Two operative risk indicators as tools for negotiating contracts between curators of Museums and HVAC technical services providers

Abstract

The purpose of Heating, Ventilating and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) systems in museums is to properlycontrol important microclimate parameters; such systems, in fact, apart from ensuring the visitors’ well-being, are requested to guarantee suitable indoor conditions for the proper conservation of the importantcultural goods hosted by museums. Hence, in case of disservice, or interruption due to maintenance inter-ventions, it is important to quantify the economic damage induced to exhibited and/or stored works ofart (or even to the building museum itself). Accordingly, it is essential to guarantee the shortest possibleperiod of disservice during which probable damages for the works of art could occur. Since curators arethe most relevant subjects committed to properly run the museum, also for what concerns the indoorenvironmental conditions, the aim of this work is to propose two new comprehensive operative damagerisk indicators to support curators in negotiating the stipulation of contracts with the external companiesin charge of the management of the HVAC system, in order to preserve the works of art. Particularly, theseindicators try to integrate, into the contracts, economic considerations related to the system’s disserviceperiod and/or planned interruptions. The feasibility of the proposed new indicators has been checked bymeans of an example application involving the “Museo Regionale” of Palermo (Italy).