A framework for the simplified risk analysis of cultural heritage assets

Abstract

A simplified risk assessment framework specifically developed for built immovable cultural heritage assets is proposed. The framework addresses all the components in a risk analysis and can be used as a screening procedure for the preliminary assessment of a large number of assets with limited resources. Furthermore, the framework can also be used to identify cultural heritage assets that require a more refined and resource demanding risk evaluation. The proposed risk analysis framework falls into the category of qualitative methods and is based on an existing approach developed for the vulnerability assessment of critical infrastructures. The qualitative risk analysis of the proposed methodology is based on a set of structured assessment flowcharts that address the main components of a risk analysis: the likelihood of the hazard, the vulnerability of the asset to the hazard, the consequences of the hazard, the loss of value of the asset and the capacity to recover from the event. To illustrate the applicability of the proposed methodology, an application example is also presented for the case of seismic risk.