in Chicago caused by infrastructure breakdown, Hurricanes Andrew and Hugo in Miami and Charleston, flooding in the Midwest, the earthquake in Los Angeles, tornadoes in Texas, and flooding in Georgia are just a few of the natural disasters that have caused wide-scale crises to communities and billions of dollars in damage. Man-made disasters are also common, including the bombing of the World Trade Center and arson-related fires in California and other areas on the West Coast. Disaster prevention and preservation measures work in concert to decrease passive and active damage to collections. The time, energy, and resources necessary for prevention are well worth the expenditure in order to decrease loss and damage in the present. These proactive efforts can curtail additional deterioration from poor storage or environmental conditions. In these days of reduced staff and budgets, protecting resources is paramount, for funding may not exist to replace lost collections and artifacts. Designing a plan now can reduce stress and loss during a future disaster. Forming a Team The first step in disaster preparedness is organizing an in-house team charged with writing and implementing a disaster response plan. In larger institutions, for various types of disasters, the teams may be composed of several staff persons. In smaller organizations, the team may consist of the same person or group for all disasters. The team should be made up of some professionals and some paraprofessionals. Include a person on your team who has been involved in a previous disaster, if possible, because they will be able to provide your team with invaluable advice. Invite maintenance and security subcommittees to participate and encourage them to provide guidance throughout the planning phase for recovery of the physical building, removal of water, and other related issues. Disaster response planning begins with discussion about worst-case scenarios, which can help alert you to disaster potential in your area. Next, assign responsibilities and authority to each of the team members. One person should be named the team or committee leader who will help to assemble the team, make decisions, assign work, and act as the liaison between the team and the administration. The team leader should be someone who can give commands and make decisions under pressure. The director or board of trustees should designate the team leader ahead of time to avoid confusion during a crisis. The team members should know which jobs are their primary responsibility, such as clean-up, packing, inventory, acquiring emergency supplies and contacting disaster recovery firms, and working with volunteers. Pick an alternate for each team member in case he or she is out of town or unavailable. Assign a person to deal with the media. This is an important task. The media is always looking for a good story, and this person must present your organization in the best possible light. Choose a person comfortable working with the media and who has a communications or public relations background. The director should only be an auxiliary member of the disaster response team. He or she is responsible for managing the institution and will have to make financial decisions and deal with the governing board in addition to working with the insurance adjuster. Another important responsibility for the director is to maintain positive morale among staff or volunteers. 'Disaster response is a thankless job and workers need every encouragement to continue until it is over.Prevention Identify potential hazards in the institution and perform the necessary maintenance to prevent a potential disaster. Include them in your plan. Look for evidence of previous water leaks because another leak may occur in the same place. Do the drains in your facility back up in the winter or flood in the spring? If so, clean them regularly. Look for signs of mold, and, if mold is present, correct the environmental conditions to prevent a mold bloom. Remove moldy items for treatment, and disinfect the area. Decrease the relative humidity so the air is drier, and make certain the air conditioner or heating system is working and draining properly. Are insects present? They are attracted by moisture, dark, warm places, and food. Other hazards or potential disasters are collections that are located under water pipes or air conditioning ducts. If it is not possible to relocate the collections, the stacks and shelving should run perpendicular to pipes to prevent soaking the entire collection. Make certain all smoke, heat, and fire detectors work. Do the alarms ring outside the building? Identify who monitors the alarms and is in charge of notifying the proper authorities should one sound. If there are no smoke or fire detection devices, install some immediately. Many institutions are located near a fire station, but the fire department will not know there is a fire, unless the alarms go off and they are notified. If the facility has a sprinkler system, determine how often it is checked. The team should also know how to turn the sprinklers off. If the building is underground, install water sensors that will ring if water collects on the floor. Hook the sensors into the alarm system. Have the security and maintenance committees check all the alarms on fire exits to make certain they ring. Also, if available, check that backup lights and emergency generators work. (See Part II Notebook in March/April 1995 issue of The Local Historian.)Priorities for Saving Establish priorities for saving the collection which include several categories for recovery: 1) necessary for institution to survive or irreplaceable2) important to provide services or difficult to replace 3) nice to have 4) could do without Determining priorities can be the most difficult part of the Disaster Response Plan because vested interest groups can disagree about what collections are essential for the continuation of the institution. During this planning process, evaluate the different collections and weigh their intellectual, artifactual, and monetary value against their loss. While prioritizing the collection, talk to disaster recovery firms and conservators to learn about recovery versus replacement costs. This information will help in determining priorities and recovery treatment choices and assist when purchasing insurance coverage for the collection. Start by determining what cannot survive water damage. Many early formats of photographs and some furniture and cloth cannot survive immersion in water. These items should be stored away from any potential water leaks, and be rescued first. The same is true of coated papers. Most will stick together permanently if they get soaked and dry by themselves. Prevention ethics dictate that all valuable and permanent records should be duplicated to prevent total loss or destruction. Store the duplicates in another location and update them as needed. Keep irreplaceable