The preparedness of Hospital Strakonice to critical infrastructure failure

The failure of critical infrastructure is one of the most serious threats, especially in health care. Hospitals and health care facilities play an irreplaceable role, so it is essential to maintain the capacity and responsiveness of the health care facility as a whole during the blackout period. In energy, which is one of the areas of critical infrastructure, power outages can occur at any time, so the hospital should be unconditionally prepared for this crisis situation and the resulting impacts. The theoretical part defines the basic concepts in the health care system located in crisis preparedness and crisis planning, as well as necessary documentation and electrical regulations. The following chapter deals with the critical infrastructure from the perspective of national and international legislative documents and links to the means for its protection. The last part explains the principle of the electricity system of the Czech Republic and describes the production, transmission and distribution of electricity. The topic of Blackout outlines the issue of domestic and foreign cases. The practical part introduces the environment of the Hospital Strakonice, a.s., further describes the available alternative sources of electric energy and legislative standards of the company, on the principles of which it respects crisis preparedness. Three specific cases explain how critical infrastructure failures can be addressed, prevent unwanted situations, respond to problems promptly, and take remedial action. For elaboration of my diploma thesis I used basic scientific procedures which are observation, consultation, analysis and comparison. The aim of the thesis was to map the readiness of the health and non-health part of the hospital to the impact of the failure of critical infrastructure, which could be described as satisfactory. The findings will be forwarded to the Chairman of the Board of Directors and the Crisis Management Department of the Strakonice Hospital, a.s. to assess the possible consequences and effective preparedness for critical infrastructure failures. The results can be used as study material