Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)
Definition of CNI:
Running a Nation requires a complex set of
interlinked sectors. Failure of any part of any sector can have grave
consequences. The most vital sectors are recognised as: Energy, Water,
Communications and Transport. Other interlinked sectors include: Food,
Emergency Services, Health, Financial Services and Government. These
are Critical National Infrastructure.
The most important duty of a government is the
security of the people, whether from internal or from external threats,
deliberate or accidental. There is nothing new or unusual in the
existence of threats.The source and the nature of the weapons used by
those who wish a nation ill are constantly changing. The environment
too is changing, and national infrastructure needs to evolve to remain
robust.
Risk Assessment:
Risk is a combination of the likelihood of a
hazard that could cause damage; and the impact that that damage could
cause. A study of these two will determine where effort needs to be
spent to ensure security. Further study is needed to determine how best
to address the most critical hazards.
Typical risks:
Ignoring war, the UK faces these risks among
others, in growing level of potential impact: Cyber Attacks on
individual’s data, Animal Disease, Severe Weather, Cyber Attacks on
large systems (banks, companies, government IT), Chemical or Biological
or Radioactivity Attacks, Disease, Major Transport Accidents, Inland
Flooding, Physical Attacks on Infrastruture, Physical Attacks on
Transport, Physical Attacks on Crowded Places, Major Industrial
Accidents, Coastal Flooding, Pandemic Disease. The likelihood of these
hazards put Attacks on Infrastructure (including Chemical and
Biological attacks), Attacks on Crowded Places, Attacks on Transport
into the category of those risks that deserve effort to mitigate.
How can REIDsteel help mitigate risks:
- Energy and Water are among the most vital
sectors. Some of these plants are very extensive, have large
boundaries, have great exposure to the atmosphere. We need to be able
to make boundaries safe from attack by fast moving vehicle borne
improvised explosive devices (VBIED), and REIDsteel design and
manufacture cost effective barriers and gates proven to resist such
threats. The structures in which these sectors operate may need to be
designed to be robust in resisting blast and damage to supporting
members, and REIDsteel make such structures (which will also resist
hurricanes and earthquakes). Very large areas such as reservoirs may
need to be covered to resistenvironmental attack, and REIDsteel’s
expertise with very large structures (such as aircraft hangars) enable
them to protect huge areas of water reservoirs (which also, by the way,
reduce the volume of water lost by evaporation in sun and wind).
- Attacks on crowded places and attacks on
transport are both high likelihood and high impact. REIDsteel surface
mounted barriers and gates can protect in any temporary situation, and
REIDsteel bollard mounted gates can offer permanent protection against
unwanted access. Again, REIDsteel buildings housing public facilities
can be designed to be robust.
- The risks mentioned above do not mention the UK
at war; lives can be saved, and comfort csan be enhanced, by a full
range of REIDsteel structures including bunkers, sangars, gates and
barriers which are highly suitable and cost effective in any theatre.
- Blast protection and compartmentalisation are
among the most cost effective measures to mitigate some forms of attack.
How to address risk mitigation:
Please ask REIDsteel for anything involving
structures, barriers and gates.
|