Purpose
Museums care for their resources in trust for the public. It is therefore incumbent upon them to ensure the safety of their staff, visitors and neighbors, maintain their buildings and grounds, and minimize risk to the collections that they preserve for future generations. A current, comprehensive disaster preparedness and emergency response plan helps a museum to assess and manage risk, protect human life, and recover from natural and manmade disasters. Creating a plan and training museum staff, governing authority members, and volunteers on their roles within it ensures that a museum will be equipped to handle even the worst-case scenarios.
A Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Response Plan is a Core Document and supports the Facilities and Risk Management Core Standards.
Required elements
- Includes preparedness and response plans for all relevant emergencies and threats (natural, mechanical, biological, and human)
- Addresses the needs of staff, visitors, structures, and collections
- Specifies how to protect, evacuate, and recover collections in the event of a disaster
- Includes evacuation routes and assembly areas for people
- Assigns individual responsibilities for implementation during emergencies
- Lists contact information for relevant emergency and recovery services
- Includes floorplans
- Bears date of last revision
Resources
- National Standards and Best Practices for U.S. Museums (free PDF copy for all AAM museum members)
- Standards Regarding Facilities and Risk Management
- Covering Your Assets
- Mastering Your Museum’s Core Documents Toolkit (available for purchase)
- Disaster Planning Activity Guide
- Fundamentals of a Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Response Plan (recorded webinar)