Reports stating touching of collection items in Lanhydrock, summer 2017

The study was carried out as part of an MSc dissertation. The study aims to predict physical damage in Lanhydrock house based on a risk analysis and risk assessment of the visitor route. From a literature review, initial predictions were formed about incidents involving visitors carrying out physical interaction with objects. These predictions were then compared to the data collected from Lanhydrock over a ten-week period. This data was analysed against layout, the presence of stanchion ropes, implied barriers, signs, current interactive measures, and volunteers. The data collected focused on visitors touching, picking up, moving, leaning and sitting on objects which may result in either cumulative or immediate damage. The study also includes data on visitors crossing barriers and handling non-collection items. The analysis found that levels of touching are initially high, then decrease after the first few rooms but increase again at around 30 minutes into the visitor route, which may be indicative of museum fatigue effect. Overcrowding also appears to have resulted in high levels of incidents. The presence of stanchion ropes appears to reduce the amount of handling incidents, while the effectiveness of implied barriers is contested. It was also found that certain items, such as taxidermy, shiny objects and familiar objects were handled more often than other objects. A significance assessment of the rooms at Lanhydrock was put against the incident totals to enable prioritisation for risk management. A further set of predictions were produced which were applied to a one-week case study of physical damage at Greenway. A different method of reporting was used to test more effective methods of recording the data in any potential future projects. A final set of predictions were produced focusing on the visitor route, individual rooms, objects and visitors. Recommendations have been drawn up based on the predictions, thus attempting to reduce the future number of incidents occurring.