The study aims to understand the various types of faults occur in a wireless sensor network (WSN). The primary objective of the fault-tolerant technique is to enhance the robustness and self-healing capacity of sensor network. The resource constraint environment, remote deployment and harsh monitoring conditions frequently invite different types of faults in WSN. The fault can be handled in two ways such as fault tolerance and fault prevention method. The novelty of this state-of-art is, the authors propose two new algorithms named Uniform Energy Clustering for fault tolerance and Population-Based Clustering for fault prevention. The result of the simulation is satisfactory in comparison to existing algorithms such as Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy, Stable Election Protocol, Virtual Area Partition-Energy and Energy-Aware Multi-Hop Multi-Path Hierarchical protocols. In addition to these new algorithms, they also propose a unique taxonomy on fault which is based on sensitivity issues of specific applications. PBC (Population-Based Clustering), which is a fault prevention mechanism. The UEC algorithm is based on the equal energy distribution among clusters, whereas the PBC focus on the mapping of CH according to the cluster population. The UEC algorithm performance has been compared against Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH) and Stable Election Protocol (SEP), whereas the PBC algorithm performance has been compared against Virtual Area Partition-Energy (VAP-E) and Energy-Aware Multi-Hop Multi-Path Hierarchical (EAMMH) protocols. The results of our simulation prove that both UEC and PBC protocols perform better than their ancestors. The deep literature survey concludes that there are two major proven methodologies exist for energy management that are (i) clustering and (ii) routing [3]. Sensitivity: Here, the term sensitivity defines the impact of consequences that occurs due to fault occurrence. The use of sensors is very common in a modern digitised era where everything eventually accommodated with sensors. When these sensors get fail because of any reason it generates some level of impact on the overall performance and design of the system. The consequences of faults can be gauged by various factors such as time, money, effort. On the basis of this, we have been proposed a unique sensitivity based taxonomy in Section 3. Clustering: Cluster formation is an essential part of the routing mechanism. The cluster may form with homogeneous or heterogeneous SNs. The objective behind clustering is as the SNs are limited with energy, therefore, the direct communication with BS is not suitable by considering efficient energy management. Normally, each cluster is controlled by a dominated CH node, which is responsible for regulating the cluster members (CMs) and additionally performs data collection & aggregation operation [4]. The details about various clustering technologies can be found in [5, 6]. Routing: Routing is a best practice adopted by clusters of WSN to select appropriate CH and to choose t...