[Solved] Notes & Major Points

Assignment Prompt & Instructions

– ## 3_1Theregistrarincollectionmanagement_Riskmanagement_2.pdf

**## 3_1Theregistrarincollectionmanagement_Riskmanagement_2.pdf**

Blog del Museu Nacional d'Art de
Catalunya » The registrar in
collection management: Risk
management

11–14 minutes

Sílvia Tena

Art collections and, in general, any kind of heritage require
great care and protection to ensure their safety with respect
to losses or external damage. Works of art experience
periods of extreme vulnerability (movement, transfer,
intervention, restoration work, temporary exhibitions and so
on). One of the aims of good collection management is to
create a secure environment for objects through the
implementation of a series of measures, which require the
experience of many museum professionals (conservators-
restorers, curators, registrars, specialists in security, in
preventive conservations, among others). These measures
can be divided into two main thematic groups: collection
management proper and risk management, which can be
seen as part of the former.

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[https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3233-005.jpg](https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3233-005.jpg)

Handling of exhibition showcase materials

On one hand, collection management deals with
administrative and legal responsibilities associated with
collections, the most central and strategic of which revolves
round the creation and maintenance of a scrupulous
inventory, as well as exhaustive documentation that places
each and every one of the objects looked after by the
institution historically, legally, artistically and physically. The
professionals most closely associated with collection
management are collection managers, registrars and
researchers. More details in the first part of this article, The
registrar in collection management: an emerging
profession /1.

But, on the other hand, a good collection management policy
must above all envisage good risk management, in the

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[https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3233-005.jpg](https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3233-005.jpg)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/](https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/](https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/](https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/](https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/](https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/](https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/](https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/](https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/](https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/)

sense that the latter is closely related to care of the
collections from the point of view of their physical
preservation, and different museum departments collaborate
in this.

The use of gloves is a preventive measure when handling
artworks

Risk management

Care of the collections can be defined as the different
preventive care steps taken to prevent damage or to delay
the natural deterioration of objects. These practices are
focused very especially on the prevention of risk and are
addressed to achieving “zero risk”, by minimizing the
potential damage caused by external sources.

The ICOM Committee for Conservation defines ten risks:

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[https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3265-016.jpg](https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3265-016.jpg)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3265-016.jpg](https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3265-016.jpg)

[http://www.icom-cc.org/15/about/#.WngKTq1DlBy](http://www.icom-cc.org/15/about/#.WngKTq1DlBy)

[http://www.icom-cc.org/15/about/#.WngKTq1DlBy](http://www.icom-cc.org/15/about/#.WngKTq1DlBy)

• physical forces (like earthquakes, bad handling, …)

• fire

• water

• acts of vandalism

• pests

• pollutants

• excessive exposure to light and radiation

• the wrong temperature (or brusque changes of it)

• the wrong relative humidity (or brusque changes of it)

• negligent care

• dissociation

Good collection maintenance involves seeking advice from
different specialists that carefully ensures the objects’
preventive conservation needs, and this ranges from asking
conservators-restorers for technical reports on the suitability
of supports and materials, to adequate methods of storage,
packaging, framing, cleaning and the correct handling of
objects, as well as the prevention and integral management
of pests and deterioration in frames, works of art and their
supports.

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[https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3146-013.jpg](https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3146-013.jpg)

Control of locations of artworks in the Museu Nacional’s
reserves

Loans and temporary deposits

Museums and institutions that look after collections often
temporarily transfer objects as part of a loan or through
temporary care agreements. This practice, which
undoubtedly contributes to the dissemination and
internationalization of collections and works, is nowadays
clearly and gradually on the increase. Nevertheless, it
constitutes a potential risk for collections that are loaned out.

Risk management is a multidisciplinary management policy
whose mission is focused on detecting, controlling,
minimizing and managing the different risks run by art
objects. It is essential to learn about the characteristics of
the objects, the technique with which they are made, the
year, the workshop or the artist who made them. One also
has to know the route taken to transport it, the entrances or

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[https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3146-013.jpg](https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3146-013.jpg)

the design of the most suitable packaging for each object.

A carefully thought out and considered loans policy is
therefore vitally important, aimed at minimizing risk,
weighing up the reasons for requesting, approving or
refusing a loan, observing officially approved international
regulations. As a general rule, museums have
interdisciplinary loan committees which discuss different
requirements prior to approving or refusing the loaning of
objects, which establish the fees associated with the loan,
where appropriate, and set the conditions – loan
specifications or loan agreement – that the borrower is
obliged to comply with.

