Spontaneous Volunteering During the Utøya Terror Attacks – A Document Study

During the terrorist attacks in Norway 22th of July 2011, 77 persons was killed and many more injured. The attacks led to massive, multifaceted efforts of civil society, especially concerning the attacks at Utøya, for example - nearby civilians took part in dangerous rescue missions in private boats and more than 250 youths was taken care of in an ad hoc rescue center at a nearby camping. Most of the post-catastrophic research and investigations on the terror attacks have focused on the efforts of the official first responders and their respective authorities, and to a lesser degree highlighting the role of response from community and bystanders. As part of the ENGAGE project, we conduct a document study to shed light on civil society contributions to societal resilience during the terror attacks at Utøya. Based on academic literature investigation reports, newspaper articles and autobiographical books, we represent the Utøya terror attacks from what is known regarding helpers. We emphasize four domains of analysis, where we identify and discuss i) characteristics of the academic literature on the Utøya attacks, ii) a typology of actors, ii) volunteer coping actions, and iii) contextual factors. The findings show a dynamic and autonomous nature of spontaneous volunteering, influenced by contextual factors like degree of trust in formal response organizations, spatial proximity, professional and local knowledge.publishedVersio

Risk factors and navigation accidents: A historical analysis comparing accident-free and accident-prone vessels using indicators from AIS data and vessel databases

This paper presents the results of an explorative analysis aiming to identify indicators and factors associated with navigation accidents (groundings and collisions). The analysis compares cargo vessels with at least one registered navigation accident (grounding or collision) within Norwegian waters with those that have none, in the period 2010–2019. The comparison is made using data based on automatic identification system (AIS) satellite data in combination with information from IHS Fairplay, to construct indicators that reflect different characteristics of the vessels. Hallmarks of vessels involved in navigation accidents have been identified using bivariate and multivariate statistical analysis. The multivariate model was a strong predictor of vessels' accident involvement with 44% of the variance explained. Indicators that predicted reported navigation accidents included: (1) vessel type, (2) higher age, (3) smaller size, (4) longer distance sailed, (5) higher average speed, (6) flying Norwegian flag, (7) gray or black Tokyo MoU rating, and 8) not on US Coast Guard target list. The results are discussed relative to their potential causes as well as limits and practical applications. The study shows the promising potential of utilizing AIS data combined with various data sets to obtain knowledge on risk factors and risk indicators.publishedVersio

A risk model for recreational craft accidents

The Recreational Craft Platform (RCP, Norwegian: Fritidsbåtplattformen) is being developed to collect and merge available data on recreational craft accidents and thereby enable stakeholders to actively take measures to achieve the vision. The Norwegian Maritime Authority (NMA) will be the owner of the platform, using it to analyse the causes and risks associated with recreational craft, and to identify and evaluate risk reducing measures to reduce the number of accidents significantly. This paper presents the risk model for recreational craft accidents, developed together with the NMA that will support NMA's and their partners work to achieve these goals. The risk model was developed following NMA's existing risk modelling approach, with focus on the accident frequency of motorboats, sailing boats and personal watercraft. The model will be employed to assess effectiveness of measure and visualizing the contributing factors within the RCP.publishedVersio

Spontaneous Volunteering During the Utøya Terror Attacks – A Document Study

During the terrorist attacks in Norway 22th of July 2011, 77 persons was killed and many more injured. The attacks led to massive, multifaceted efforts of civil society, especially concerning the attacks at Utøya, for example - nearby civilians took part in dangerous rescue missions in private boats and more than 250 youths was taken care of in an ad hoc rescue center at a nearby camping. Most of the post-catastrophic research and investigations on the terror attacks have focused on the efforts of the official first responders and their respective authorities, and to a lesser degree highlighting the role of response from community and bystanders. As part of the ENGAGE project, we conduct a document study to shed light on civil society contributions to societal resilience during the terror attacks at Utøya. Based on academic literature investigation reports, newspaper articles and autobiographical books, we represent the Utøya terror attacks from what is known regarding helpers. We emphasize four domains of analysis, where we identify and discuss i) characteristics of the academic literature on the Utøya attacks, ii) a typology of actors, ii) volunteer coping actions, and iii) contextual factors. The findings show a dynamic and autonomous nature of spontaneous volunteering, influenced by contextual factors like degree of trust in formal response organizations, spatial proximity, professional and local knowledge

