The human, ecological and economic costs of an accident can impact the whole of society. Therefore, it is necessary to establish and apply safety and risk-reduction measures to prevent accidents and reduce their impacts. Furthermore, resilience should be enhanced in order to anticipate the effects of climate hazards (such as flooding, forest fires and drought) and geological hazards (i.e. tsunamis and seismic hazards). Moreover, rather than perceiving incidents in silos, a multi-hazard approach should be applied in order to be prepared for cascading effects.

The European Commission is not in charge of operational activities in the fight against crime and terrorism but supports and facilitates the activities of security practitioners at EU level.

The EU values societal resilience deeply and, therefore, aims at enhancing resilience both inside and outside the EU.

Measures to protect human health cross many sectors and are considered in numerous EU policies and activities.