From the Smithsonian Museums
Every collections steward’s worst nightmare is receiving notification that a collections storage space has been damaged by a water or fire incident. Museum collections professionals are concerned with everyday threats like small or persistent water leaks, and larger, catastrophic events such as natural disasters, mechanical or operating system failures, or fires. Effective ways to prevent and prepare for a collections emergency is to perform risk assessments and to create an emergency response and recovery plan. Such a plan provides staff with an understanding of an action before it has occurred and informs them on how to react if an emergency emerges.