Control of packaging when unloading artworks of a truck

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[https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3053-030.jpg](https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3053-030.jpg)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3053-030.jpg](https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3053-030.jpg)

Aside from the scientific interest of the project for which the
loaning of works is requested, the collection manager must
on one hand gather information about the borrower to help
him/her consider any possible risks to the object before it
leaves the museum and on the other, a series of technical
information that the registrar requests from different museum
professionals, like:

• the preventive conservation specialist is asked for a
technical assessment report of a document called the
facilities report, which will previously have been requested
from the person asking for the loan.

• another technical assessment report is requested from the
person in charge of security to assess the aspects of the
premises’ security.

• a conservator-restorer draws up a detailed report on the
object’s current condition (condition report). This report is
essential when making a decision about the feasibility of a
loan, and the factors included in this kind of report must be
taken into account above any and all others.

With all this information gathered, the collection registrar
produces general loan conditions whose purpose is to
foresee any possible risks for the work. Thus, the general
terms and conditions of the loan regulate and stipulate
conditions to be complied with such as the length of the loan
period, conservation and care obligations, instructions for

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the handling, packaging and transportation of the object,
whether or not a police escort and a courier are obligatory
(where appropriate), a line of credit for the catalogue,
conditions for insuring the work, the notification of incidents.
These documents also regulate a series of rights that the
loaning museum reserves such as the right to inspection and
retrieval. In short, each object in the collection receives
personalized attention, in accordance with its specific nature.

Storage and atmospheric conditions

Anchor control of artworks

When objects are looked after in museums, whether in the
storeroom or in the galleries, the collection manager’s chief
concern must be the continual safety of the objects. For this,
the collection registrar and, very especially, the conservator-

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[https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/soporte.jpg](https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/soporte.jpg)

restorer must take into account the suitability of storage
spaces, the containers for the works, and the necessary
atmospheric conditions to avoid damage to them. The
registrar asks conservators-restorers for advice when
drafting technical specifications and contracts that involve
the supply of materials. Among other things these include:

• Advice on the suitability of supports, vitrines, frames and
rigid packaging adapted to the works. This includes bearing
in mind the interior filling and the support of the objects to
avoid damage caused by bumps and scratches.

• The vitrines must be stable and watertight.

• Technical advice about the adhesives to be used, papers,
passe-partouts and foams; they must be materials that do
not cause any chemical reactions, abrasions or marks due to
contact with the work.

Apart from the materials wrapping the object, strict control of
the atmospheric conditions is important, given that
excessive humidity or brusque changes in relative
humidity and temperature can cause problems such as
corrosion, the proliferation of fungi colonies, cracks,
warping or fragility. In the Museu Nacional this task is
overseen by Preventive Conservation, and the registrar
notes down the parameters advised by the conservator-
restorer if the object is travelling on loan or its place is being
changed.

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Thus, good collection management will necessarily include
the joint work of several museum professionals and requires
the strict observance of rigorous controls of the parameters
of temperature, relative humidity (RH), the effects of certain
light spectra (UV), and the control of certain pollutants, a
feasibility and suitability study of packaging, frames, vitrines,
and so on. All this information is gathered by the collections
registrar, and he/she will turn it into different specifications,
loan agreements and other documents related to the object.

Packaging and transportation

In risk management, it is necessary to implement high
standards of handling, packaging and transportation.
Objects must be handled as little as possible. It is extremely
necessary to ensure that museum staff in direct contact with
the objects are well aware of good practices for handling
objects, such as hand washing protocols, the appropriate
use of cotton or rubber gloves, knowing how to identify
structural weaknesses that may require special care, and the
proper ways to transport objects inside institutions
(platforms, trolleys, dollies, lifts, trays, conservation cases,
etc.).

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[https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3053-034.jpg](https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3053-034.jpg)

Anchorage of packaging in the truck to avoid vibrations

To ensure safe transportation outside the museum, the
correct handling standards of objects must be combined with
strict individual packaging requirements for each object.
Ideally, the object must be packaged in a rigid container
(case) made of fireproof materials, to ensure
watertightness and protect it from bumps, vibrations, sudden
temperature changes and bad handling. The registrar
requests a technical report from the department of
conservation-restoration on the suitability of the packaging
materials and the handling.

On the other hand, the registrar will have to weigh up other
aspects to minimise risk such as the means of dispatch
(land, air or sea transport or a combination), the difference in
climatic conditions that the object will presumably encounter
when it arrives in the new destination, the most direct routes
or the need for police escorts if the work so requires it.

