Museum Personnel Artifacts can affect their surroundings as well as the people involved within the same environment ( Corgnati and Filippi 2010 ). The museum personnel are more likely to be exposed to longer periods of time to the artifacts and can be affected by them . Depending on their position and role , this risk can get more serious as they spend average of 8 hours in their working environment .
1-Conservation Department The highest risk for the museum personnel can be considered for those who work in the conservation department , as the nature of their work requires them to deal with the historical objects constantly , almost all the time . This continues and direct contact may cause serious hazards if the conditions are not controlled properly and each individual employee did not follow the safety instructions . The lighting parameters should be carefully set to provide clear vision for the restorer , at the same time not harming the artifacts ( Corgnati and Filippi 2010 ). On the other hand , ventilation systems should be removing the particles and contaminants of concern , during the working process , and from the laboratories in general . These particulates should not be directed to other environments within the museum ( Bellia et al . 2007 ). Materials with different origins require different conditions and environments , and dealing with them should be carefully conducted in separate environments . The conservator should be aware of the needed actions and the safety instructions when dealing with each category to avoid health risks to him / herself as well as causing damages to the artifacts .
2-Tour Guides Tour guides may not be in direct contact with the artifacts constantly , thus they may not be exposed to serious health risks like the conservation department . However , they are still linked with the object indirectly for longer periods than the visitors . Also , their continues movement between different exhibition halls and due to having different objects may be harmful to them . For this research , the head of tour guides from Sharjah Islamic Museums ( SIM ) has been interviewed and questionnaires were distributed among other guides in the same museum as well .
3-Security Staff Similarly , to the tour guides , security staff moves around between different exhibitions most of the time . They should make sure visitors are not causing any problems in addition to the security system installed in the museums . They are less exposed to artifacts , and they are not interacting as much as the tour guides with the visitors .
The second stage of the research is covering interviews with four different departments in which the personnel are regularly exposed to and dealt with some original items . These interviews were carried out in order to review the conditions of the environments and how the occupants are reacting to them as well as the practices undertaken within the specified position .
Interview Results
Based on the mentioned points above , site visits to the Archaeology Museum in Sharjah ( AMS ), Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization ( SMIC ), Heritage House in Sharjah ( HHS ), as well as the Women ’ s Museum in Dubai ( WMD ) have been conducted while considering earlier site visits and experiences throughout the overall research . On the basis of the results gathered from the visitors ’ questionnaire-based surveys in three separate museums of Sharjah , different checklists and questionnaires were prepared for different departments for the museums ’ personnel . The questions were focusing on their duties and job activities while asking different questions to relate the environmental status with the nature of each individual ’ s work .
810 ZEMCH 2015 | International Conference | Bari - Lecce , Italy