How is the safety inspection for cultural properties carried out?

• The purpose of safety inspection for cultural properties is “to maintain the functions and safety of the cultural properties and preserve their original state by protecting them from any hazard or disaster.” Care should be taken during the inspection since cultural properties, unlike other architectural structures, are too valuable to be estimated in monetary terms. Furthermore, exposed to external environments for a long period of time, they are susceptible to deformation, deterioration, and crack and, once damaged, hard to be restored to their original state. 
• So the original state of cultural properties should be conserved by inspecting any possible deformation, crack, deterioration, and defect of their structure on a regular basis. 
• Due to the nature of cultural properties, there is only a limited number of measures used for safety inspection, among which are visual inspection and non-destructive testing. Equipment and checklists that are most commonly used for inspection are as follows:

• Visual inspection for the degree of aging and damage of parts
• Investigation of the behavior of architectural structures using an inclinometer
• Measurement of horizontal or vertical displacement of structures using an electro-optic distance meter
• Inspection of the progress of cracking and separation using a crack gauge
• Measurement of vibration impact on structures from external environment including traffics
• Review of stress and behavior of wooden structures using a safety inspection program
• Inspection of the deterioration and weathering of wooden parts using non-destructive testing with ultrasound CT
• Estimation of the strength of stone structures using a rock test hammer
• Measurement of moisture content of wooden parts using a moisture encounter