Safety and Emergency Response Associated with Cold Climate Marine Operations

Abstract

This dissertation is developed by GMC Maritime and the University of Stavanger and is part of the industrial PhD program at the Norwegian Research Council. The aim of the work is to identify the governing mechanisms associated with surviving a marine incident in a cold climate environment. Further, the work was to identify relevant measures mitigating the effects of the cold climate environment. The main focus has been the marine industry. Due to the combined effect of marine safety equipment and the resources delivered by SAR-providers on safety levels, some of these combined effects have been addressed. Part of the aim has also been to produce new knowledge that questions some of the established truths found in the marine industry. Through international regulatory mechanisms, we wanted to contribute to shape the future regulatory development in a sustainable way. The research has been designed around conducting full-scale experiments, utilizing a multi-discipline approach. Stakeholder involvement throughout the whole process has been important, to highlight the complex structures and ensure a preferred direction and focus. Surviving a marine incident in a polar environment imposes additional challenges on the crew/passengers on a vessel. These challenges are to be mitigated through improved functionality delivered by the lifesaving appliances. Competence among crew/passengers also proved a vital parameter, strongly affecting the survival rate. The effect of remoteness influences the available resources and the expected time torescue. The increased expected time to rescue will contribute to exposing the personnel and equipment to the cold climate related challenges for an extended period, which again further affects the survival rate. Surviving a marine incident in polar waters is possible if the correct mitigation measures are in place. Unfortunately, this will require the vessel operators to invest resources in acquiring the appropriate equipment and knowledge. One of the governing regulations associated with polar marine activity is the IMO Polar Code, which is a functional set of requirements aimed to mitigate the additional risks associated with Polar marine operations. During the summer of 2019, an interim guideline for the Polar Code was approved by the IMO. This guideline addresses some of the key issues identified in our work as required for survival.