Disaster preparedness that fits each facility.
Factories, logistics sites, schools, hospitals and care facilities all differ in location, occupants, equipment, operations and hazard exposure. As a research theme, SAND-X is exploring how AI could support disaster risk management at such facilities.
Common challenges in facility disaster preparedness
Generic plans and manuals alone are difficult to translate into day-to-day operations on site.
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Every facility is different
Location, occupants and equipment vary from facility to facility, even within the same sector.
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Plans stay generic
Template-based plans rarely reflect a facility’s specific risks.
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Procedures do not match operations
Written evacuation procedures diverge from actual staffing, routes and time of day.
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Drills become routine
Repeating the same scenario builds little capacity for the unexpected.
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Information does not lead to action
Weather and hazard information is difficult to convert into “what this facility should do now”.
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The burden falls on a few people
Disaster preparedness is often a secondary duty, so plan updates and drill design tend to be deferred.
Directions we are exploring
We are exploring whether organising facility information, integrating it with hazard data and applying AI could support disaster planning, evacuation procedures, training and information handling during a disaster.
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Structuring facility information
Structuring information on location, buildings, occupants, equipment and staffing.
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Integrating hazard information
Layering hazard maps, weather and surroundings at the facility level.
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Disaster planning support
Supporting plans that reflect facility-specific conditions.
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Evacuation procedure support
Supporting procedures that account for staffing, routes and time of day.
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Training support
Supporting scenario design and review tailored to the facility.
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Disaster information handling
Organising incoming information around the facility’s own actions.
From information to understanding, decisions and action.
We aim to integrate and analyse facility data, weather, hazard information, surroundings and measurement data, connecting situational understanding to decision and action support.
- Facility information
- Weather
- Hazards
- Surroundings
- Measurement data
- Data integration
- Situation overview
- AI / analysis
- Site-level understanding
- Situational awareness
- Disaster plans
- Evacuation procedures
- Drills
- Information during disasters
Subsurface measurement data from slope sensing would be one of the inputs to this integration.
Talk to us about facility preparedness research and partnerships.
We would like to begin by sharing challenges with facility disaster preparedness teams, research institutes and potential business partners.