ZEMCH 2015 - International Conference Proceedings | Page 817

pests are checked and determined, and based on their type, the treatments are prepared which
all should be biological components to avoid chemical usage. Main challenge in terms of pests
faced at museums is the “Termite” requiring special treatment.
Lighting:
One of the challenges faced is that sometimes the lighting requirements cannot be set by the
lighting dimming controlling systems. This system helps to reduce the lighting level up to specific
degree. The color and temperature of the light is important. Normal quality lightings will result in
light color change after some time.
Tour Guides
In SMIC, the tour guides work as three groups in different shifts. Their working hours is 6 hours
and every three days they get one day off. The survey guides all had more than 5 years’ of experience in working in the museums. Each tour they provide for the groups may vary from 1 hour to
maximum 2 hours. The number of people in each group may vary from 20 up to 50 people. They
spend average of 3 to 4 hours in the exhibition halls every day. They all evaluated their work environment as being a comfortable environment with regard to the change in conditions from one
place to another; they also agreed that the temperature in the exhibition hall with older items is
different. However, it was normal and comfortable for them, and they all follow the safety regulations and rules set by the Sharjah Museums’ departments for insuring safety and security for
themselves as well as for the visitors.
As for the health hazards, none of them experienced any of serious health hazards, however,
they all mentioned that they may have some simple skin allergies sometimes, and sneezing and
coughing if they access the storage areas. In addition, from the interviews conducted, the head
of tour guides in SMIC, it is suggested that the tour guides should attend regular trainings and
sessions for developing their skills. They are assigned to different duties along with guiding the
visitors. They also help the collections department in preparing the ancient items for cleaning and
dust removal under the supervision of the collection department, followed by all the safety and
guidelines provided to them.
Security Guards
In Sharjah Museums’ departments, the security department is divided into two separate groups.
The security staff outside the exhibition areas who are mainly assigned for the entrance, wearing
security forms. Additionally, there are guards who move around between the different exhibitions
and their duty is to watch the visitors with keeping some distance but close enough in order to
prevent any damages to the artworks as well as the exhibition areas. They do not have the same
security forms and they are trained to observe and move around without causing any disturbance
to the visitors. They get the information from the personnel in the control room based on the security cameras installed around different parts of the museum, and they move around the areas
specified from the control room to prevent any harming actions by the visitors.
Their availability around visitors was beneficial in terms of preventing any damage or breaks to
the glass and the exhibition environment in general. According to different museum personnel;
the policy adopted in Sharjah Museums is preventing the cause of any damages. Based on this
policy, none of the personnel have experienced any damages to the exhibition areas during their
work experiences, such as breaking of glasses, display box damages or other types of damages.
A questionnaire-based survey was carried out with the security guards in SMIC. They were asked

A post occupancy evaluation of the uae museum indoor environments

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