The welfare of society is more and more dependent on the proper functioning of Critical Infrastructures (CIs), and crises that affect CIs usually aggravate their impact on society. Therefore, improving the resilience of CIs is the most important objective of today's crisis managers. Although several resilience frameworks can be found in the literature, their implementation is still incipient and detailed prescriptions for their implementation are lacking. Moreover, some frameworks are only limited to describing the activities performed within the boundaries of the CI, neglecting the role of external agents. This research describes a practical and holistic resilience framework for improving the resilience of CIs taking into account the external agents. The framework is composed of three elements: a set of resilience policies; an influence table that assesses the influence of policies on prevention, absorption and recovery stages; and an implementation methodology that defines the temporal order in which the policies should be implemented. Two empirical studies were undertaken in two CIs to implement this framework. The studies show that the resilience framework helps CIs to diagnose their resilience level, detect areas of potential improvement and complement their risk management approach with a transversal approach to be better prepare to deal with crises. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Para mejorar la gestión de desastres naturales es necesario que los agentes involucrados analicen las experiencias pasadas, identifiquen buenas prácticas y documenten lecciones aprendidas. Sin embargo, actualmente los agentes todavía tienen que hacer frente a una serie de dificultades para intercambiar la información y el conocimiento adquirido con el resto de agentes involucrados. En primer lugar, el conocimiento se encuentra fragmentado entre la variedad de agentes procedentes de distintos niveles jerárquicos, culturas y organizaciones involucrados en la gestión de desastres. En segundo lugar, no hay un repositorio común que facilite el intercambio de información y conocimiento entre diferentes organizaciones. Además, hay que añadir la dificultad para compartir información de carácter sensible como informes sobre lecciones aprendidas y buenas prácticas que pueden presentar errores cometidos por las organizaciones en eventos pasados. Por último, existe un exceso de información sobre la gestión de desastres naturales que los agentes no son capaces de analizar. Este artículo presenta un caso de estudio sobre el proyecto europeo ELITE que tiene como objetivo mejorar el intercambio de información y conocimiento entre la comunidad de expertos europeos en la gestión de desastres naturales. Para ello, el proyecto ELITE ha formado una Comunidad de Práctica Virtual (CPV) que agrupa a 70 expertos multidisciplinares en la gestión de desastres naturales a nivel europeo.

Disasters are complex phenomena, by diverse nature and whose management is complicated. An efficient analysis of potential impacts that may result as consequence of a disaster has to be conducted to improve the preparation and response in face of future events

The proper functioning of critical infrastructures is crucial to societal well-being. However, critical infrastructures are not isolated, but instead are tightly coupled, creating a complex system of interconnected infrastructures. Dependencies between critical infrastructures can cause a failure to propagate from one critical infrastructure to other critical infrastructures, aggravating and prolonging the societal impact. For this reason, critical infrastructure operators must understand the complexity of critical infrastructures and the effects of critical infrastructure dependencies. However, a major problem is posed by the fact that detailed information about critical infrastructure dependencies is highly sensitive and is usually not publicly available. Moreover, except for a small number of holistic and dynamic research efforts, studies are limited to a few critical infrastructures and generally do not consider timedependent behavior. This paper analyzes how a failed critical infrastructure that cannot deliver products and services impacts other critical infrastructures, and how a critical infrastructure is affected when another critical infrastructure fails. The approach involves a holistic analysis involving multiple critical infrastructures while incorporating a dynamic perspective based on the time period that a critical infrastructure is non-operational and how the impacts evolve over time. This holistic approach, which draws on the results of a survey of critical infrastructure experts from several countries, is intended to assist critical infrastructure operators in preparing for future crises. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

This research focuses on the evolution of environmental management within firms. It is based on a survey and semi-structured interviews conducted among UK companies. Building on an evolutionary conceptual model, consisting of several maturity stages, we identify milestones', i.e. common practices companies engage in when progressing through specific maturity stages. Whilst clear commonalities can be identified, most notably linked to the order of maturity stages they progressed through and the emergence of commonly acknowledged practices linked to the individual maturity stages, the results also reveal a number of within-sample patterns regarding the companies' progression through the different maturity stages. It can be concluded that the maturity stages and practices identified in this research can provide valuable guidance for firms aiming to make progress in environmental matters, as they help them to identify in which maturity stage they are and sets out steps that they can take to move forward. Copyright (c) 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Purpose This study aims to present a resilience framework for critical infrastructures (CIs) taking into account internal and external stakeholders involved in a crisis situation and covering the four resilience dimensions defined in the literature, as well as providing practical policies to facilitate their implementation in practice. Design/methodology/approach The research methodology consists of an iterative process in which different research methods such as group model building, multiple case study and Delphi method are applied to gather knowledge from experts in the field. Findings This study presents a holistic and easily applicable framework for CIs where: first, a list of resilience policies is defined and second, the influence of each resilience policy in the three resilience life-cycle stages is assessed. Originality/value This study overcomes three of the main limitations that current resilience building frameworks have: some of them only focus on one resilience dimension without covering the four resilience dimensions of resilience, most of them only focus on internal stakeholders without taking into account external stakeholders, and finally, most frameworks limit to describe the framework theoretically without explaining how it can be implemented in practice.

The safety and proper functioning of Critical Infrastructures (CIs) are essential for ensuring the welfare of society, which puts the issue of improving their resilience level at the forefront of the field of crisis management. Most of the resilience-building principles defined in the literature do not cover all the dimensions that make up resilience and most of them only focus within the boundaries of the CI, neglecting the role of the external agents that also have an influence on enhancing resilience. Furthermore, most of the principles that are present in the literature are theoretical and difficult to implement in practice. In light of this situation, the aim of this research is to present a holistic resilience framework for critical infrastructures in order to improve their resilience level by taking into account internal and external agents and covering all the resilience dimensions. Furthermore, this framework has been defined in close collaboration with the general management of CIs to facilitate its implementation in practice. Finally, in order to illustrate the value added of this framework it was implemented in a nuclear plant.

The dependency of society on the proper functioning of critical infrastructures (CIs) has been highlighted in recent natural disasters. CIs set up complex and interconnected systems and consequently a failure in one CI can spread to other dependent sectors. This represents a further complication in the response phase of a crisis, increasing the impact of natural disasters and seriously affecting the welfare of society. The aim of this paper is to illustrate the important role that CIs have on the propagation of the impact of a crisis. For that reason, a simulation model that represents the propagation, among interdependent CIs, of the effects of a storm on a region has been developed. This simulation model has a pedagogical purpose in which the effects of applying different crisis management policies can be simulated. This type of simulation models can represent different crisis scenarios. Therefore, simulation models can be used by managers allowing them to identify good practices and areas of improvement in face of future events.

This research is focused on a survey conducted among Spanish and Italian companies in order to define the environmental management evolution within firms. Through this survey, a number of maturity stages were defined and validated, and the identification of the relevant factors for each of the maturity stages was made. Survey results show that companies start with environmental management issues due to legislation requirements. Afterwards, firms go through a training phase, continuing with the systematization stage, then look for economic benefits through ecological improvements (ECO2 stage) and finish with the eco-innovation and leading green company stages. The survey has shown that the maturity stages have application in all types of industrial sector. These are useful for those firms that want to make progress in environmental matters, as it helps them to identify at which maturity stage they are and what are the factors that they need to take into account to move forward. Copyright (c) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

While crises may appear to be event-driven, post-mortem accounts often identify factors that accumulate over time and increase the likelihood of failure. These factors are particularly difficult to anticipate when multiple organizations are involved in crisis preparation and event detection. Through the development of a systems-based model of crisis management, we learned that knowledge sharing can be accelerated or inhibited by the development of trust among organizations through the management of events. Is it possible to operationalize this finding? This hypothesis is being integrated into our current research in progress, a multi-national Community of Practice in disaster management.

Recientes desastres naturales han puesto de relieve la dependencia de la sociedad en el correcto funcionamiento de las infraestructuras críticas (ICs). Las ICs forman sistemas complejos e interconectados por lo que un fallo en una IC puede propagarse a otros sectores que dependan de ella. Ello supone una complicación añadida en la fase de respuesta de una crisis, aumentando el impacto y afectando seriamente al bienestar de la sociedad. El objetivo de este trabajo es ilustrar el importante papel que las interdependencias entre ICs tienen sobre el impacto global de una crisis causada por un desastre natural. Para ello, se ha desarrollado un modelo de simulación que representa los efectos de una fuerte tormenta sobre una isla con ICs interdependientes. El modelo de simulación desarrollado es un modelo de carácter pedagógico en el que se pueden simular los efectos de aplicar distintas políticas de gestión de crisis. Este tipo de modelos de simulación pueden representar escenarios de crisis diferentes por lo que pueden ser usados por gestores de crisis permitiéndoles identificar buenas prácticas y áreas de mejora ante futuros eventos. Palabras clave: Gestión de crisis, evaluación de impactos, infraestructura crítica, interdependencias, desastre natural.

The proper functioning of critical infrastructures (CIs) is vital for society¿s welfare. A disruption in one of them may lead to a crisis that affects not only the CI where the triggering event occurs but also the whole society. Therefore, it is fundamental to increase the whole system¿s resilience level. This paper defines resilience as the capacity of a system to prevent a crisis occurrence, to reduce the consequences from failure, and to recover rapidly and efficiently. Although there is much information about the definition of resilience, literature still lacks to provide a detailed holistic prescription about what activities should be carried out to improve the resilience level of the CIs and the society as a whole. This paper defines twelve policies that help to enhance the resilience level of all the stakeholders involved in crisis management, using information gathered from experts and examining several case studies.

A primera vista, la gestión ambiental puede parecer diferente en cada empresa. Sin embargo, esta investigación ha demostrado que la evolución de la gestión ambiental es similar en todas las organizaciones; es decir, cada compañía pasa por análogos estados de madurez. A través de entrevistas y workshops con expertos en gestión ambiental, se ha definido esta evolución y se ha desarrollado una clasificación de estos estados de madurez: Cumplimiento de la Legislación, Formación, Sistematización, ECO2, Eco-Innovación y Empresa Líder en Gestión Ambiental. Esta clasificación ayuda a comprender con mayor precisión la evolución de la gestión del medio ambiente y la estructura que representa a esta evolución.

The severe consequences of a Critical Infrastructure (Cl) crisis demand continued research directed toward proactive and reactive management strategies. Despite the best efforts of governments and communities, the diversity of stakeholders, conflicting demands for resources, and a lack of trust among organizations create complexities that limit the effectiveness of the response. This paper identifies four specific problems that appear to reoccur when Us are challenged: heterogeneity, multiple and inconsistent boundaries, resilience building and knowledge transfer and sharing. A combination of collaborative modeling and software simulation methodologies is proposed in order to identify the interrelationships among diverse stakeholders when managing the preparation for and reaction to a Cl crisis. This approach allows experts to work together and share experiences through the modeling process which can lead them to a better understanding of how other organizations work and integrate different perspectives. In addition, simulation models enable domain experts to understand the consequences of certain policies in the short and long terms, thus improving the crisis managers' knowledge for future crisis situations. This paper presents a practical case of a hypothetical crisis in the Cl sector and the approach used in order to deal with the four problems identified above. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A major industrial accident is an unpredictable event which triggers a disruption in a Critical Infrastructure (CI). This disruption can spread through other sectors, affecting not only the CI where the triggering event takes place but the whole society as well. In the case of major industrial accidents, system resilience consists of both the resilience of the CI (internal resilience) and resilience of society (external resilience). Resilience is the system¿s ability to reduce the probability of failure, the consequences from failure and the response and recovery time. However, little is known about how to achieve a high resilience level. In this paper, using the information gathered from experts and examining several major industrial accidents, we derive twelve policies that enhance the system¿s resilience level. The definitions of these policies are clarified through real case examples where the consequences of their use or lack of use are explained.

Resilience building has become one of the most promising strategies for crisis managers to improve the security and proper functioning of critical infrastructures (CIs). Therefore, crisis managers will benefit from both general and detailed guidance for building and maintaining CI resilience levels. This paper aims to contribute to this purpose by presenting a framework that helps crisis managers improve the resilience level of CIs based on internal and external aspects of the CI that are often overlooked. This framework proposes sixteen resilience policies that have been suggested as influential in developing resilience. The influence and relative effectiveness of each policy in promoting the resilience of the system is postulated. The framework was reviewed and validated through an expert panel and a Delphi process providing grounded support for the evaluation and prioritization of the resilience policies. The results show that internal policies are the most influential ones when avoiding a crisis occurrence and external policies are most helpful when bouncing back to the usual state.

Recent natural disasters have highlighted society¿s dependency on the correct functioning of critical infrastructures (CIs). The existing interdependencies among CIs complicate matters further, since a failure in a CI can spread through cascading effects to other infrastructures or sectors. Thus society's welfare becomes severely affected, complicating emergency response and increasing the total impact of natural disasters. The aim of this paper is to illustrate the important role that affected CIs have on the overall impact of a natural disaster. We have developed a simulation model that represents a huge storm affecting the energy system, transport and food CIs on a small island. Through this simulation model we can show the effects associated with CIs and the effects of applying crisis management policies.

Las crisis son fenómenos complejos, de diversa naturaleza, la mayoría de las veces inevitables y cuya gestión resulta muy complicada. Por ello, para facilitar el proceso de gestión, es necesario realizar un profundo análisis de los posibles impactos que puedan ser consecuencia de una crisis. En el presente artículo se procede a analizar las diversas metodologías para la clasificación de impactos que se utilizan actualmente para, posteriormente, hacer una crítica constructiva sobre las dificultades que en dichas clasificaciones se encuentran. Finalmente se describen una serie de recomendaciones para mejorar el proceso de clasificación de impactos en situaciones de crisis.

Actualmente la mayoría de las empresas cumplen los requisitos ambientales que exigen los clientes y la legislación vigente. Sin embargo, no es fácil ir más allá y alcanzar la excelencia ambiental. Es aquí donde entra el concepto de eco-innovación. Todavía no existe una definición clara de este concepto y es importante aclarar su significado para poder avanzar. Por lo tanto, a través de una investigación exploratoria, este artículo expone los diferentes enfoques de eco-innovación y aclara el concepto, dándole una perspectiva dinámica. Es importante destacar, que la ecoinnovación no tiene por qué tener como objetivo inicial la mejora ambiental; sino que puede partir de innovaciones que se realizan en los productos, procesos o servicios de la empresa. Esta definición se debe enmarcar en un campo de mejora continua, de tal forma que se busque de manera incremental, nuevos márgenes de mejora; ya sea en los productos, procesos y/o servicios y como consecuencia en el medio ambiente; o por el contrario, en aspectos ambientales y como consecuencia en los productos, procesos y/o servicios. Por otro lado, la eco-innovación está muy ligada al eco-diseño y a la eco-eficiencia. A través del eco-diseño se puede llegar a la eco-innovación, pero hay que tener en cuenta que para que el producto/servicio sea rentable hay que analizar la eco-eficiencia que se centra en el diseño de los procesos.

Environmental management has become a fundamental concern for organizations, customers, and citizens, yet there are few environmental management metrics that guide toward environmental excellence. This research presents a detailed qualitative model of the evolution of environmental management of a firm through the definition of maturity stages and causal influences. The model provides a technique for assessing maturity stages as well as steps that can assist or negate their ecological advancement. The causal-based classification helps companies to understand the need for nontechnical elements in the process, such as top management commitment. This article also contributes to the literature on integrative multimethod research, as it brings together several approaches to environmental management.

Large crises management, affecting CIs needs multidisciplinary knowledge including technical, economical, social, political, legal and managerial knowledge. Being these crises international a huge variety of agents is involved in their response. This situation concludes in a set of stakeholders who only have fragmented knowledge. In the presence of dispersed and incomplete knowledge, and of fragmented and disrupted crisis management, the collaborative approach group model building (GMB), where modelling experts unify fragmented, tacit knowledge from domain experts, is a valuable option. However, GMB has been little used in CIP. We have done so in the context a European project on crisis management of large-scale power cut crises. Particulars in CIP ¿ variety of time horizons, different national perspectives, and challenges to create an international approach, among others ¿ require adaptations in the GMB approach. This paper describes such adaptations and provides insights for better future collaborative modelling

Introducción: Los grandes accidentes industriales son eventos impredecibles que se desencadenan con una interrupción en una Infraestructura Crítica (IC). Esta perturbación se extiende posteriormente a varios sectores, afectando a la IC en la que la crisis comienza pero también a toda la sociedad. Resiliencia es la capacidad de una infraestructura o un sistema para reducir la probabilidad de fallo, las consecuencias del fallo y el tiempo de respuesta y recuperación. Sin embargo, se sabe poco acerca de cómo conseguir un nivel adecuado de resiliencia. Método: Mediante la revisión bibliográfica de grandes accidentes industriales y entrevistas con expertos en gestión de crisis se han definido dos tipos de resiliencia. Cada uno de ellos se divide en varias dimensiones. Además se han identificado políticas de mitigación para aumentar el nivel de resiliencia del sistema. Resultados: En el caso de grandes accidentes industriales, la resiliencia del sistema se divide en dos: la resiliencia de la IC (resiliencia interna) y la resiliencia de la sociedad (resiliencia externa). A su vez, se definen doce políticas de mitigación que ayudan a mejorar el nivel de resiliencia del sistema, tal y como se muestra en diferentes casos reales analizados.

