This document discusses the key agents of deterioration that pose risks to collections, including physical forces, thieves and vandals, dissociation, fire, water, pests, pollutants, light and UV, incorrect temperature, and incorrect relative humidity. It emphasizes understanding these risks and taking steps to minimize their effects through proper storage, security, documentation, environmental monitoring and control, and a risk management approach. Risk management provides a systematic framework to assess vulnerabilities, identify hazards, treat risks proportionately, and evaluate risk mitigation efforts.

1. Causes of Deterioration &
Risk to Collections
Vicki Humphrey
Head of Conservation, NMA
CHG 2014

2. Preservation Basics
Aims
• Basic understanding of factors that contribute to
deterioration
• Touch on how to minimise their effect
• Introduction to Risk Management as integral to
Collection Management
• In the context of the CHG process of Significance
Assessment & Preservation Needs Assessment
• Provide general introduction to following
presentations and workshops

3. Preservation Basics
Where to Begin?
• Build knowledge
• Understand your context
• Smart use of the resources you have
• Step by step – plan and prioritise
• Incremental improvement
• High tech is not necessarily best
• Don’t try to be what you aren’t
• Common sense

4. Preservation Basics
Agents of Deterioration
• Good understanding of what contributes to
deterioration
• Organised into 10 categories
– 10 agents of deterioration
– http://
www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-ressources/agentsofdeterioration-• Focus is on understanding these and taking
steps to eliminate them or minimise their effect
(risk management)

5. Preservation Basics
Physical Forces
• Impact
• Shock
• Vibration - earthquake
• Wear and tear
Prevention or damage limitation through:
•Protective storage
•Adequate and appropriate support
•Careful handling
•Adequate packing in transit

6. Preservation Basics
Thieves & Vandals
• Theft
• Damage during theft
• Deliberate damage
To prevent or limit damage:
•Know what you have
•Know the significance and value
•Plan for security – policy & practices
Munch’s the Scream
stolen in 1994 from
National Gallery, Oslo.
Thieves left a note
saying: "Thanks for the
poor security".
"Vandalized Night Watch 1975-09-16c" by Bogaerts, Rob / Anefo - [1]
Dutch National Archives, The Hague, Fotocollectie Algemeen Nederlands
Persbureau (ANeFo), 1945-1989, Nummer toegang 2.24.01.05
Bestanddeelnummer 928-1537. Licensed under Creative Commons
Attribution-Share Alike 3.0-nl via Wikimedia Commons -
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vandalized_Night_Watch_1975-
09-16c.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Vandalized_Night_Watch_1975-09-16c.jpg
• Issue keys etc on a need basis
• Secure your spaces
•Be vigilant

7. Preservation Basics
Dissociation
Prevention • Affects or the damage legal, limitation intellectual, through:
and/or cultural aspects
•Effective of an object
and fully implemented policies and procedures that
deal • Includes:
with:
– Loss/misplacement of objects
– Failure to catalogue/failure to record culturally
sensitive status
– Removing identifying labels or tags
– Recording data illegibly or ambiguously or with
materials that will fade etc
– Making errors in recording data
• Legal title checks
• Collection documentation
• Tracking object movements
• Storage planning
• Good labelling
• Rigorous loan procedures

8. Preservation Basics
Fire
• Loss of life
• Loss of, or damage to
building
• Loss of, or damage to
collection/objects
• Loss of, or damage to
records
• Soiling of collection
• Water damage
• Contamination
To prevent or limit damage:
•Seek specialist advice on fire prevention and detection,
especially if in a bushfire zone
•Keep your building clean and tidy – remove flammable
material
•Train staff and volunteers and keep them informed
•Prepare plans of your building and inform the fire brigade
of potential “hot-spots”
•Disaster Preparedness and Response Plan

9. Preservation Basics
Water
To prevent or limit damage:
•If you have a choice – think about the siting of your
building and the finishes within
•• Building Floods
maintenance regime & make maintenance workers
aware • Water of collection
leaks
•• Give Water maximum used protection in fire fighting
to objects most vulnerable to
water • Can damage
lead to mould growth on objects
•• Use Staining, water resistant ink runs, storage contamination
containers
•• Contributes to distortion and physical damage
Disaster Preparedness and Response Plan

