EXPEDITION GUIDE ACADEMY
Polar Bear Safety & Firearm Handling
Company Focused
​​​​
Elevating Professional Competency in Your Expedition Teams
​
About the Training
​
Our Polar Bear Safety & Firearm Handling (PBS) course is a three-day, intensive programme designed to build deep competency in non-lethal polar bear safety, firearms proficiency, and decision-making in polar bear habitats. For companies operating in the Arctic, this course provides a professional, structured way to lift team standards and align staff around safe, consistent field practices.
We deliver this course exclusively for your team, integrating your organisation’s SOPs, communication protocols, and terminology. This ensures every participant trains in a context directly relevant to your operations, vessels, landing sites, and risk profile.
Language: English Proficient
Age: 18+
Previous experience: None required
Who is the course for? For expedition companies and operators looking to equip their expedition teams with the skills and knowledge to deal with the unexpected.
​​​
Format: Online & in-person​
Duration: 4-days + pre-course learning​
Price: Price on enquiry
Why companies choose our PBS programme
​
Your team trains with:
​
• Dr Nikita Ovsyanikov, one of the world’s leading polar bear behaviour specialists, providing evidence-based insights into bear psychology, conflict drivers, and preventive strategies.
• Two professional range instructors (and gunsmiths) who focus on calm, ego-free, competence-driven firearms training.
• An EGA instructor who brings expedition context across all components and delivers the full “Polar Bear Scouting Theory & Operational Logistics” day.
​
Together, this combination gives your staff a rare balance of behavioural understanding, field decision-making, and firearms capability within a clear non-lethal first framework.
​
What your team will gain
​
A company-specific PBS course equips staff to:
​
-
Understand bear behaviour and apply practical, non-lethal prevention strategies.
-
Use decision-making frameworks that support safe, conservative field choices.
-
Operate firearms professionally and consistently, treating them strictly as tools of last resort.
-
Work safely and collaboratively in polar bear habitat, aligned with your SOPs.
-
Plan, brief, scout, and monitor sites using modern, professional methodology.
-
Manage group dynamics, communication, and role clarity during field time.
​​
Course Components (3 Days + Online Pre-Course Module)
​
1. Non-Lethal Polar Bear Safety
Behaviour, conflict avoidance, prevention strategies, environmental cues, movement patterns, and risk management frameworks based on decades of field experience.
​
2. Firearm Handling & Safety
Calm, structured instruction focused on safe carriage, professional habits, mechanical understanding, live-fire training, and building confidence through competence.
​
3. Polar Bear Scouting Theory & Operational Logistics
Delivered by an EGA instructor, this full-day module covers decision-making in terrain, site assessments, team roles, briefings, patrol strategies, and integrating your company SOPs.
​
4. Online Pre-Course Component
A short, self-paced introduction covering safety principles, equipment, and foundational concepts, allowing participants to arrive well-prepared.
​
Tailored for Your Operation
​
We adjust delivery to match:
​
-
Your vessel type and operating areas
-
Your SOPs and emergency procedures
-
Team structure and roles
-
Current experience level across your staff
-
The specific challenges of your operational areas (e.g., Svalbard, East Greenland, Canadian Arctic)
​
The result is a course that fits seamlessly into your operational reality, not a generic safety training.