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[https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3053-034.jpg](https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3053-034.jpg)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/IMG_1563.jpg](https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/IMG_1563.jpg)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/IMG_1563.jpg](https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/IMG_1563.jpg)

Handling of large-format artworks

Integrated pest management

Good collections handling addressed to risk management
must include a section on pest control that in the case of the
Museu Nacional is implemented by the Infrastructures
Department according to technical requirements drawn up
by conservators-restorers.

Each intervention and control of pests must be painstakingly
researched, describing the effects of the pest, the parts of
the collection affected and the treatment applied for its
extermination. All this information has to be included in the
files of the collections.

Emergency plans

Apart from collection management, most institutions also

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[https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/IMG_1563.jpg](https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/IMG_1563.jpg)

have an emergency plan that regulates which procedures
must be followed to avoid not just injury or loss of life for
visitors and staff in the event of a catastrophe, but also to
minimize damage or losses in the collection.

The plan, in which the Departments of Maintenance,
Security, Collections and Conservation-Restoration are
heavily involved, must also include protocols on how to
manage an emergency evacuation of people and objects at
risk.

Emergency plans must also include systems of assessment,
rescue priorities, as well as post-damage inventories,
including damage recovery procedures.

Recommended links:

SPECTRUM. The UK Museum Collections Management
Standard. Risk Management procedure

Sílvia Tena

Registre d’obres d’art i Gestió de Col·leccions

Registre d’obres d’art i Gestió de Col·leccions

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[http://collectionstrust.org.uk/spectrum/](http://collectionstrust.org.uk/spectrum/)

[http://collectionstrust.org.uk/spectrum/](http://collectionstrust.org.uk/spectrum/)

[http://collectionstrust.org.uk/spectrum/](http://collectionstrust.org.uk/spectrum/)

[http://collectionstrust.org.uk/spectrum/](http://collectionstrust.org.uk/spectrum/)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/author/silvia-tena/](https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/author/silvia-tena/)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/author/silvia-tena/](https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/author/silvia-tena/)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/author/silvia-tena/](https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/author/silvia-tena/)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/author/silvia-tena/](https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/author/silvia-tena/)

**## 3_1Theregistrarincollectionmanagement_Riskmanagement_2.pdf**

Blog del Museu Nacional d'Art de
Catalunya » The registrar in
collection management: Risk
management

11–14 minutes

Sílvia Tena

Art collections and, in general, any kind of heritage require
great care and protection to ensure their safety with respect
to losses or external damage. Works of art experience
periods of extreme vulnerability (movement, transfer,
intervention, restoration work, temporary exhibitions and so
on). One of the aims of good collection management is to
create a secure environment for objects through the
implementation of a series of measures, which require the
experience of many museum professionals (conservators-
restorers, curators, registrars, specialists in security, in
preventive conservations, among others). These measures
can be divided into two main thematic groups: collection
management proper and risk management, which can be
seen as part of the former.

Blog del Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya » The registrar in collecti… about:reader?url=file%3A%2F%2F%2FUsers%2Fnizan.shaked%2FLib…

1 of 14 7/8/24, 10:39 AM

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3233-005.jpg](https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3233-005.jpg)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3233-005.jpg](https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3233-005.jpg)

Handling of exhibition showcase materials

On one hand, collection management deals with
administrative and legal responsibilities associated with
collections, the most central and strategic of which revolves
round the creation and maintenance of a scrupulous
inventory, as well as exhaustive documentation that places
each and every one of the objects looked after by the
institution historically, legally, artistically and physically. The
professionals most closely associated with collection
management are collection managers, registrars and
researchers. More details in the first part of this article, The
registrar in collection management: an emerging
profession /1.

But, on the other hand, a good collection management policy
must above all envisage good risk management, in the

Blog del Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya » The registrar in collecti… about:reader?url=file%3A%2F%2F%2FUsers%2Fnizan.shaked%2FLib…

2 of 14 7/8/24, 10:39 AM

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3233-005.jpg](https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3233-005.jpg)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3233-005.jpg](https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3233-005.jpg)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/](https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/](https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/](https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/](https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/](https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/](https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/](https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/](https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/](https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/the-registrar-in-collections-management-an-emerging-profession-1/)

sense that the latter is closely related to care of the
collections from the point of view of their physical
preservation, and different museum departments collaborate
in this.

The use of gloves is a preventive measure when handling
artworks

Risk management

Care of the collections can be defined as the different
preventive care steps taken to prevent damage or to delay
the natural deterioration of objects. These practices are
focused very especially on the prevention of risk and are
addressed to achieving “zero risk”, by minimizing the
potential damage caused by external sources.

The ICOM Committee for Conservation defines ten risks:

Blog del Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya » The registrar in collecti… about:reader?url=file%3A%2F%2F%2FUsers%2Fnizan.shaked%2FLib…

3 of 14 7/8/24, 10:39 AM

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3265-016.jpg](https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3265-016.jpg)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3265-016.jpg](https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3265-016.jpg)

[http://www.icom-cc.org/15/about/#.WngKTq1DlBy](http://www.icom-cc.org/15/about/#.WngKTq1DlBy)

[http://www.icom-cc.org/15/about/#.WngKTq1DlBy](http://www.icom-cc.org/15/about/#.WngKTq1DlBy)

• physical forces (like earthquakes, bad handling, …)

• fire

• water

• acts of vandalism

• pests

• pollutants

• excessive exposure to light and radiation

• the wrong temperature (or brusque changes of it)

• the wrong relative humidity (or brusque changes of it)

• negligent care

• dissociation

Good collection maintenance involves seeking advice from
different specialists that carefully ensures the objects’
preventive conservation needs, and this ranges from asking
conservators-restorers for technical reports on the suitability
of supports and materials, to adequate methods of storage,
packaging, framing, cleaning and the correct handling of
objects, as well as the prevention and integral management
of pests and deterioration in frames, works of art and their
supports.

Blog del Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya » The registrar in collecti… about:reader?url=file%3A%2F%2F%2FUsers%2Fnizan.shaked%2FLib…

4 of 14 7/8/24, 10:39 AM

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3146-013.jpg](https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3146-013.jpg)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3146-013.jpg](https://blog.museunacional.cat/wp-content/uploads/3146-013.jpg)

Control of locations of artworks in the Museu Nacional’s
reserves

Loans and temporary deposits

Museums and institutions that look after collections often
temporarily transfer objects as part of a loan or through
temporary care agreements. This practice, which
undoubtedly contributes to the dissemination and
internationalization of collections and works, is nowadays
clearly and gradually on the increase. Nevertheless, it
constitutes a potential risk for collections that are loaned out.

Risk management is a multidisciplinary management policy
whose mission is focused on detecting, controlling,
minimizing and managing the different risks run by art
objects. It is essential to learn about the characteristics of
the objects, the technique with which they are made, the
year, the workshop or the artist who made them. One also
has to know the route taken to transport it, the entrances or

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the design of the most suitable packaging for each object.

A carefully thought out and considered loans policy is
therefore vitally important, aimed at minimizing risk,
weighing up the reasons for requesting, approving or
refusing a loan, observing officially approved international
regulations. As a general rule, museums have
interdisciplinary loan committees which discuss different
requirements prior to approving or refusing the loaning of
objects, which establish the fees associated with the loan,
where appropriate, and set the conditions – loan
specifications or loan agreement – that the borrower is
obliged to comply with.

Control of packaging when unloading artworks of a truck

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Aside from the scientific interest of the project for which the
loaning of works is requested, the collection manager must
on one hand gather information about the borrower to help
him/her consider any possible risks to the object before it
leaves the museum and on the other, a series of technical
information that the registrar requests from different museum
professionals, like:

• the preventive conservation specialist is asked for a
technical assessment report of a document called the
facilities report, which will previously have been requested
from the person asking for the loan.

• another technical assessment report is requested from the
person in charge of security to assess the aspects of the
premises’ security.

• a conservator-restorer draws up a detailed report on the
object’s current condition (condition report). This report is
essential when making a decision about the feasibility of a
loan, and the factors included in this kind of report must be
taken into account above any and all others.

With all this information gathered, the collection registrar
produces general loan conditions whose purpose is to
foresee any possible risks for the work. Thus, the general
terms and conditions of the loan regulate and stipulate
conditions to be complied with such as the length of the loan
period, conservation and care obligations, instructions for

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the handling, packaging and transportation of the object,
whether or not a police escort and a courier are obligatory
(where appropriate), a line of credit for the catalogue,
conditions for insuring the work, the notification of incidents.
These documents also regulate a series of rights that the
loaning museum reserves such as the right to inspection and
retrieval. In short, each object in the collection receives
personalized attention, in accordance with its specific nature.

