ZEMCH 2015 - International Conference Proceedings | Page 819

Working with mechanical tools does not ensure 100% of safety. However, the danger levels of the
mentioned tools are considered low. The table below (Table 4) is summarizing the used items,
such as the cutters used by different people, where they should be careful and cautious while
using such tools as they may cause some serious problems.
Table 4: Mechanical tools used in the museums in the UAE
Tools

Danger Level

Cause

Brushes

Safe

Eyes to get tired

Cutter

Medium

Hand cuts / eyes to get tired from continues usage

Drill

Safe

Noisy / eyes to get tired from continues usage

Fume Cabinet

Dangerous

Noisy / if dangerous chemicals used under it

Conclusions
Overall, the study is aimed at providing such comparisons for different museum environments
of the UAE. In the next stage of this study, it is aimed to cover museums in Abu Dhabi as well as
the other emirates in order to provide a more comprehensive study reviewing all the museums
and their indoor environmental conditions across the UAE. Moreover, it is also aimed to provide
another study evaluating the visitors’ satisfaction levels in the UAE museums during different seasons as the crowd of people is much less over summer than that in winter periods.
From the findings of this study, it can be concluded that the UAE museums’ indoor environments
and their effect on human health, comfort, performance and productivity require further research
and investigation. Although there has been a limited sample of museums in this study, this research has provided more insight to the UAE museums’ indoor environmental conditions and also
to the related guidelines in place to achieve or enforce such good standards (best practices) of
indoor environmental quality. With the Expo 2020 fast approaching, a wave of new developments
getting the greenlight, Dubai and the UAE are now keener than ever to set the necessary guidelines for establishing many cultural projects and museums in the region that would be exemplar
to the rest of the region. Having clear guidelines for these projects will therefore increase the
efficiency of the future projects, and most importantly, any recommendations that can help in
considering the quality of the indoor environments for these projects would most certainly help
and maintain the sustainable development in the country.

Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank all participants participated in the surveys and the interviews,
and different departments of Sharjah Museums for approval in conducting interviews and surveys in 2014. Besides special thanks to Dubai Municipality for their input in the research.

A post occupancy evaluation of the uae museum indoor environments

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