AS-302 Safety Management in the Arctic (10 ECTS)

Grade:	Letter grade (A through F)
Course Cost:	None
Course Capacity Min/Max:	10/30 students
Language of instruction:	English
Examination support material:	Bilingual dictionary between English and mother tongue

How to apply

Eirik Albrechtsen

Adjunct Associate Professor, Arctic Safety Centre

eirik.albrechtsen@unis.no

Course requirements

Enrolment in a relevant master programme in social-, technological- or natural sciences.

Academic content

The main focus of the course is prevention of accidents and unwanted occurrences that may lead to loss of life in the Arctic. The course demonstrates how systematic work with loss prevention should be performed in organizations operating in the Arctic, i.e. by generating knowledge to support decisions about mitigating measures. In addition, the course provides knowledge about the theoretical foundations for systematic safety management in the Arctic. 

The course content can be categorized into four modules:

1. Safety management in the Arctic: theories, models and framework conditions:
   • principles for experience feedback and learning from unwanted occurrences
   • accident models and accident analysis framework
   • decision-making processes and constrains
   • risk influencing factors in the Arctic
2. Human performance in the operative context of the Arctic. Challenging operational conditions, in particular harsh weather conditions, in the Arctic impact human performance and increase accident risk for any activities. Thus, safe and reliable operations in the Arctic requires an understanding of both human performance in these conditions as well as of the organizational and environmental Arctic context. Topics included in the module are:
   • Arctic operational conditions
   • Psychological safety
   • Situation awareness
   • Human factors methods: task analysis and human error identification
   • Organizational safety theories relevant for the understanding of human performance
   • Human error
3. Methods and tools for control of hazards in the Arctic: application, principles, limits and merits:
   • hazard identification
   • risk assessments: strategic and operative
   • incident investigation
   • reporting of unwanted occurrences
4. Mitigating occupational accident risk in the Arctic:
   • choose and assess efficient preventive measures and argue for the choice of these
   • barriers against loss
   • deviation handling
   • influencing the human factor
5. Practical management of Arctic safety:
   • planning and execution of field trip safety
   • practical handling of Arctic safety

Learning outcomes

The course will provide students with knowledge, skills and competence in designing and running safety management systems in an Arctic context. The students will gain knowledge about theoretical principles and models that is the foundation for safety management in organizations. After the course, students will be able to apply different methods and tools for generation of knowledge about past, current and future safety performance for activities and systems in the Arctic. Based on the theoretical foundations and the methods and tools, the students shall be able to suggest adequate safety measures to control Arctic hazards. The combination of practical knowledge about Arctic operations and Arctic hazards and theoretical understanding of safety management is emphasized in the course.

Upon completing the course, the students will be able to:

Learning activities

The course extends over 6 weeks including compulsory safety training, and is run in combination with AS-802.

• Compulsory safety training, extended version including explanations on the design of the UNIS safety training program.
• Lectures with examples from the Arctic to support both theories and models as well as application of methods and tools.
• Exercises containing application of methods and tools on Arctic cases.
• Guest lectures by representatives from companies operating in Longyearbyen.
• Plan safety for a field trip for UNIS students 

Compulsory learning activities

• A number of exercises (application of methods and tools)
• Presentations and participation at student presentations

All compulsory learning activities must be approved in order to sit the exam.

Assessment

All assessments must be passed in order to pass the course.

Each assessment is graded, and subsequently combined into a single grade. Partial grades for each assessment will be available. 

Student life