What is the role of this new professional figure?
The professional role of the Risk Manager for Cultural Heritage
Although practice shows an increasing awareness of the need to protect our precious cultural heritage from the new risks that threaten it, manifested above all by the efforts of museums, archives and libraries to ensure their collections are as safe as possible, there is still much uncertainty about the roles and competences of the professionals who should deal with these activities.
The most urgent issue to be addressed in order to ensure real efficiency of performance in the sector is the recognition of a highly specialised professional figure to act as a link between the different professionals in the cultural sector: the Cultural Heritage Risk Manager.
Why is the Cultural Heritage Risk Manager important?
The Cultural Heritage Risk Manager is a profession characterized by the multidisciplinary nature of its training. The skills and competencies of this new professional come from a variety of academic fields, from engineering to architecture, from social sciences to environmental and climate sciences, and from art history to economics and management. At the same time, his responsibilities range from the technical to the managerial and operational fields, including project coordination, planning, and decision-making.
The risk manager, therefore, is an important linking figure between different technical and scientific professionals who revolve around cultural heritage: restorers, conservators, insurers, and heritage managers must be guided and coordinated by this figure in choosing the best activities for the mitigation of risks that threaten valuable historical and artistic collections.
To date, many activities and responsibilities that should be the responsibility of this figure are carried out by other professionals who, although experts in their field of activity, may not have a comprehensive view of the subject and the different activities that need to be put in place to ensure that cultural heritage is given the protection it deserves.
At every stage of the risk management cycle, from risk identification, risk calculation, implementation of mitigation activities, emergency management, and the control and monitoring phase, the risk manager plays a key role.
The Security Plan for Art Collections.
To ensure the proper protection of the collections he or she is called upon to analyze, the Cultural Heritage Risk Manager can use a fundamental tool: the Security and Emergency Plan.
The Security Plan contains all the information needed to know the risks that insist on an institution’s collection and to manage an emergency step by step. In fact, this document contains information regarding the emergency team, the duties and responsibilities of each person, and the materials needed to secure artworks affected by damage.
Mazzini Lab has created Guidelines to detail this document and the different steps required to produce it.
For more details
Download the Guide for Drafting the Safety and Emergency Plan for Cultural Heritage.