A ‘disaster prevention’ approach advocated

Hospitals are one of the most critical facilities in any country, along with facilities such as fire departments and police stations. However, hospitals are distinctive due to the critical role they play in maintaining the health and wellbeing of society, and in dealing with the large number of injuries typically associated with major hazards. 

The fact that hospitals are complex is widely admitted by professional, governmental, and non-governmental organisations. The Pan American Health Organization1 described hospitals as ‘a hotel, an office building, a laboratory and a warehouse’ due to the complexity and interconnectivity of their systems (see Fig. 1). However, these complex, interconnected systems have commonly been narrowed down to three major categories: structural, non-structural, and functional components, in order to develop a better vision and approaches to understand them. 

This article aims to shed light on the resilience of these critical facilities, and discusses which theoretical approach is most suitable for building their resilience. It presents a brief summary of some of the author’s research work, experience, and reflections, over the past 13 years. The article takes advantage of the fact that major hazards have similar impacts on hospitals’ operation² to look at international experience in order to develop a better understanding of the performance of hospitals following major such incidents.