items in a safe and dry location, and mark them for first removal efforts. The second priority for recovery are those items that are important to the mission of the institution. These might include important primary source documentation in a library and archives and core artifacts or one-of-a-kind photographs in a museum or historical society. Second priority items are those that are difficult to replace or are needed to continue the important functions of the organization. Your plan should mark these areas for second evacuation efforts. The third priority for recovery are those items that would be nice to have because they round out the collection. These may be artifacts that are fairly common and can be easily replaced, as well as supporting archival materials such as multiple copies of newspapers and magazines. Many secondary resource materials such as reference books, journals, and history books can be replaced. Much of this part of the collection is replaceable but should be recovered if possible. If your institution is financially able, it is highly recommended to microfilm paper documents and store the originals and master films off-site. The last priority level are those items that are not essential to the collection or the mission of the institution. Some items may already be marked for disposal or are duplicates in your collection. Only discard these items if they cannot be recovered.In case of a flood or water damage caused by sprinklers during a fire it is important to remember that only items that are wet or have a raised moisture content will need to be treated or dried. Those items that are dry and undamaged should be removed to a dry, stable, secure location so that the disaster response team can focus on recovery. Additionally, the recovery team should assemble or purchase a disaster response kit with sufficient amounts of the following items to start the recovery operation: • boxes (1 cubic foot)• flashlights with batteries • film and camera • tape, waterproof markers • interleaving materials • plastic sheeting Insurance Two companion steps for disaster prevention planning are inventory and insurance. In order to have the collection valued accurately, the inventory should be up-to-date, with copies stored off-site and with your insurance agent. An up-to-date inventory also ensures intellectual control of the collection after a disaster strikes so all items can be accounted for. Purchase insurance through a company that regularly insures cultural institutions. Make certain that the necessary insurance riders are updated on a regular basis and adequately insure the collection for loss and damage. Books, papers, and art works fall under "valuable papers" riders while computers and data fall under "computer" riders. Be cognizant of what your policy covers and the time period. Purchase "Business Interruption Insurance" which will help pay for office and equipment rental, salaries, and other expenses while the institution is not operating. Review special needs with your agent. Make certain that all unusual clauses are clearly written. The insurance adjuster on the scene of a disaster is not the agent who sold you the policy and will reimburse only what the policy covers, so do not assume anything. Do not forget to cover items in storage and to purchase extra insurance for exhibits and transportation of the collection. Other Considerations Emergency funds are vital to any disaster response plan and should be included in any annual budget that your organization develops. If you do not need the funds that year, keep the money on reserve. The line item will cover the insurance deductible and miscellaneous expenses. During the planning process, the board of trustees should designate a person who has the authority to sign emergency purchase orders and petty cash expenditures. Ask for help from local institutions and libraries. Identify local or regional consultants, consortia and disaster recovery firms. Have them come to the institution to learn your priorities, needs, and concerns. Arrange for services on an as-needed basis. The most important step in the disaster response planning process is training. Teach the team and the rest of the staff what to do when a disaster occurs, who to call, and where to report. Staff should have a basic idea of what to do with water damaged or moldy materials, how to move and pack them, and what will damage the wet items. Team members should know what their responsibilities are, where supplies are stored, what jobs need to be done, and how and when to call for help. Schedule fire drills, learn how and when to use a fire extinguisher, where the fire exits are, and if there are any special emergency exit needs for staff or patrons. Practice packing wet and damaged books. This will take the mystery out of disaster recovery operations. Review the plan based upon performance of procedures by the staff. Do the jobs serve recovery needs? Can the assigned staff perform their tasks adequately? Does the plan omit anything important? Is it too complicated? Revise and practice the plan as needed and update it at least once a year. Give a copy of the plan to every team member and all departments. Store several copies of the written plan in private residences at homes for midnight emergency calls. Through a Disaster Response Plan, poor environmental and storage conditions can be improved and staff/volunteers can be trained to deal with disaster-related problems appropriately and in a timely fashion. MBK Consulting was founded in 1991 by Miriam Kahn, preservation consultant. MBK Consulting specializes in disaster recovery planning, prevention, and response for cultural institutions and small businesses, and provides preservation products and services to companies and cultural institutions. Communications to the author should be addressed to Miriam B. Kahn, MBK Consulting, 60 North Harding Road, Columbus, Ohio 43209, (614) 239-8977; e-mail: info@mbkcons.comThe Local History Notebook is edited and published by the Ohio Historical Society's Local History Office in order to bring useful information to people working in the local history field. The selection of subjects and authors is based on the OAHSM Editorial Board's and the Local History Office's determination of issues which are timely in nature and lasting in scope. The reference inserts are copyrighted 1995 by the Ohio Historical Society. Reprints are available individually or as complete sets; please specify volume and number. For further information, contact: Local History OfficeOhio Historical Society 1982 Velma Avenue Columbus, Ohio 43211 Phone: (614) 297-2340 Toll-free: (800) 858-6878 Fax: (614) 297-2318 oahsm@ohiohistory.org 
| |
|
http://www.ohiohistory.org/resource/oahsm/notebook/janfeb1995.html || Last modified Tuesday, 26-Jul-2005 12:37:23 Eastern Daylight Time Ohio Historical Center 1982 Velma Ave. Columbus, OH 43211 © 1996-2008 All Rights Reserved. |