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The purpose of this paper is to investigate if business practices for performance through risk control methods can be applied by defence forces in peace missions called for by the United Nations (UN) in order to improve the efficiency of such missions.

Extensive studies of existing theories on business cooperation risk control were performed as well as studies of the organizational and legal structures for Swedish participation in international military missions. These studies were followed by interviews with politicians and military officers of high ranks regarding cooperation in such missions and the interviews were analyzed with respect to the theoretical methods and their validity for the military sector.

The authors' conclusion is that an adoption of some of the existing business risk control management methods could improve the efficiency of military risk management. The first step in such organizational knowledge transfer is to improve the form for and the formulation of more stringent objectives for the military mission.

The study indicates how the performance of international peace missions can be improved by application of risk control methods from the business sector.

In order to shorten the response time, two part-time fire departments (FDs) in Sweden initialize a first incident person (FIP) assignment. This is done by alarming the crew manager as an FIP, responding in a separate emergency vehicle, and by arriving at the scene before rest of the crew. The purpose of this paper is to explore and describe experiences of the FIP assignment within an FD.

A multimethod design was used, influenced by Creswell and Plano Clark’s (2011) explanatory sequential mixed method design including emergency reports, a questionnaire and interviews.

The results show that the FIP assignment was a function that secured an early presence at the scene of an accident or emergency situations, which is beneficial for society in the form of a safety factor, for the firefighters in the form of early prior information on what to expect at the scene and for the patient in the form of early existential support and increased chances of survival.

In order to prevent full scenarios to happen and get the chance to save lives, an early response must be ensured. Hence, studies must be made in different settings, based on its unique conditions. This study indicates that by implementing FIP in FDs placed in a rural area, the FIP can break the chain of events and becoming a new link in the chain of survival.