Wild Weather Blows Open the Realm of Potential Liabilities at Museums

From responding to extreme weather conditions and preventing theft to exploring new ways of growing attendance and revenue numbers, museums face a daunting list of challenges in this stagnant economy.

Accordingly, and often at the suggestion of their insurance brokers and carriers, cultural institutions of all sizes are adopting comprehensive risk-management and loss-prevention programs to address liabilities ahead of time.

Natural disasters and extreme weather made 2011 second only to 2005 as the most costly year ever as measured by insured losses, according to the Aon Benfield division of the brokerage Aon Corp. And cultural institutions were certainly not spared the damage from last year’s wild weather—both to their buildings as well as to their grounds, which are often an equally important visitor attraction.