The Federal Office for Civil Protection FOCP is the central federal authority for strategic and conceptional development of the network system to protect the population and their vital needs during disasters and emergencies. With the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) and the Spiez Laboratory, the FOCP provides specialist services, in particular for dealing with nuclear, biological or chemical dangers. It also trains the cantonal management bodies and the management of civil defence organisation and develops and operates the information and communication resources for disaster scenarios.

Regarding technical services, the specialised authorities at federal, cantonal and communal levels have an important role to play. They often define the criteria for safe operation of critical infrastructure and check whether the criteria are observed. They are also entitled to set conditions for infrastructure operators for operating the facility during an incident. Supervisory agencies include the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate ENSI for the nuclear power plants, for energy the Swiss Federal Office of Energy, the cantonal energy and water offices for the hydro-electric dams and plants, or the Federal Office of Communication for telecommunications and media companies.

Specialised laboratories are responsible for the safe handling of radioactive, biological and chemical substances. The Spiez Laboratory in the Federal Office for Civil Protection FOCP provides specialist services for the whole of Switzerland, such as the analysis of biological pathogens or chemical warfare agents as well as protective measures. The cantonal laboratories compile a hazard registry, supervise the handling of radioactive, biological and chemical substances on cantonal territory and support the intervening forces in an emergency with the analysis and detection of dangerous substances.

Especially in the event of a pandemic the federal health authorities (Federal Office of Public Health FOPH) and the cantons or the cantonal medical authorities will play an important role. They will define measures for the prevention of and fight against pandemic diseases. The public health or cantonal medical authorities play an important role in other areas as well, such as medical radiation protection.

The cantonal civil protection offices are responsible for the functioning of civil protection at the cantonal level. Their responsibilities and authority differs from canton to canton. In most cantons, however, they are in charge of carrying out risk analyses, making emergency plans for coordinating the civil protection partners and organising training courses and exercises in civil protection.

The specialist agencies for natural hazards are responsible for the early perception of natural dangers, alerting the cantonal authorities and warning the population. They also provide detailed information and thus heighten awareness in dealing with natural dangers. For this purpose, they run extensive monitoring systems (e.g. weather and snow measuring stations, water level and drainage measurements of bodies of water, seismic monitoring network) and process the values measured to obtain predictions. The specialist agencies for natural hazards are mainly responsible for preventing the occurrence of natural hazards, e.g. by an adapted use of areas (by avoiding the use of threatened areas), the maintenance and preservation of (barrier) woodland, the construction and maintenance of protective structures against floods, avalanches and mass movements or the promotion of construction techniques that take threats into account (e.g. earthquake-resistant building).

Each canton is in charge of a cantonal management body that coordinates the engagement of all civil protection partners during disasters and emergencies on behalf of the canton’s governing council. In most cases, the management body does not perform at the location of action itself, but runs a rear management infrastructure. This way, it maintains an overview of the situation in the entire canton and coordinates the deployment of additional resources from its own or other cantons or from the Confederation to the affected regions. In such a case the cantonal management body is able to count on round-the-clock support by the emergency services (usually the police).

Apart from cantonal management bodies, such bodies also exist at communal or regional (several communes together) levels. Management bodies coordinate the operations of communal or regional resources during a disaster or emergency. In doing so, they support the political authorities of the commune in managing the incident, implement measures that have been decided and communicate with the cantonal management body in order to, for instance, request further operational means.

Within the context of civil defence, the police is responsible for maintaining security and order. As first responders, the police arrives at the location of an incident very quickly. Cooperation with the fire department and medical services works very well. The police is organised by the cantons regarding personnel, organisation, equipment, training and finances.

The fire departments are responsible for rescue and generally coping with damages, including fighting fires and dealing with damages by forces of nature. The fire departments fulfil other tasks as well, such as containing oil spills and chemical and radioactive incidents. The fire departments are first responders. The structure of their units is modular. They can be deployed within minutes and carry out operations that can last for hours or days. The fire departments are organised by the cantons regarding personnel, organisation, equipment, training and finances. The fire departments attend to their task-specific equipment autonomously. The cantonal building insurance companies and/or the cantons and communes bear the costs for the required measures according to their responsibilities.

Public health services are responsible for medical support and psychological care of both affected people and the intervening forces. They also include rescue services and hospitals. Public health is organised by the cantons regarding personnel, organisation, equipment, training and finances. The cantons are responsible for creating the necessary structures and providing the resources.

The technical services ensure that ‘critical infrastructure’ functions. This includes, for instance, the energy supply, telecommunications and media, the supply of water food, traffic, health service and the financial system. In an emergency all these sectors must be able to perform normally as quickly as possible, so that our networked society is able to function. Collaboration with the, often private, infrastructure operators is therefore of great importance both prior to and during such incidents.

Civil defence organisations have a wide range of tasks and provide protection, care and support for the population. They are usually engaged as second echelon within the civil protection network. Members of the civil defence see to it that people seeking protection are taken care of, but also attend to the protection of cultural property. They support the civil protection‘s management bodies. They also carry out charitable operations and repair work after damaging incidents. Civil defence is based on compulsory national service (compulsory civil defence service). Men with Swiss citizenship who are fit for civil defence service and do not serve in the military or an alternate civilian service are principally obliged serve in the civil defence service. The Swiss Confederation establishes the legal basis and issues requirements according to the civil defence service’s competence, particularly regarding recruitment, staff, training and operations as well as alerting and protective structures. The cantons are responsible for implementing the federal provisions and organising their civil defence.