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Safety and Security in Critical Infrastructures

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Urban and Rural Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 12266

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Antonella Petrillo

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Guest Editor

Department of Engineering, University of Naples “Parthenope”, 80143 Napoli, Italy
Interests: smart manufacturing; digital transformation; sustainability; circular economy; automation systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Fabio De Felice

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Guest Editor

Department of Engineering, University of Napoli “Parthenope”, 80143 Naples, Italy
Interests: operations management; smart manufacturing; digitalization; sustainability
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The resilience of modern societies have become more and more dependent on Critical Infrastructures (CI), complex socio-technical systems vital to the running of a country. These systems significantly affect the triple bottom lines of sustainability. For this reason, CI are considered so vital that their incapacity would have a debilitating impact on security, the economy, public health, safety and environmental security. Critical Infrastructure Protection began to be actively addressed in Europe in 2005, when the European Union issued a Call for a European Programme for Critical Infrastructure Protection (further only CIP). The Sustainability, Reliability and Safety of these systems are issues of global concern. Since then several techniques and methods have been developed for their correct management take into consideration several aspects such as human errors, design and construction of the infrastructure, maintenance policies, energy, water supply, healthcare protection and emergency transportation in case of disaster.

Recently, some studies have identified several interlinks among critical infrastructure, environmental security, risk assessment and risk management. These fields are inextricably interrelated and the need to make complex decisions based on multiple criteria as part of the risk management process is an urgent issue. In this context innovation and new technologies already making a difference.

The theme of this SI is to discuss the role and characteristics of critical infrastructure in modern societies and to analyzes the vest practices to maintain the sustainability of critical infrastructure. Promoting research for innovation and safety sustainable solutions, are the key tasks of this Special Issue.

Prof. Antonella Petrillo
Prof. Fabio De Felice
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

MCDM (AHP; DEMATEL; TOPSIS; PROMETHE; etc)
Decision Analysis and decision-making process
Ecological protection and environmental security
RAMS analysis
Safety assessment
Disaster Management
Resilience Engineering
Digitalization and innovation (enabling technologies i.e.: modelling and simulation; Big Data analytics; Augmented Reality; Additive manufacturing; Cyber-security; IoT, etc)
Risk Management
Functional Resonance Analysis Method
Human Reliability Analysis
Complex Adaptive Systems
Fault forecasting and Fault prevention
Cost-Benefit Assessment
Risk Reduction Assessment
Qualitative Criteria Assessment
Emergency procedures
Maintenance
Life Cycle Thinking and Social Life Cycle Assessment

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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21 pages, 3595 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Strategy for Managing the Operation of Technical Infrastructure Based on the Analysis of “Bad Actors”—A Case Study of LOTOS Group S.A.

by Tomasz Dziabas, Mariusz Deja and Aleksandra Wiśniewska

Sustainability 2022, 14(8), 4477; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14084477 - 09 Apr 2022

Viewed by 1367

Abstract

The article covers issues related to the selection of a management strategy for the operation of technical infrastructure. It contains the approaches, methodology and a general model of the system of operation of the Maintenance Services of the LOTOS Group production company, which is an example of a large oil concern. Nowadays, an increasing aspect is put on the efficiency of individual repair processes, as well as the operation of equipment. Doubts often arise as to which strategy is the right one and which one to choose. With numerous machines, there are problems related to work planning and optimal use of resources. In addition, there are frequently difficulties in identifying the devices that interfere with the processes. The aim of this article is to present the maintenance strategy of the LOTOS production company and to introduce a procedure that allows for the assessment of the efficiency of machinery and equipment operation. It includes a method extending the identification of “Bad Actors” used so far, based on data from the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system, with a solution based on reports made after device repairs. MTBR (Mean Time Between Repair) coefficients were calculated for particular Complexes, Plants and Machines, which allowed for the identification of troublesome areas and the most difficult devices in production processes. This made it possible to select the equipment that should be repaired in the first place. After the implementation of the method and service activities, a decrease in the number of problematic machines was observed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Safety and Security in Critical Infrastructures)