10. Preservation Basics
Pests
• Insects eat organic materials
• Moulds digest organic materials
• Rodents gnaw on collections
• Bird, rodent and bat faeces attract insects and
To prevent or limit damage:
•Keep collection areas clean, uncluttered & well ventilated
•Seal building to stop them getting in
•Identify pests so treatment can be targeted – not all insects attack
collections are potential (some may disease attack the carriers.
attackers)
•Isolate affected objects
•Determine most effective treatment for infestation
•Consider establishing an Integrated Pest Management program
(IPM)

11. Preservation Basics
Pollutants
• Cause damage through chemical
Prevention or damage limitation through:
•Developing your knowledge of identified problems
•Controlling pollutant contact with collections by:
reactions
• Can be atmospheric, particulate, from contact
(eg mounts), handling or inherent in the object
• Good building maintenance and sealing
• Keeping storage and display areas clean
• Careful choice of materials for storage and display
• Housing objects in inert enclosures
• Use of gloves, secondary supports when handling
•Buffering against high temperatures and RH which speed up
chemical reactions

12. Preservation Basics
Light & Ultraviolet
• Visible light causes fading and
To prevent or limit damage:
•Develop knowledge of materials in your collection
•Know your building and the lighting levels within it
•Agree what levels of colour change or fading are acceptable, if any
colour change
• UV causes weakening of fibres,
chalking of
paint, disintegration of some
materials
• Different materials  different
sensitivities
• Light and UV damage is not
reversible
• Weigh this against visibility for your audience.
•Limit light exposure – housing & storage, proximity switches, display
case covers, short display periods for sensitive items, use facsimiles
•Block UV. Avoid direct sunlight on objects
•Use CCI’s Light Damage Calculator as a guide

13. Preservation Basics
Incorrect Temperature
• Too high  increased
To prevent or limit damage:
•Develop knowledge of materials in your collection
•Know your building and its thermal properties/characteristics
•Insulate your building. Insulate objects in transit.
•Protect collections from heat
chemical deterioration,
pests & mould more likely,
some materials melt/distort
• Too low  some materials
become more brittle
• Fluctuations 
delamination, stress
fracturing
• At the least, provide an air space between collections and external walls,
floors and ceilings
•Avoid direct sunlight on objects
•If possible, store heat sensitive materials in cool conditions
•Isolate unstable materials in the collection so their degradation products don’t
adversely affect other materials

14. Preservation Basics
Incorrect Relative
Humidity
To prevent or limit damage:
•Develop knowledge of materials in your collection
•Know your building climate and internal microclimates
•Maintain your building and your storage and display furniture
•Identify sources of damp and take action to eliminate them
•Provide buffering layers of protection – storage boxes, inert plastic bags, backing
boards on paintings
•Remember that objects are likely to have stabilised in their current environment
and will need to acclimatise to a new one
•Use humidifiers and dehumidifiers if necessary

15. Preservation Basics
Use Risk Management
• Provides framework in which to assess your
collection's vulnerability to the various agents of
deterioration
• Is cyclic if done well and therefore provides
framework for ongoing monitoring
• Provides a framework in which collection risk can
be looked at alongside other organisational risks
• Is a widely accepted methodology in
organisational management

16. Preservation Basics
Risk Management provides:
• Systematic approach for analysing and
evaluating risks and opportunities
• Tools to identify possible hazards, prevent loss
and contain “costs”
• Means to reduce uncertainty by treating risks by
means that are in proportion to the level of risk
faced
• Systematic approach to evaluate the
effectiveness of risk treatments

17. Preservation Basics

18. Preservation Basics
Resources
• AS/NZS ISO 31000:2009 Risk management -
Principles and guidelines
• Risk management guide for small business
http://www.significanceinternational.com/Portals/
0/Documents/2005-sme-risk-management-guide-global-
risk-alliance-nsw-dsrd.pdf