ResilienceN – a Multi-Dimensional Challenge for Maritime Infrastructures

One of the definitions describes resilience as the “ability of a system, community or society to resist, absorb, accommodate to and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner” [6]. The increasing demand for resilience arises from a steadily growing culture of safety as well as emerging threats. Maritime infrastructures are also affected by this. This article discusses the relationship between resilience, safety and safety objectives using case examples from the maritime domain. Principal approaches for the increase of resilience are described and typical indicators used to specify and evaluate the performance, to identify risks and to initiate compensation measures are explained. A generic process model is proposed to achieve a comprehensive, N-dimensional, view on proactive and reactive aspects of resilience engineering in relation to the entity’s lifecycle and to external factors such as needs, monitors and control mechanisms.