Tip #14: Keep calm and make an emergency plan.

Once you’ve identified your biggest threats and the most important items in your collection, it’s time to actually make your emergency plan.

What is an emergency plan you ask? Emergency plans are more than just knowing your nearest exit during a fire or where to shelter in place for a tornado. Your emergency plan functions as a sort of external brain during crises so you don’t have to make any hard decisions in the moment. So you’re going to want to make sure it’s thorough.

Here’s some suggestions of what this external brain should include:
- Contact information for team members and a plan to communicate. (Do you need a call tree or do you have another alert system in place?)
- A list of equipment you might need and how you plan to acquire it. (I.e. Masks, gloves, and tyvek suits if your building floods.)
- A list of local (or just nearby) disaster recovery firms, vendors, conservators, and all of their contact information. (Bonus points if you talk to these groups beforehand to understand potential costs and timelines!)
- A line in your budget for emergencies. (Disasters are expensive and you can’t always rely on your community for fundraising when they’re suffering from the same event.)

And lastly, remember that human health and lives come first. Always.

Want to learn more about protecting cultural heritage in the era of climate change? Check out our webinar on YouTube!