Business continuity planning for museums and galleries
Guidance from DCMS on how museums, galleries and other public buildings can prepare for an emergency or disaster.
Overview
A business continuity plan (BCP) is a documented strategy for avoiding or minimising adverse impacts on your business operation should a disaster or failure occur.
This guidance on business continuity planning is for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport바카라 사이트™s sponsored bodies.
Benefits of business continuity planning
Effective business continuity planning (BCP) ensures an organisation is prepared for emergencies or disasters. By limiting damage and having a recovery plan, disruption to normal operations can be kept to a minimum.
For museums and galleries, the BCP might include a list of exhibits in order of importance, and have a dedicated recovery team available to evacuate those exhibits to a safe location in the event of an incident.
In the event of a major catastrophe, for example nuclear war, a different response would be required. Carrying out a risk assessment as part of creating the BCP ensures appropriate measures would be in place.
Alternatives to commercial insurance
Public bodies are not normally permitted to take out commercial insurance. The civil service estate covers a vast number of buildings and assets, and no insurance could cover its estate adequately. Instead, civil service buildings are covered by the 바카라 사이트 Indemnity Scheme.
The scheme also covers the contents of national museums and art galleries, where insurance costs would normally be prohibitive.
A similar situation exists for smaller museums that house items of national importance. Trying to insure those exhibits would prove costly and potentially ineffective (as the artefacts themselves are usually irreplaceable).
Evacuation plans
The decision to evacuate items from a museum or gallery should be made by public bodies themselves, not DCMS. This process should be considered through the risk management process, including an assessment of the likelihood of an incident which would trigger the evacuation.
A full evacuation of 바카라 사이트˜national treasures바카라 사이트™ might only be necessary - or practicable - if war were declared, as there would at least be time to carry out an organised evacuation.
In the event of sudden nuclear, biological or chemical attack, little warning would be given. It is unlikely there would be time for an organised evacuation. In addition, the building(s) would need to be evacuated and decontaminated, which would require a security presence. Guarding specific items may be necessary due to the lack of policing in the contaminated environment. It may be useful for public bodies to co-operate on a mutually beneficial solution.
Information systems security
Organisations which use electronic information systems should have security measures in place to protect their data from threats including system failure, natural disaster and cyber-crime.
We publish , which offers guidance on introducing and managing secure systems.
More guidance is available as follows:
- IS 17799, IS 27001, BS 7799-3, IS 27005 and IS 18044 can be ordered from the
- the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) publishes best practice security guidance
- - a joint initiative between government, law enforcement, leading businesses and the public sector - publishes guidance for home users and small businesses
You can contact the following for further information:
- Des Livings, DCMS Head of Information Systems - des.livings@culture.gsi.gov.uk
- Robin Moses, Moses Security Services Limited - robin@moses-security.wanadoo.co.uk
Keeping staff records
Employers have a duty of care to their staff. They should possess next-of-kin data for all permanent, casual and temporary members of staff. A copy of this information might be kept off-site in case of a disaster. However, this information must be kept in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. Written agreement will be needed to keep anyone바카라 사이트™s details in this way.
Collaborative working group
We have set up a group to share and promote best practice and procedures around evacuation, conservation and restoration of national art treasures.
For more details or to register, please contact Gerry Boulton:
- email - gerry.boulton@culture.gsi.gov.uk
- tel - 020 7211 2055
Registered individuals and organisations can visit the (password required).
Guidance
The following documents (Microsoft Word format) contain guidance on completing forms and templates listed in the next section:
- - processes/elements common to those sponsored bodies with a basic knowledge of business continuity
- - processes/elements common to those sponsored bodies with a working knowledge of business continuity
- - as referred to in guides
- - guidance on considering options
- - guidance notes on finalising recommendations and preparing the report
- - guidelines for potential adverse business impact analysis interviews
- - checklist to compare organisations current business continuity arrangements with guides and AGORA material
- - guidance on risk assessment
Forms and templates
- - template for implementation plan and guidance notes
- - templates and guidance notes
- - template and guidance notes
- - template for document / letter recording interview results
- - form for recording results
- - with guidance notes
- - example of completed forms together with template for short report (including guidance notes)
- - form and guidance notes for considering requirements
- - template and guidance notes
Examples
- - format suggestion and example of an emergency contact card
Workshop materials
We run regular workshops with our public bodies to help them develop individual business continuity plans.
These workshops explore the 5 stages set out in the which explains how to introduce and maintain a business continuity plan.
The aim of the workshops is to give participants an individual, quality-tested business continuity plan in place to protect the business interests of their organisation.
The main materials used are available for download as follows:
- Workshop 2 - identifying the business recovery requirements and draft risk-reduction controls:
- Workshop 3 - business continuity strategy formulation, and confirming risk reduction controls (part 7 business continuity planning stage)
- Workshop 4 - business continuity plan production:
- Workshop 5 - business continuity plan testing, awareness, and maintenance: