ARTICLE

Logistic transport in extreme environments: the evolution of risk and safety

management over 27 years of the polar traverse

Aude Villemain

a,b

and Patrice Godon

CIAMS Laboratory, COST Collegium Science & Technology, University of Orleans, Paris-Saclay, Orleans, France;

Research Centre on

Work and Development (CRTD), Ergonomics Team, CNAM, Paris, France;



epartement logistique polaire, French Polar Institute (IPEV)

Paul Emile Victor, Plouzane, France

ABSTRACT

In this article we seek to explain how safety mechanisms and risks evolve over time. The article

focuses on a sociotechnical system, that of a polar traverse (a transport operation in a polar

environment). In the study spanning a period of 27 years data were collected with ethnographic

participative observations on three of the 56 traverses already achieved. Activities were traced

from the whole 1398 daily reports and scale models of the convoy vehicles were used to recon-

struct events during the traverses. Self-confrontation interviews were also conducted. A traverse

feedback process was carried out which revealed that (1) whereas proactive safety is aimed at

maintaining the continuous improvement of a system, reactive safety makes it possible to main-

tain the system’s level of safety; (2) the development of redundancy and mixed technology con-

tribute positively to the safety system. Improvements made to the safety system, its dynamics,

and embodied resilience are discussed as well as the study limitations and implications.

Practitioner summary: This article seeks to understand how safety has been ensured in logis-

tical transport in extreme conditions in a case study extending over a period of more than

27 years. The study investigates how risks and safety mechanisms have evolved and the benefits

of developing a traverse feedback process to improve safety.

Abbreviations: IPEV: French Polar Institute (Institut Polaire Francais); DDU: Dumont d’Urville

(French coastal antarctic station)

ARTICLE HISTORY

Received 20 January 2017

Accepted 4 May 2020

KEYWORDS

Proactive-reactive safety;

extreme situations;

dynamics; risks; system

improvement

1. Background

This research was conducted in collaboration with the

French Polar Institute Paul Emile Victor (in French,

Institut polaire Paul Emile Victor- IPEV). The construction

project for the scientific station Concordia (first winter-

ing in 2005) was at the origin of the first polar traverse

in 1992. Concordia is located on the Antarctic continent

1,150 kilometres inland from the French coastal scien-

tific station, Dumont d’Urville (DDU) (Figure 1). At its

inception in 1992, the goal was to create a reliable and

economic means of transportation for the construction

equipment and supplies needed on the remote site of

the permanent Franco-Italian station, Concordia. The

traverse, which is a group of vehicles and their loads

moving in convoy across the Antarctic continent in

complete autonomy, connects both stations three times

during austral summers. The duration of the round trip

DDU-Concordia is approximately 23 days during which

different situations occur; some of these situations are

anticipated (Villemain and Godon 2017), others

are unforeseen.

The standard convoy is composed of approximately

10 people driving three snow trains towing sleds loaded

with containers and fuel tanks. Two or three levelling

machines can be added to this convoy (Figure 2). The

main objective is to convey the goods to the site as

quickly as possible with the best fuel efficiency.

Even if there have been no major accidents so far,

operational and/or technical incidents have regularly

occurred during the traverse journey (for more infor-

mation, see Villemain and Godon 2015; 2017). This is

the context of the present research.

There is a long tradition of using ergonomics to

examine safety and reliability (Amalberti and Hourlier

2007; Weick 1987), however, few studies have investi-

gated safety and reliability in hostile environments. The

CONTACT Aude Villemain aude.villemain@univ-orleans.fr CIAMS Laboratory, COST Collegium Science & Technology, University of Orleans, Paris-

Saclay, 2 All



ee du Ch

ateau, Orleans 45067, France

ß 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

ERGONOMICS

2020, VOL. 63, NO. 10, 1257–1270

https://doi.org/10.1080/00140139.2020.1777329