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Indicators
Resources allocated to adopt extraordinary infrastructures to face shocks
Description
At this stage, critical infrastructure protection measures are being implemented newly. This policy introduces contingency plans for critical infrastructures.
Case studies
Donostia: Development of contingency plans for public and critical services
Summary
The Emergency Plan of DSS 2016 has updated the risks analysis and evaluation for the city, as well as critical infrastructures identification, encouraging the development of contingency plans for public and critical services.
Further information
Relevant city context
Donostia / San Sebastian is a medium size city (186.377 inhabitants) and the capital of Gipuzkoa, a well-developed industrial and tertiary region of the Basque Country. It is a services-oriented city, with active tourism, trade and cultural activities, strong identity and a high quality urban life that has also its share of innovative and technological activities. As a coastal and riverside city, Donostia / San Sebastián is aware of climate change risks and suffers from natural disasters like floods, severe storms and other environmental disruptions.
Goal: to ensure continuity of critical services in case of crisis or emergency
The Municipal Emergency Plan of Donostia / San Sebastián 2016 integrates the Local Action Plans and Action Protocols developed by the municipality, such as the Flooding Special Action Plan, the Snow Special Plan or the Forestry Fires Action Plan; The protocols of action due to waves, winds, rains or evacuations and the security plans.
After the update of natural, technological and anthropic risks identification, analysis and evaluation, as well as critical infrastructures and key stakeholders mapping and analysis, the plan foresees the elaboration and update of Special and Contingency plans according to the municipal scope risks.
Cooperation among stakeholders
The local emergency plan promotes, if necessary, the activation of Contingency Plans or relevant protocols with the stakeholders responsible for critical infrastructures and essential services and their collaboration in cases of incidents or incidents.
Outcomes
Public and private stakeholders that supply or manage basic services or critical infrastructures must establish contingency plans or protocols to cope with possible disruptions or breakdowns in the current provision of such basic services or infrastructures. The city is now working to advance in its development with the different core stakeholders.
Other
For more information, please contact with Office of Strategy of DSS. Kepa Korta (estrategia@donostiafutura.net ).
Bristol: Researching and assessing critical infrastructure
This case describes a high-level investigation into the resilience of local and critical infrastructure in Bristol that formed part of the process of developing the Preliminary Resilience Assessment (PRA).
Further information
Relevant city context
The case explains an early stage in resilience maturity. The case involved research relating to Maturity Model Policy: (I2S2) Develop a list of currently available response resources. The research resulted in an internal report that was summarised in the final PRA. The case describes a process that impacted not only the Start (S) of maturity development but also spanned Moderate (M) and Advanced (A).
Goal: ensure continuity of critical services in case of crisis or emergency by knowing the capacity of the city to improve resilience and face shocks and long-term stresses.
Text
Cooperation among stakeholders
The research was largely desk-based using online-published information supplemented by interviews with council officers responsible for infrastructure assets (flood risk, parks, highways and energy infrastructure) and the hosting of a workshop with Category 2 responders on critical infrastructure resilience. Category 2 responders (as defined under the UK’s Civil Contingencies Act 2004) include utility and transport organisations that have a set of civil protection duties to co-operate and share information with core emergency responders (Category 1) and other Category 2 responders. As well as focusing on the traditional hard infrastructure aspects such as water, energy, transport, waste and communications the desk-top research also considered green infrastructure assets which provide ecosystem services including flood alleviation and urban cooling.
The questions the council officer undertaking the research asked were: What are the components of the infrastructure system and what evidence can we find on condition assessments, criticality/failure risk and asset management? What are the performance metrics used to describe the level of service provided and what can we find out about supply interruptions due to shocks?, Is any consideration being given to interdependences between different systems? What is being done to make the systems future proofed for the longer-term?
Cooperation amongst stakeholders
The workshop (“ensuring Bristol’s critical infrastructure is resilient”) involved a number of stakeholders from infrastructure organisations (including the City) with representation from the transport, energy and civil protection sectors, the Met Office, the Department of Communities & Local Government facilitated by the consultants Arup and Bristol’s Chief Resilience Officer. Workshop activities included a refresh of climate change headlines, exploring drivers for resilience, sharing approaching on planning for future infrastructure resilience, discussing examples of collaboration and mapping current strengths and weaknesses against the Seven Qualities of Resilient Systems (as defined by 100 Resilient Cities).
Outcome
The internal report produced was used to inform the final Preliminary Resilience Assessment document which in turn fed into the Bristol Resilience Strategy: https://www.bristol.gov.uk/documents/20182/1308373/Bristol+preliminary+resilience+assessment+November+2015/70751e3c-e1ec-47af-94a0-3562833e9d40
This investigation showed that although infrastructure systems are currently performing satisfactorily, the longer-term resilience to shocks and stresses could be undermined by the fragmented way the different assets are managed across the city and region and the lack of transparency on the vulnerability of assets and performance data for these critical services. The process also highlighted, in particular, how poorly understood the ICT (Information, Communication & Technology) sector is, which has implications for resilience due to the increasing dependency of the economy and society. This was echoed by the Adaptation Sub-Committee (to the Committee on Climate Change) in their latest report on the UK’s progress in preparing for climate change, where they concluded that there was a lack of evidence to assess the resilience of digital communication networks and the ICT sector. https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/2017-Report-to-Parliament-Progress-in-preparing-for-climate-change.pdf
Resources
About one-person month was involved in the research, with additional resource demands on those interviewed during the process and for the convening of the stakeholder workshop.
Additional case studies
Preparing for Critical Infrastructure Breakdowns: The Limits of Crisis Management and the Need for Resilience
Summary
Modern societies are widely considered to harbour an increased propensity for breakdowns of their critical infrastructure (CI) systems. While such breakdowns have proven rather rare, Hurricane Katrina has demonstrated the catastrophic consequences of such breakdowns. This article explores how public authorities can effectively prepare to cope with these rare events. Drawing from the literature on crisis and disaster management, this article examines the strengths and weaknesses of traditional approaches to crisis preparation and crisis response. The authors argue that the established ways of organising for critical decision-making will not suffice in the case of a catastrophic breakdown. In the immediate aftermath of such a breakdown, an effective response will depend on the adaptive behaviour of citizens, front-line workers and middle managers. In this article, the authors formulate a set of strategies that enhance societal resilience and identify the strong barriers to their implementation.
Source: Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management
Disaster preparedness and Business Continuity Planning at Boeing: An integrated model
Summary
Boeing, a global company that was affected in a number of unexpected ways, embarked on an approach that separated, yet integrated the Disaster Preparedness Community with the Business Community. The result was a Business Continuity Model that fostered further development of robust Business Continuity Plans to serve employees, customers, stakeholders and community. Facilities professionals, equipped with an understanding of today’s business crisis and the Business Continuity Model, can serve as a partner to their Business Continuity Representative to educate, develop and execute a Business Continuity Plan that ensures business continuance through any unforeseen event
Source: Journal of Facilities Management
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This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 653569.