This risk assessment is designed to support archive professionals and staff in their work to communicate potentially upsetting histories. This includes, but is not limited to, communication for education and learning, exhibitions, social media, tours and visitor experience, lectures, research guides and events. This resource does not cover archive catalogues as these require more specific considerations and questions around archival best practice. This guide is about selected stories from within the archives and the choices made around communicating these stories.
This tool's purpose The aim of this risk assessment tool is not to encourage risk aversion nor recklessness, but to encourage a moment to reflect on the potential risks, prepare for them if you can or re-design your communication plan to limit the impact of any potential risks.
Below is a series of prompting questions and a list of common mitigations to get you started on your own risk assessment.
This section details more specific possible risks, their impact and some suggested mitigations.