3 Steps to a Facility Condition Assessment

I was reading in American City and County magazine about something I had not heard of that makes perfect sense, that being a facility condition assessment. See: The risks of aging infrastructure

The maritime industry has a mandated facility security assessments as part of its United States Coast Guard security requirements. It would be interesting to see what the results might be if every community had to do a facility condition assessment. We probably could project what it would say already (not good), but every jurisdiction is different.

The article brings up the need to not only collect data in tabular format but then to also map that data. I think this is critically important when you are looking at infrastructure interdependencies. Where is the nexus between utilities, public and private?  

The three-step process the magazine lays out is to:

1. Inventory
2. Prioritize
3. Implement

Of the three the last is the biggest issue. There will always be more needs then there are resources, but that is why you establish the priority.

Emergency management can have a role in all the above. Pre- and post-disaster mitigation funds might be appropriate to use with fixing infrastructure that has a nexus to a security or natural hazard.