What we talk about when we talk about HSE and culture – A mapping and analysis of the academic discourses

publishedVersio

Læring etter branner i Norge – forutsetninger, barrierer og fremmende faktorer

Denne rapporten presenterer resultater fra et prosjekt som er utført av Fire Research and Innovation Centre - FRIC fra 2020 til 2022. Første versjon av rapporten ble publisert på engelsk i mars 2022. Denne norske versjonen er oversatt av SINTEF Digital og RISE Fire Research i samarbeid. En spesiell takk til Caroline Kristensen for arbeidet med oversettelsen. Rapporten er også oppdatert på enkelte punkter, uten at fokus og konklusjoner skal være endret.Vi vil rette en takk til alle dem som har bidratt med innspill i intervjuer om hvordan Norge bør lære bedre av branner. Deres innspill er det som gjør dette prosjektet unikt, og som gir rapporten relevans til å forbedre brannsikkerheten i det norske samfunnet ytterligere. Vi vil også takke eksperter fra utlandet som har bidratt med verdifull informasjon til vårt arbeid.</p

Learning from fires in Norway : Preconditions, barriers and enabling factors

Fires are devastating events that may harm humans, properties and the environment. Authorities, organisations, companies and societies should be able to learn from fire incidents to reduce the probability and impact of future fires. To achieve a reduction in fires and their consequences, an effort is needed from multiple actors and both technical, organisational and individual changes would be necessary. Importantly, we therefore consider change as a prerequisite for learning. So how can we as a society change or modify our efforts for prevention and mitigation of fires? A learning approach often starts with some form of inquiry about the occurred accidents – an investigation. This investigation can take many forms: the fire services’ own evaluations of the response to a fire, an authority’s assessments of the compliance and fit of their regulations, a company’s analysis of internal rules and organisation, and the police’s investigation of criminal issues. Investigations require highly skilled professionals using often multidisciplinary skills such as knowledge in human behaviour, fire dynamics, electrical systems, mechanical processes and many more. A fire investigator may use many different techniques and tactics, to figure out how the fire started, what fault led to the fire, what made the fire develop the way it did and, also what factors and measures that worked well in the fire. The investigator can work for the fire service, the police, insurance companies, hired private fire investigators or in larger companies, to mention a few. However, not all fires are investigated in Norway, and there is also a large number of incidents that is concluded with an unknown fire cause. The aim of our research has been to increase the society’s capacity to learn from fires. We have two main objectives contributing to the aim: 1. Obtain knowledge on the preconditions for learning from fires in Norway. 2. Provide recommendations to increase learning from fires in Norway. Leading to these main objectives, we shed light on investigations, examinations, databases and routines related to the different actors, and importantly, the actors’ beliefs, collaboration and practices related to fire prevention and learning. The main corpus of material in this study is interviews with actors relevant for learning from fires in Norway. The informants were from the fire service, the police, educational system, insurance, authorities and organisations with interest in fire safety. The interviews were related to themes like cooperation inside and outside the organisation, resources and databases, how the interviewees see the fire investigation area today and how it should be improved. The findings were then divided into the Pentagon model’s five categories: • formal structure • technology and infrastructure • culture • interaction • relations and network The findings from the interviews and the reasons behind them are extensive and are elaborated upon in the report, but the main points are summarised here. Generally, we see clearly that learning from fires is a complex issue. It does not only encompass obtaining the correct technical insights from a fire scene, but also informal aspects like the personal relations and how the fire services are organised. Further, we see that fire investigation in Norway lack both the quality and quantity needed to obtain sufficient knowledge on fires that occur. The approaches, mandates and focus vary greatly with each actor, and this affects the coordination, cooperation, and systematic work of learning from investigations. High variation can also be found in the fire services’ own evaluations of their own fire-fighting efforts, which leads to regionally different methodology and terminology. This has an additional negative impact on the cooperative work even between fire departments. The cooperation is also varying when it comes to the sharing of knowledge which is prevalent between all actors involved in fire investigation. Little cooperation is formalised and therefore most cooperation on investigation and learning, as well as the sharing of knowledge and experiences, are done through individual and personal relations. This is also true inside the fire services where personal experiences and social learning is preferred to more systematic evaluation of fires and formal education. This creates a potential conflict with efforts of standardising work and learning processes. Lastly the lack of resources in preventive work in fire and rescue services and the police, especially in the investigation phase, hinders the possibility to learn effectively from fires and to convey the experiences from them. The difference in status between preventive and preparedness efforts in these public services is still relevant today

FRIC webinar: LEARNING FROM FIRES IN NORWAY : Preconditions, barriers and enabling factors

FRIC webinar D1.2-2022.08</p

FRIC webinar: LEARNING FROM FIRES IN NORWAY : Preconditions, barriers and enabling factors

FRIC webinar D1.2-2022.08</p