Critical infrastructure elements are those whose disruption or destruction could cause grave consequences to essential services for the population, the health and safety of people, the environment, the revenues or reputation of the owner and/or the operator.
Infrastructure systems are highly complex. Technology is increasing the ability control and utilise infrastructure, but at the same time has made it much more complex. The human factor (of individuals and organisations) introduces subjectivity and additional vulnerability, which may result in unpredictable failures that are often not identified. The overall resilience of the system will determine the response against a wide range of threats and critical situations, and therefore the potential losses: physical, economic, reputational, etc.
Spanish consutancy firm Solvere Infraestructuras S.L. has developed a methodology to identify and manage critical infrastructure and its vulnerabilities, with the objective of supporting investment decisions, life-cycle planning and operational risk management for public and private organisations.
Solvere’s solution to this problem adopts the all-hazards resilience approach, which recognises that protecting critical infrastructure against all kinds of threats is unfeasible -for technical and economic reasons- and focuses instead on i) assessing the potential losses resulting from infrastructure failure scenarios; ii) defining the acceptable business risk level; and iii) proposes optimal strategies and tools that ensure a basic level of service during crises and the capacity to recover efficiently.
Furthermore, Solvere approaches the infrastructure business as a system-of-systems, and our methodology uses techniques such as cognitive mapping and vulnerability analysis to build a working framework. The document describes the methodology, named "Nautinfra" (registered trademark).
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