Risk Analysis
The Virtual Risk Analysis Cell (VRAC) develops and shares critical infrastructure (CI)-focused risk analysis products, with an emphasis on identifying and examining the cascading impacts of potential or real disruptions across the 10 CI sectors in Canada, which includes:
- Enhancing understanding of cross-sector dependencies and linkages through modelling
- Providing CI subject matter expertise into cyclical planning documents
- Developing CI-focused geospatial and analytical products in support of federal emergency management efforts
If you're a critical infrastructure owner or operator, contact us to find out more about VRAC products and services.
CI Talks: Virtual Risk Analysis Cell
Transcript
Hello and welcome back to CI Talks. Today we will be talking about Public Safety's Critical Infrastructure Virtual Risk Analysis Cell, commonly known as VRAC.
The Virtual Risk Analysis Cell's main objective is to enhance the situational awareness of Canada's critical infrastructure community to help strengthen their resilience.
The VRAC team develops a variety of critical infrastructure focused analytical products to generate discussions, inform decision-making, improve emergency preparedness, and support emergency management for critical infrastructure stakeholders, including other federal departments and agencies, provincial and territorial governments, and the private sector.
The VRAC team supports the critical infrastructure community by conducting research and analysis from two perspectives: The first is hazard and sector focused, where it analyzes the threats or direct impact of natural hazards including floods, fires and hurricanes, as well as human-induced disruptions like a rail blockade or pipeline shutdown. The second perspective analyzes systems and examines interdependencies and supply-chains to gain a deeper understanding of how disruptive events can have cascading or cross-sector impacts.
VRAC also conducts research and analysis on significant events like the 2018 G7 Summit hosted in Quebec City, and on emerging threats such as climate change and drones, in order to provide stakeholders with situational awareness, guidance and cross-sector considerations.
To support impact assessments and risk analysis, VRAC integrates and analyzes multiple sources of data and information and maintains an inventory of infrastructure and hazard data. In addition to developing its own critical infrastructure-focused geospatial and analytical products to support federal emergency management efforts, the team also evaluates modeling tools that have the potential to enhance the security and resilience of infrastructure systems in Canada, and provides reports to partners for awareness.
Through collaboration and information sharing, VRAC supports the directorate in stakeholder engagement and maintaining strong relationships with the critical infrastructure community.
Today, we talked about the important role that the Virtual Risk Analysis Cell plays in enhancing the situational awareness of Canada's critical infrastructure community and in helping to strengthen their resilience.
We examined the various forms of research and analysis performed by the team, and explored some of the tools and products that they develop or offer to partners. We hope this video was helpful in understanding the role of Public Safety's Critical Infrastructure Virtual Risk Analysis Cell!
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