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21 pages, 24270 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Model Based System Commissioning Approach for Nuclear Facilities

by Alan Gaignebet, Vincent Chapurlat, Gregory Zacharewicz, Victor Richet and Robert Plana

Sustainability 2021, 13(19), 10520; https://doi.org/10.3390/su131910520 - 22 Sep 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1954

Abstract

Commissioning is considered as a critical phase in the delivery of a Nuclear Facility (NF) as it is the first stage in the authorization of the NF to be exploited. Most of the nuclear projects start to overrun costs during commissioning mainly since this phase is not addressed properly and is affected by many issues from previous phases (Design, Procurement, and Construction). This article proposes a general methodology to prepare and realize the commissioning activities. Using models to do so improves communication and removes ambiguities between stakeholders. It also formalizes and clarifies the commissioning organization and activities prior to any implementation. It also allows for capitalizing and sharing the experience from previous projects, by drawing references models and good practices patterns. The so-called Model Based commissioning method is elaborated around concepts, languages, processes, tools, and patterns inspired from Model Based System Engineering (MBSE) principles and practices. The theoretical foundations will be supported by results from nuclear facilities demonstrating the added value. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Safety and Security in Critical Infrastructures)

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19 pages, 2819 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Critical Risks Method (CRM): A New Safety Allocation Approach for a Critical Infrastructure

by Gianpaolo Di Bona, Antonio Forcina, Domenico Falcone and Luca Silvestri

Sustainability 2020, 12(12), 4949; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12124949 - 17 Jun 2020

Cited by 28 | Viewed by 2603

Abstract

In the current research, a safety allocation technique named the Critical Risks Method (CRM) has been developed. Starting from a literature review, we analyzed the shortcomings of conventional methods. The outcomes show the primary two criticalities of the most important safety allocation approaches: (1) They are developed for series configuration, but not for parallel ones; (2) they ordinarily give only qualitative outputs, but not quantitative ones. Moreover, by applying the conventional methods, an increase in safety of the units to ensure the safety target leads to an increase of the production costs of the units. The proposed strategy can overcome the shortcomings of traditional techniques with a safety approach useful to series–parallel systems in order to obtain quantitative outputs in terms of failures in a year. The CRM considers six factors that are able to ensure its applicability to a great variety of critical infrastructures. In addition, CRM is described by a simply analytic definition. The CRM was applied to a critical infrastructure (Liquid Nitrogen Cooling Installation) in a nuclear plant designed with series–parallel units. By comparing the CRM outputs with databank safety values, the proposed method was validated. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Safety and Security in Critical Infrastructures)

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Review

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20 pages, 4536 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceReview

Critical Infrastructures Overview: Past, Present and Future

by Fabio De Felice, Ilaria Baffo and Antonella Petrillo

Sustainability 2022, 14(4), 2233; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14042233 - 16 Feb 2022

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4812

Abstract

Industrialized societies depend on the proper functioning of a whole range of technological infrastructures, such as electricity, road and railway networks and telecommunications which, due to their importance, are generically referred to as critical infrastructures (CIs). Technical failures, natural disasters and malicious events, if not terrorist, could have devastating effects on these infrastructures. The events of the last few years have accelerated efforts to identify and designate CIs at national and European levels and have reinforced concerns about increasing their protection in sensitive sectors for the safety of the individual and the community. The aim of this research is to provide the basic elements to understand the issue along with the reasons for its importance both at national, European and international level. In particular, after analyzing the origin of the problem, a systematic literature review is carried out to study the current research around future perspectives relating to the management of Cis, with particular focus on three research questions: RQ1 “What types of risk assessment methods are used to manage CIs?”, RQ2 “What are the environmental risk mitigation strategies for CIs?” and RQ3 “What is the role of the human factor in the prevention of risks for CIs?”. The results aim to be guidelines for decision makers and researchers interested in this topic. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Safety and Security in Critical Infrastructures)

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