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Risk Assessment and Salvage Guide

4.0 Response

4.1 Rate of response

The most important aspect of a successful salvage operation is speed. The faster damaged material is removed and frozen or treated the better the chance of successful restoration. Therefore the response plan is vital. It should depict clearly the chain of events and be easy to follow. A flow chart is generally the best way of presenting this.

4.2 Securing the site

When an emergency arises the first step is to call the relevant emergency service. The Emergency Co-ordinator should then be called and, if necessary, evacuation procedures instigated. The Emergency Co-ordinator will then assess the situation and determine whether the situation is indeed an emergency. If so the emergency team is assembled and the contact chain put into operation.

Once the initial event has been dealt with by emergency services it is necessary to access the site as quickly as possible. This can be, to some extent, beyond your control however, as you will have to wait until emergency services establish the safety of the site. In the case of a fire, or burglary you may have to wait until investigations are completed.

Regular communication with emergency services can be of great help at this point as they will be aware in advance of any specific needs you have. They will be aware of the nature of your material and the importance of allowing the emergency team access to the site as soon as possible following an event, particularly if water-damage has occurred. If the fire services have advance knowledge regarding the nature of your collection they may be able to apply fire suppression methods which would cause the least amount of damage to the material.

4.3 Initial Assessment & Prioritisation

Once deemed safe the emergency team will enter the site. If a leak has occurred water must be turned off and the source of the leak determined. If water is leaking from above, the stacks must be covered with tarp to prevent further damage. Their task is to survey the type and extent of damage done, determine priorities for salvage, using the pre-determined priority list in conjunction with the nature of the damage. For example, high priority items will be old, rare, expensive material that cannot be cheaply replaced. Some items may be available in different formats, or in a more up-to-date format and these would be assigned a lower recovery priority. The extent and nature of the damage will also affect priorities, for example a saturated item will take priority over something which is only partially wet.

4.4 Damage Control

Once this process is completed the emergency co-ordinator will begin making the necessary phone-calls, organising mobile freezers, cold storage, photographic restoration etc., while the recovery co-ordinator and Registrar will assemble the work units and disaster bins, appoint a suitable area for removal and begin delegating removal duties, based on the priorities.

The material will then be removed to the predetermined area where it will be listed and packed and assigned to an air-drying area, or to be frozen. Once material is packed and frozen it should be transported to the necessary cold storage, freeze-drying, or specialist treatment facility. As material is unpacked lists should be checked to ensure that everything is present.

After drying, material needs to be assessed by the emergency team to determine which items need repair/restoration work. The registrar should also ensure that a record is kept of the operation, arranging for a photographer if necessary.

4.5 Evaluation

Once the salvage operation is completed the damaged area should be if possible, restored and stabilised, or an alternative area prepared. At this point the operation should be assessed based on the records kept and the success of the operation should be evaluated. The emergency plan should be revised to eliminate any inadequacies discovered during the operation. In order to be used efficiently the response plan should be presented in the form of a flow chart.

For an example of how your response plan might look, access: