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Contingency planning and emergency response

Flooded road in Cumbria

Change is one of few certainties of the modern world, whether it is brought about by human activity or the forces of nature. Underpinning the right technology and business information with precise location data delivers a clear vision of how things actually are, enabling more accurate analysis and modelling than ever before.

Reviewing defences

Terrorist threats and recent flooding has sharpened the focus of the utility industry on the need to review their defences, the degree to which they can maintain a service when a key asset is out of action and the adequacy of contingency planning should supplies fail. Obvious examples are: the Mythe pumping station in Tewksbury, which flooded leaving some 150 000 homes without fresh water; and the dam at Ulley reservoir, which if breached would have had the potential to flood thousands of homes.

Legislation

Legislation, including the new Water Act, and the Pitt review (an independent review of the July 2007 flooding) has identified that many emergency responders had an inadequate understanding of:

  • location of critical sites;
  • the mapping of their vulnerability to flooding;
  • the consequences of their loss; and
  • their dependencies on other critical infrastructure assets.

Knowing what and where your assets are is vital to identifying critical infrastructure and vulnerability to risk. Managing detailed information on the location, character and risk profile of utility assets is not just good commercial sense; it is a regulatory requirement and an essential first step for contingency planning.

Geographic information in action

All utility and Infrastructure companies use Ordnance Survey’s integrated digital products to provide much of the necessary geographic information to exploit location as the basis of a risk-management process.

The visual aspect of the data can help with deciding the risk element of an existing or a new asset. It can provide context in terms of the topographic layout of the environment, transport infrastructure and identify both commercial and residential properties within the immediate proximity of sites. It also enables you to associate your own information to an asset, such as their function, history, setting, usage, interaction, with other structures and customer information.

‘In the event of an incident the emergency operations team can use geographic information to obtain a more comprehensive assessment of the number and type of customers at street level.’
Alaric Parsons, Anglian Water®

All this information used in an intelligent and integrated way provides the national framework for:

  • Identifying the exact location and status of your assets, in particular, critical infrastructure – enabling business continuity plans such as the rerouting of alternative supplies to be managed quickly and effectively.
  • Common referencing and sharing of data, enabling multiple agencies to make informed decisions and establish a range of scenarios to help responders better prepare and assess potential impacts of an incident.
  • Managing impact on service provision down to single household level. By linking an address with property classifications to an operational asset, efforts can be much more targeted in managing resources, risks and responses, particularly by establishing vulnerable customers such as the elderly and hospitals.

  • Evidence-based investment strategies – many utility companies are re-evaluating possible investments to increase the degree of redundancy of supply; geographic information provides the foundation for evidence-based decisions and enables working together with regulators and key stakeholders to ensure that they can proceed with the most effective schemes.

‘At Severn Trent® our appreciation of risk has changed, and we are already planning how to make our plants and networks more resilient against the growing pressures that climate change and development growth will put on them.’

Tony Wray, Chief Executive of Severn Trent

More about Resilience on our See the detail website

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For general enquiries, complaints, feedback or suggestions, email: customerservices@ordnancesurvey.co.uk or call us on 08456 05 05 05