Risk Management in Museums: International Approaches

Abstract

One of the most basic functions of museums is conservation. In the historical process, the scope of the conservation work of museums has expanded and risk management in museums has came to the fore by the end of the 1980s. Risk management approach, which is applied in different sectors, is a study aiming to increase the loss reduction and coping capacity of institutions. The concept of risk management, which was used by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for the first time in the field of cultural heritage after the World War II, is applied not only in museums, but also in historical environments, monuments, archaeological sites, libraries or archives with different approaches. In this regard, museums are prominent with their collections, and they acquire, conserve, exhibit, research and communicate in the service of society and its development. Besides collections, museum building, staff and visitors are also be considered in risk management work. In this context, risks to museums in international literature are classified as follows; physical forces, fire, water, criminals, incorrect relative humidity and temperature, light and UV, pollutants, pests and dissociation. In the 21st century, climate change, terrorist attacks and epidemics, which come to the fore all over the world, are also among the risks to museums. The risk management approach, developed by the Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI), the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), the Netherlands Cultural Heritage Agency (RCE), the Central Institute for Conservation in Belgrade (CIK), which work extensively in the field of risk management in museums, also forms the risk management steps. These steps are as follows; understanding the context, risk identification, risk analysis, risk evaluation, treat and monitoring. In this framework the aim of the article is to discuss the applicability of the risk management approach to museums. For this purpose, the main research question of this article is as follows; Is the risk management approach developed by CCI, ICCROM, RCE and CIK applicable to museums of different scales? The scope of the article is limited with international debates to risk management in museums. In the article, information about the definition of the concept of risk management; risk management work and approaches of the international institutions; risk to museums and risk management steps are given. In the conclusion part of the article, the applicability of the risk management approach in museums is evaluated and recommendations are presented. According to the findings, the risk management approach is applicable only in small-scale museums. This approach needs to be developed for medium and large-scale museums. In order to apply risk management approach in a more accurate way, there is a need to prepare risk management policies, disseminate the