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Over the recent years, ship traffic in the polar areas has increased. There is reason to believe that this traffic, and especially the cruise traffic, will increase further as the ice retracts towards the poles. There is also reason to believe that with the continued focus and exposure of the Polar Region, the cruise tourism to the region will grow. The increased presence in the polar areas will create positive repercussions for several actors, both on sea and land. There will, however, also be challenges associated with the growing presence in the polar areas. Vessels will be operating at long distances to other vessels and land infrastructures. These vessels will also be operating in climate and conditions that will put extra pressure on both vessel and crew. These challenges need to be solved in order for the ship industry to operate safely in the Polar Region. To ensure that companies operating in these areas identify and manage these challenges, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) developed the Polar Code (2017) with the intent of increasing the safety for vessels operating in polar waters, and to reduce the impact on humans and environment in this remote, vulnerable and harsh area. This code defines a number of requirements, with which the vessels should operate in accordance with. In this paper, we reveal which challenges the vessel and its crew need to deal with when navigating in polar waters. The challenges will be analysed and assessed through the use of a preliminary qualitative risk analysis to determine the potential hazards the vessel is exposed to under operations in polar waters, and to find out what level of risk the different hazards represents for the vessel and its crew. The main objective of the paper is to find out how the risk levels can be reduced, with particular focus on the use of simulator training as a risk reducing measure. The final goal is to measure the risk towards acceptance criteria, which have been determined prior to conducting the analysis.

In recent years there has been an increase in commercial activities in the Arctic, including maritime traffic. This increase has led to economic development but may increase the risk of unwanted incidents. Concerns have been raised regarding the emergency response capacity of states to respond to maritime incidents effectively. Efforts from several agencies and also from neighboring countries may be needed. The coordination of such operations is facilitated by established incident command systems that define managerial roles, responsibilities, and information flows between individuals and organizations participating in rescue-work in large-scale crises. However, because of contextual challenges in the Arctic, the tactical and operational management-levels may have to adapt and improvise both their organizational structure and tasks to function efficiently. This paper has focused on how the different managerial roles influence information sharing between the participants in a complex rescue operation. The study is based on an in-depth case-study of a rescue operation in the waters around Svalbard, that is, the high Arctic. We demonstrate how information-sharing, coordination mechanisms, and managerial roles may need to be adapted during rescue operations to handle volatile operational conditions. The implications of our findings for the planning of mass rescue operations are reflected upon, in particular, the need for adaptive approaches to emergency response.

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Civil Engineering and Environmental Systems on 13th December 2019, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/10286608.2019.170202. Environmental risk assessments are routinely carried out in the Norwegian petroleum industry. As this industry is moving north, towards the Arctic and into areas with differing vulnerabilities and new risk sources compared to the now well-developed areas, previous operational experience and analytical practice may become less relevant. Reflecting the lack of knowledge (i.e. the uncertainty) that exists, and the strength of the available knowledge, then becomes critical. In the present paper, we review and discuss the industry guideline that for a long time has formed the methodological basis for these assessments, focusing on its foundation concerning risk and uncertainty. We conclude that there is a potential for improvement, and to contribute to improving the guideline, we describe how to implement – in the context of environmental risk assessment – a framework for conceptualising risk and its description that is consistent with the new uncertainty-based risk perspective recently adopted by the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway and in the Society for Risk Analysis glossary. The implementation includes a description and exemplification of a method for assessing the bias of uncertain risk assessment assumptions.

Publisher's version (útgefin grein), The sea ice in the Arctic has shrunk significantly in the last decades. The transport pattern has as a result partly changed with more traffic in remote areas. This change may influence on the risk pattern. The critical factors are harsh weather, ice conditions, remoteness and vulnerability of nature. In this paper, we look into the risk of accidents in Atlantic Arctic based on previous ship accidents and the changes in maritime activity. The risk has to be assessed to ensure a proper level of emergency response. The consequences of incidents depend on the incident type, scale and location. As accidents are rare, there are limited statistics available for Arctic maritime accidents. Hence, this study offers a qualitative analysis and an expert-based risk assessment. Implications for the emergency preparedness system of the Arctic region are discussed., The authors wish to acknowledge the support from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nordland County Administration for their support of the MARPART project, and all MARPART partners for their cooperation.