ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the contextual premises for characterizing Arctic and cold climate areas. These premises are further connected with industrial and other commercial activities with possibilities for major crises. The chapter analyzes past reported major accidents and incidents with the potential for becoming major crises in order to illuminate the need to address the performance of the crisis response systems. The concept "crisis response systems" comprises all efforts made by the activity/systems at the sharp end (Arctic), the apparatus provided by other organizations and the society, also at the sharp end, and all related efforts at the blunt end. It intends to provide a tool that enables a reflective process to develop crisis management designs in cold climates. The chapter concludes that while most industrial activities in populated areas in the south are accessible and well known, this is not the case in the northern cold climate.
