For the first episode we interviewed Maria Anderson, health and safety manager for the British Museum, the UK’s most popular visitor attraction and, founded in 1753, the first national public museum in the world.
Maria Anderson is health and safety manager for The British Museum
Founded in 1753, the museum granted free admission to all ‘studious and curious persons’ and the number of people visiting the museum has risen from 5,000 per year in the 18th Century to a staggering 6 million today.
Faced with that kind of footfall and taking into account that the various buildings of the museum hail from different eras, the challenges for Maria are numerous.
“In 2010”, she explains, “the museum undertook one of the largest building redevelopments onsite: the creation of the World Conservation and Exhibition Centre.”
This took three and a half years to construct and, as an extension to the existing building, created a lot of challenges. She says that the building took years in the planning stage as it needed to fit in with each department’s needs.
The British Museum has to “control contractors and operational end-users at the same time.”
Maria explains how the different safety, fire and facilities teams work together under the same directive.
“We share meetings, we share projects. Ultimately we have the same objective of keeping everybody safe, not just secure.”
In order to keep a project like this on track and focused Maria says they had to engage with all the staff involved, “We asked what they wanted – and how the building should be built for their needs… During construction there were open visits. We had visit tours for staff so they could actually see the progress of the construction phase.”
One of the main areas where the four protection and management aspects comes together is with the fire safety systems, which Maria describes as “top of the range”.
“We have the alarm and detection systems… and all the spaces have full high level protection on fire safety.
“This is a great example of where all four disciplines [fire, security, health and safety, and facilities] really work together. Through regular meetings and sharing progress we all work to the same objectives.”
Maria describes the challenge of incorporating 21st century technology into a building parts of which date from the 1850s.
“It was a complex building to design… we have the labs, we have the open space, the exhibition gallery and we have the collection management.”
Re-iterating the importance of communication, Maria explains how regular updates were issued to directors and trustees as well as to project managers and staff on site.
“Even the people in the old site need to be aware of what was happening, because this is an extension to the old building,” she says. “This is really about planning and communication.”
Watch the full interview with Maria Anderson to find out how the British Museum goes about managing the challenges of such a historic building in a modern society.
This video was made as part of the Protecting London series for the Protection & Management Series 2015. Protection and Management includes Safety & Health Expo, IFSEC International, Firex and the Facilities Show.
Maria will be joining the Protecting London panel debate along with health and safety, fire, security and facilities experts from several iconic London landmarks. Find out how some of the city’s most fascinating buildings safely operate day-in, day-out.
The Protecting London panel discussion takes place on Wednesday 17th June, 11.30 – 12.30 in the IOSH/SHP Academy at the ExCeL London during the Safety & Health Expo 2015.
Reserve your place for free today.
The Safety Conversation with SHP (previously the Safety and Health Podcast) aims to bring you the latest news, insights and legislation updates in the form of interviews, discussions and panel debates from leading figures within the profession.
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