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Research on decision‐making and expert performance in operational settings generally considers extensive personal experience and deliberate practice to be decisive for development of expertise. Learning and development of decision‐making abilities therefore tend to be explained in terms of human cognition. This study examines the dominant learning processes in a Joint Rescue Coordination Centre, revealing that personal experience, individual problem‐solving, knowledge accumulation, and collective reflection are the key processes in the individual development of decision‐making abilities. These findings show that both individual and contextual (including organisational) aspects need to be considered if we are to fully understand the development of decision‐making abilities and consequently be better able to explain and analyse decision‐making and expert performance in natural settings.

Current incident command research faces several challenges. The incident commander's behaviour and related assessments in the crisis response are context bound, and our understanding of these factors requires close awareness of the context. Reconstruction of the on‐scene behaviour encompassing situation awareness and cognitive reasoning is difficult. There is a need to develop better understanding of decision‐making in crisis settings and methods for rigorous observation and knowledge elicitation. In order to understand the importance and actual influence of incident commanding, the researchers need to assess the response in real time, not only based on studying logs etc. afterwards. Participatory action research provides ideas in which the researcher, besides being an observer, would be involved in the rescue work. This raises ethical questions, but there is a need for naturalistic decision‐making research to evolve beyond descriptive models.

In 2017, the The International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters (Polar Code) – a set of function-based regulations applicable to Arctic and Antarctic waters, with the goal of increasing awareness and improving safety for ship operations in polar waters – entered into force. This article examines the Polar Code's contribution to the establishment of new standards and guidelines, with the problem under discussion being the extent to which the function-based regulations contribute to enhancing safety for ship operations in the Arctic, given that maritime activities in these waters are associated with great risks and uncertainties. The article gives a historical review, elucidating the background leading to the development of the Polar Code, followed by a review of the structure and key principles of the regulations. Further, ship traffic in the Arctic region and those subject to the Polar Code are examined, followed by a summary of findings and experiences from three survival exercises (SARex I, II and III), performed in northern areas around Svalbard between 2016 and 2018. The article concludes that safe ship operations depend on those subject to the regulations conducting thorough operational risk assessments that cover all potential hazards, in order to mitigate sufficiently. Further, the presence of authorities is found to be crucial, with validation of the adequacy and the dimensioning of the implemented measures being of the essence.

In this article social and information network theory is used to study information flows through the incident command post in a large‐scale emergency operation. The case presented is the 2011 terrorist attacks in Norway. The data were collected from evaluation reports, media and interviews with the incident, fire, medical and ambulance commanders. The article presents the incident command system in Norway and how this was used as a base for improvisation during the operation on initiative from rescue workers on scene. The main internal information flows in each separate rescue service were connected and coordinated at the incident command point through strong ties between the commanders. Important and novel information also reached the commanders through weak and informal ties to more peripheral actors.