Storage and atmospheric conditions

Anchor control of artworks

When objects are looked after in museums, whether in the
storeroom or in the galleries, the collection manager’s chief
concern must be the continual safety of the objects. For this,
the collection registrar and, very especially, the conservator-

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restorer must take into account the suitability of storage
spaces, the containers for the works, and the necessary
atmospheric conditions to avoid damage to them. The
registrar asks conservators-restorers for advice when
drafting technical specifications and contracts that involve
the supply of materials. Among other things these include:

• Advice on the suitability of supports, vitrines, frames and
rigid packaging adapted to the works. This includes bearing
in mind the interior filling and the support of the objects to
avoid damage caused by bumps and scratches.

• The vitrines must be stable and watertight.

• Technical advice about the adhesives to be used, papers,
passe-partouts and foams; they must be materials that do
not cause any chemical reactions, abrasions or marks due to
contact with the work.

Apart from the materials wrapping the object, strict control of
the atmospheric conditions is important, given that
excessive humidity or brusque changes in relative
humidity and temperature can cause problems such as
corrosion, the proliferation of fungi colonies, cracks,
warping or fragility. In the Museu Nacional this task is
overseen by Preventive Conservation, and the registrar
notes down the parameters advised by the conservator-
restorer if the object is travelling on loan or its place is being
changed.

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Thus, good collection management will necessarily include
the joint work of several museum professionals and requires
the strict observance of rigorous controls of the parameters
of temperature, relative humidity (RH), the effects of certain
light spectra (UV), and the control of certain pollutants, a
feasibility and suitability study of packaging, frames, vitrines,
and so on. All this information is gathered by the collections
registrar, and he/she will turn it into different specifications,
loan agreements and other documents related to the object.

Packaging and transportation

In risk management, it is necessary to implement high
standards of handling, packaging and transportation.
Objects must be handled as little as possible. It is extremely
necessary to ensure that museum staff in direct contact with
the objects are well aware of good practices for handling
objects, such as hand washing protocols, the appropriate
use of cotton or rubber gloves, knowing how to identify
structural weaknesses that may require special care, and the
proper ways to transport objects inside institutions
(platforms, trolleys, dollies, lifts, trays, conservation cases,
etc.).

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Anchorage of packaging in the truck to avoid vibrations

To ensure safe transportation outside the museum, the
correct handling standards of objects must be combined with
strict individual packaging requirements for each object.
Ideally, the object must be packaged in a rigid container
(case) made of fireproof materials, to ensure
watertightness and protect it from bumps, vibrations, sudden
temperature changes and bad handling. The registrar
requests a technical report from the department of
conservation-restoration on the suitability of the packaging
materials and the handling.

On the other hand, the registrar will have to weigh up other
aspects to minimise risk such as the means of dispatch
(land, air or sea transport or a combination), the difference in
climatic conditions that the object will presumably encounter
when it arrives in the new destination, the most direct routes
or the need for police escorts if the work so requires it.

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Handling of large-format artworks

Integrated pest management

Good collections handling addressed to risk management
must include a section on pest control that in the case of the
Museu Nacional is implemented by the Infrastructures
Department according to technical requirements drawn up
by conservators-restorers.

Each intervention and control of pests must be painstakingly
researched, describing the effects of the pest, the parts of
the collection affected and the treatment applied for its
extermination. All this information has to be included in the
files of the collections.

Emergency plans

Apart from collection management, most institutions also

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have an emergency plan that regulates which procedures
must be followed to avoid not just injury or loss of life for
visitors and staff in the event of a catastrophe, but also to
minimize damage or losses in the collection.

The plan, in which the Departments of Maintenance,
Security, Collections and Conservation-Restoration are
heavily involved, must also include protocols on how to
manage an emergency evacuation of people and objects at
risk.

Emergency plans must also include systems of assessment,
rescue priorities, as well as post-damage inventories,
including damage recovery procedures.

Recommended links:

SPECTRUM. The UK Museum Collections Management
Standard. Risk Management procedure

Sílvia Tena

Registre d’obres d’art i Gestió de Col·leccions

Registre d’obres d’art i Gestió de Col·leccions

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[http://collectionstrust.org.uk/spectrum/](http://collectionstrust.org.uk/spectrum/)

[http://collectionstrust.org.uk/spectrum/](http://collectionstrust.org.uk/spectrum/)

[http://collectionstrust.org.uk/spectrum/](http://collectionstrust.org.uk/spectrum/)

[http://collectionstrust.org.uk/spectrum/](http://collectionstrust.org.uk/spectrum/)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/author/silvia-tena/](https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/author/silvia-tena/)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/author/silvia-tena/](https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/author/silvia-tena/)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/author/silvia-tena/](https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/author/silvia-tena/)

[https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/author/silvia-tena/](https://blog.museunacional.cat/en/author/silvia-tena/)