The Supervision and Safety (ASI) division is responsible for all duties of the SFOE in the areas of supervision and risk and safety management. The division plans annual audits of external institutions which manage federal government subsidies and is responsible for the development of the conceptual principles of risk management. It also implements the national strategies for Critical Infrastructure Protection and to guard against cyber risks in the energy sector. By establishing an emergency, crisis and continuity management system, the division makes it possible for the SFOE to maintain services even during exceptional situations.
It is also responsible for the structural safety, the supervision and the emergency planning for Switzerland's more than 180 large dams which are under the direct supervision of the federal government. It is also the highest supervisory authority for smaller dams and reservoirs that are supervised by the cantons. Similarly, in the technical risk sector, the division monitors the construction and operation of pipelines (gas, oil), which are directly supervised by the federal government, and is the ultimate supervisory authority for pipelines supervised by the cantons.
The division is responsible for national control and inventories of nuclear material as well as further supervisory tasks incumbent on Switzerland from bilateral and multilateral agreements relevant to non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, control of exports of nuclear goods and the nuclear fuel cycle.
The secretariat of the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Commission (NSC) in Aarau is administratively affiliated to ASI. Further, ASI chairs the Coordination Commission of the Federal Inspectorate for Heavy Current Installations and on behalf of the SFOE, ASI has a permanent seat on the Federal Crisis Management Board NBCN.