Crisis is a wide concept which may include a diverse set of events and behaviour patterns. Thus, crisis management requires complementary approaches that provide a more complete perspective. This paper describes a useful methodology to analyse crises from a multiple perspective approach that contributes to acquire a more deep understanding about crises and their management. The first approach focuses on the peak of the crisis paying attention to how to respond to the crisis¿triggering event and to the cascading effects that amplify the crisis impact. The second approach adopts a long¿term perspective, identifying the relationship between the policies implemented on the pre¿crisis phase and the subsequent impacts on the crisis peak and post¿crisis phases. The third approach researches on the learning process from one crisis to the next one.

The food supply chain has been recognised by the USA and the EU as a critical infrastructure, and it should be considered a target for possible terrorist attacks. In this paper, we present a methodological approach developed within the EU project SecuFood to evaluate the risk associated with this threat. The usefulness of the approach is related to the improvement of the analysis of food supply chain risk in terms of the potential threats, the vulnerability of the system, and the effectiveness of counter measures. The followed approach is based on identifying biological and chemical hazards, analysing those biological and chemical agents, and determining the risk level they present in the main phases of the food supply chain. We consider the feasibility of an attack (what we call likelihood), taking into account the accessibility and manageability of the contamination agents, the vulnerability of the supply chain for specific products, and the possible adverse consequences.

La mejora continua es un proceso dinámico y complejo, caracterizado por su dificultad de mantenimiento en el tiempo, ya que su implantación conlleva un cambio cultural en toda la empresa. En los programas de mejora continua, los equipos de mejora son un elemento muy importante, y el modo en que se desarrollen y evolucionen es determinante para el éxito del programa. Por este motivo, el objetivo de este trabajo de investigación es desarrollar un modelo de simulación que permita analizar el desarrollo de equipos de mejora. El modelo obtenido representa la evolución de estos equipos en distintas situaciones. Gracias al modelo se pueden entender mejor cómo funcionan los equipos de mejora y los factores más importantes que deben tenerse en cuenta a la hora de implantar nuevos proyectos; como el seguimiento de la Dirección, el reconocimiento a los equipos, la formalización del sistema, la asignación de recursos y los objetivos que se pretenden alcanzar. Al mismo tiempo, el modelo es una herramienta de formación para todos aquellos implicados en los equipos de mejora.

La mejora continua es un proceso dinámico y complejo, caracterizado por su dificultad de mantenimiento en el tiempo, ya que su implantación conlleva un cambio cultural en toda la empresa. En los programas de mejora continua, los equipos de mejora son un elemento muy importante, y el modo en que se desarrollen y evolucionen es determinante para el éxito del programa. Por este motivo, el objetivo de este trabajo de investigación es desarrollar un modelo de simulación que permita analizar el desarrollo de equipos de mejora. El modelo obtenido representa la evolución de estos equipos en distintas situaciones. Gracias al modelo se pueden entender mejor cómo funcionan los equipos de mejora y los factores más importantes que deben tenerse en cuenta a la hora de implantar nuevos proyectos; como el seguimiento de la Dirección, el reconocimiento a los equipos, la formalización del sistema, la asignación de recursos y los objetivos que se pretenden alcanzar. Al mismo tiempo, el modelo es una herramienta de formación para todos aquellos implicados en los equipos de mejora.

Technology currently allows the development of games that can be used not only for entertainment purposes, but also for training. This can be especially suitable in the case of training for business managers. In fact, there is a long tradition of using games for training in management issues. This chapter presents a general review of the value added by the serious games use in the case of management training and particularly visits the experience of using games based on systems dynamics simulation models. The focus of this type of games is oriented towards making explicit the structure underlying the behaviour simulated in the game. Finally, a real training case is presented in detail, where both methods, serious games and system dynamics, are combined for gaining a deep insight in maintenance techniques.