Dear Gail: Sorry about the delay: I've been "on the road" and have only now found time to reply. Judging by our findings when our Department carried out a comprehensive review of insurance and risk management for the UK Museums & Galleries Commission four years ago, the problem is that most if not all insurance policies exclude loss or damage during conservation and restoration processes or due to "inherent defects" which may not be apparent. The only insurance that is generally available in relation to conservation work (at least this side of the Atlantic) is "professional negligence" insurance. However, this is no help if a conserator or restorer is working within his or her field of proven expertise and competence, and then something that could not reasonably have been foreseen goes wrong and damage results, since there is no "negligence" in law. Consequently it is quite normal for conservators and restorers to insist that work is carried out at the owner's risk in relation to uninsurable losses of this kind. If of course it is possible to prove negligence, then it is very likely that the courts (at least in a Common Law jurisdiction) would hold the consevator liable for the damage cause by the negligence. Best wishes Patrick Boylan (City University London) ======================== On May 29 2003, Anderson, Gail K wrote: > Is it standard for art conservators to ask for a waiver of liability for > any loss or damage as well as for the quality of work performed by them > and that the art is left totally at the owner's risk? Is there such a > thing a malpractice insurance or is there a policy that museums can take > out when sending something away to be conserved? Thank you. > > > Gail Kana Anderson > Assistant Director/Curator of Collections > Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art > The University of Oklahoma > 410 W. Boyd St. > Norman, OK 73019 > 405.325.3272; fax 405.325.7696 > [log in to unmask] > > ========================================================= > Important Subscriber Information: > > The Museum-L FAQ file is located at > http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed > information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail > message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should > read "help" (without the quotes). > > If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message > to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read > "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).