Resilience management guidelines for critical infrastructures, translating resilience theory into practical and useful interventions

Resilience goes beyond safety and risk management encompassing the ability of organisations to proactively adapt to expected and unexpected situations (crisis, opportunities and changes). The literature on resilience is overwhelming, our systematic literature survey identified 300 different definitions on resilience, diverse developments. Hence, there is a need to translate this fragmented body of knowledge into consolidated practical solutions. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the final version of resilience management guidelines produced in the H2020 DARWIN project. Through a multidisciplinary approach, involving experts in the field of resilience, crisis and risk management and service providers in the Air Traffic Management, healthcare domains as well as representatives from other domains, the DARWIN project has produced evolving resilience management guidelines (DRMG). These guidelines are not prescriptive. Instead they enable organizations to have a critical view on their own crisis management activities. The DRMG are available in different formats for easy usage and maintenance to avoid them being dust-collectors on a shelf. In this way, organizations can adapt, adopt and integrate the guidelines into their own existing management practices and procedures. Through an iterative development process involving academia and practitioners, the guidelines are constructed around Capability Cards (CCs). The evaluation in pilot exercises and other activities involved 247 practitioners from 22 countries explored the possibility to adapt the CCs to the Healthcare and Air Traffic Management domains. It also consider the feasibility of generalizing them to other Critical Infrastructure domains. Our achievement is the current version of guidelines proposing practical interventions that end-users find useful. This paper represents and invitation to explore the content of the guidelines, to encourage its use and further developments of the resilience management

Resilience Management Guidelines for Critical Infrastructures, Practical Solutions Addressing Expected and Unexpected Events

Crises and disasters (Eyjafjallajökull and Deepwater Horizon 2010, Fukushima Daiichi 2011, and more recently the wildfire in Sweden 2018) have made it obvious that a more resilient approach to preparing for and dealing with such events is needed. This paper presents the results of the H2020 DARWIN project, which contributes to improving responses to expected and unexpected crises affecting critical infrastructures and social structures, whether man-made events (e.g. cyber-attacks) or natural events (e.g. earthquakes). The main result of the Darwin project is the creation of the DARWIN Resilience Management Guidelines (DRMG). The DRMG are evolving guidelines, designed to improve the ability of stakeholders to monitor, anticipate and learn from crises, and thereby allow them to adapt and respond more effectively and operate more efficiently during disasters. These guidelines are not prescriptive. Instead, they enable organizations to have a critical view of their own crisis management activities. The target beneficiaries of DARWIN are crisis management managers and practitioners responsible for public safety, such as critical infrastructures and service providers, which might be affected by a crisis, as well as the public and media. The DRMG are not meant to be dust-collectors on a shelf. To this end, they have been made into a variety of formats to support their evolution, ease of use and maintenance. Within this paper, the reader is introduced to the DRMG in its different formats, as well as a host of innovative tools (e.g. DRMG Wiki, serious gaming, training packages) developed by the project to support resilience management learning and the uptake of the guidelines. A multidisciplinary approach is applied, involving experts in the field of resilience, crisis and risk management, social media, and service providers in the air traffic management and healthcare domains. To ensure transnational, cross-sector applicability, long-term relevance and uptake of project results, the DARWIN Community of Practitioners (DCoP) has been established, with membership including experts and end users from different fields of expertise and from across multiple critical infrastructure domains. The DCoP has been involved in an iterative development and evaluation process to provide feedback on the results. The evaluation in pilot exercises and other activities involved 247 practitioners from 22 countries. The DCoP members contributed with knowledge and experience ensuring the feasibility of adapting them to other critical infrastructure domains. Our achievement is the current version of guidelines and associated innovative tools proposing practical interventions that end-users find useful. This paper includes testimonials of end-users within and outside the consortium. This document represents an invitation to explore the content of the guidelines, to encourage its use and further developments of the resilience management. Concluding Paper of the H2020 DARWIN Project as published 25 March 2019 on www.h2020darwin.e