“Resilience-based framework for enhancing NaTech risk management in industrial critical infrastructures”

Industrial facilities, once considered isolated entities, are now approached as complex socio-technical systems that involve intricate networks operating within the confines of the surrounding environment. The increasing frequency of extreme natural events due to climate change has highlighted the vulnerability of industrial plants to NaTech (natural hazards triggering technological scenarios). Current methodologies for NaTech risk assessment focus predominantly on immediate consequences, overlooking the long-term complexities that both industrial systems and their surrounding territories may face. This research proposes a resilience-based framework for NaTech risk management, considering three main stages —awareness, preparedness, recovery—and a loop for continuous learning to address the evolving NaTech challenges. Awareness emphasizes proactive vulnerability characterization under the function-location perspective. It addresses the interactions between industrial plants and multi-hazard contexts by implementing innovative methodological procedures based on qualitative, quantitative, and spatial techniques. Preparedness is supported by an innovative multi-risk tool considering the dynamic vulnerability of equipment categories to individual and overlapped interacting hazards, able to deploy the vulnerability into hierarchical safety layers to design robust and context-specific safer systems. The recovery stage is described through a retrospective case of hydrocarbon pollution caused by rainfall, integrating countermeasures and sustainable technological solutions. Overall, this research highlights the need for multidimensional approaches to tackle the evolving challenges posed by NaTech events. The outcomes present a comprehensive resilience-based framework, and operational procedures guiding the practical implementation of resilience principles and advancing the understanding of complex industrial systems while supporting their long-term sustainability facing natural factors.