Identify the risks to your records.

• Is your repository near a flood-plain?
• Is it in an area prone to bushfire?

How would your records be affected if any of those events were to occur?

Vital records are records that are critical to the everyday business of your agency. These are the records without which your agency cannot continue to perform its work.

Take a risk-based approach to focus on the activities that are most important to the agency and determine which of the records created are crucial to its performance. The risk identification in your agency can assist you with identifying your vital records.

Risk assessment is also a good way of approaching disaster prevention. Assessing what disasters might occur and how they could affect your agency will help you put in place preventative measures. To assist you in this process, the National Archives has developed a Disaster Preparedness Manual.

Using the information you gathered in the identification stage, start preparing for these events actually happening.

For more information on how to respond to specific preservation problems in physical records, such as insect or mould infestations, see the physical preservation FAQs.

Implement your planning and recover from your disaster!