Role of lifeline utilities
Lifeline utilities (“Lifelines”) provide essential infrastructure services that are critical for resilience and response.
These include:
- energy (including electricity, gas, and petroleum),
- transport (including road, rail, ports, and airports),
- water, and
- telecommunications (including broadcasting).
These services support:
- community and individual welfare,
- business, and
- many other services we all rely on.
Lifelines must plan and coordinate so that services can continue in an emergency. They work alongside other Lifelines and the emergency management sector. A "lifeline utility" is an entity:
- named or described in Part A of Schedule 1 of the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002, or
- that carries on business described in Part B of Schedule 1 of the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002.
The National Emergency Management Agency also include some services not listed in Schedule 1 in our lifelines work on a voluntary and non-regulated basis. For example, the cash system and waste sector.