European Policies and Programs for the Security of Building Constructions

Security, as a goal, is already expressed in the EU Internal Security Strategy in Action: ‘every physical asset, public or private building infrastructures are potential targets for terrorist threats and can also be damaged by accidents’. Their protection starts from the resistance and robustness of the physical structure itself, so that if security measures fail, catastrophic consequences can be contained. EU policies concerning the security of infrastructures set out to strengthen the efforts towards their standardisation and harmonisation, which is not surprising because the construction sector is crucial for the European economy. Indeed constructions are key for the quality of life of citizens, as they spend a considerable amount of time in buildings. Moreover, in the presence of natural and man-made hazards, the welfare of citizens’ depends on the performance of the infrastructures that surround them. Consequently the availability of Eurocodes and European standards in buildings infrastructures constitutes a starting point for both risk reduction and harmonisation. Further, although building infrastructures cannot be defined as ECI they are a key element across all sectors and subsectors including that of energy and transport identified in the European Council Directive 2008/114/EC. Besides, potential incidents stemming from threats and acts of terrorism are usually considered as a priority for CIP and a all-hazards approach should be favoured. In support of EU efforts to protect critical infrastructures and reduce their vulnerability, the European Commission has launched the European Programme for Critical Infrastructure Protection (EPCIP) and funded the European Reference Network for Critical Infrastructure Protection (ERNCIP). Both have the scope to provide a framework within which experimental facilities and laboratories share knowledge and expertise for harmonising test protocols throughout Europe. The goal is to improve CIP against all types of threats and hazards including the issues of resistance of structures versus explosive effects.

POUSTOURLI Aikaterini;  WARD David;  ZACHARIADIS Angelos; 

2015-12-14

CITC-8

JRC96142

978-0-9894623-7-2,   

http://www.citcglobal.com/citc-8.html,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC96142,