Industrial Technical Failure
The Department for Business, Enterprise
and Regulatory Reform (DBERR) [External website] is
the lead department for Energy in England and Wales, with the Scottish
Executive [External website] and Northern
Ireland Executive [External website] responsible
for the devolved administrations.
The Environment
Agency[External website] is the lead department in water
matters.
On this page:
The Level of Risk
The UK Government, in particular through the Health and
Safety Executive (HSE) [External website] and the
Department for Business, Enterprise and
Regulatory Reform (DBERR) [External website], work
with the private sector to ensure that the chances of significant failures
in our industrial sector are minimised.
We are largely successful, with very few instances of serious industrial
problems, but no advanced industrialised country is immune to technical
failures. The UK Government accordingly works with the private sector to
ensure that we have the contingency plans in place that are proportionate
and appropriate to the hazards we face.
The incidents of industrial technical failure that the UK Government uses
for contingency planning purposes cover technical failure of the upstream
oil and gas networks leading to disruption in production and accidental
failure of a water treatment works, a public telephone provider, the
telecommunications infrastructure and the electricity network.
Examples
The table below shows some examples of the specific risks which are
assessed as part of the national risk assessment framework. The framework
applies locally, regionally, in the devolved administrations and at the UK
level. Details of the framework and risk assessment methodology can be
found in the risk section of
this site.
Risk Evaluation
|
Type of Risk
|
Risk Categories
|
Outcome Description for Planning Purposes
|
|
Hazard
|
Accidental failure at water treatment works
|
Between 10 - 50,000 people could be without piped water for up to 3
days.
|
|
Hazard
|
Technical failure of electricity network
|
Total shutdown of the electricity supply over an entire region (or
Devolved Administration), occurring during working hours and lasting
for 24 hours.
|
Energy and Power Supply
Reports and Guidance
-
DBERR -
Downstream Oil Resilience [External website] The
Downstream Oil Emergency Response Plan identifies how the resources of
the downstream oil industry and the Government can be used in an
emergency. ("Downstream" means the supply of oil products after
they leave the refineries to their use by consumers.)
Regulators
Industry Links
Related sites
Water Supply
Regulators
Environment Agency Water Resources
Water Companies
-
Water UK [External website] - Links and contact
details for all water suppliers and sewerage operators in England,
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
-
Water
Facts [External website] - Details of UK water
operators and the organisation and structure of the industry. It also
brings together water-related information from other sources - on
environment, water and sewerage bills, drinking water quality, domestic
usage, rainfall and climate, regulation, and comparative data for Europe.
Other Links
-
Consumer Council for
Water [External website] The Consumer Council for
Water is a national consumer watchdog agency for the water industry.
Communications
-
CPNI:
Good Practice Guide to Telecommunications Resilience
[External
PDF, 35 pages, 267KB] - It is vital that an organisation
understands which of its telecommunications systems are critical to the
business, and how to provide the appropriate level of resilience for
these systems. This guide is for those people who have to commission,
specify, audit or procure resilient Services. It has a series of
recommendations aimed at helping an organisation understand why
resilience is an issue, what resilience is needed and how it can be
delivered.
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