Casualty Response
When a marine casualty occurs, getting experienced assistance and guidance is crucial. As a global marine insurer, Skuld has the necessary experience and is prepared to assist our members and clients in handling all types of casualties falling within the scope of both P&I and H&M cover.
Casualty Management
The purpose of casualty handling will always be to secure people, the environment, property, and reputation by minimising losses. This approach is in line with Skuld’s commitment to sustainability, and consideration of the impact on people and the environment is at the core of our decision-making during casualty handling. A designated casualty response team will provide and ensure:
An experienced cross-disciplinary team combining in-depth knowledge of the assured and their business with managerial, legal and technical expertise in casualty handling
Guidance and comfort to the assured that the casualty response is under control
A hands-on approach to decision-making
Effective cost control
The Casualty Response Plan
Skuld’s casualty handling is guided by our Casualty Response Plan. This sets out when an incident is considered a qualifying casualty for the purposes of our dedicated casualty response and case management approach. It also contains the process for setting up an incident specific Casualty Response Team, provides structure for the coordination of this team, and implements clear communication lines both internally and externally. Our Casualty Response Plan is based on a tiered system that allows the response and composition of our team to be sized proportionally to scale and severity of the incident. For each qualifying incident a dedicated Casualty Response Team will be established. The team will consist of seasoned professionals with complimentary skillsets. Direct responsibility for the casualty handling rests with the Business Unit responsible for the entry. We believe this ensures that we can build on the trust and existing relationship between the assured and the Business Unit the assured is familiar with. We strive to be a trusted partner to our assureds in incident response working closely with their crisis response team. The Business Unit is supported by the Casualty and Major Claims team, which ensures transfer of knowledge and experience from across all casualties handled by Skuld. We are also able to mobilise cross-office collaboration to ensure availability 24/7/365.
Sustainable casualty handling
Skuld is committed to finding sustainable solutions thereby preventing and/or minimising injury to people, the environment and property. Consideration of the impact on people and the environment is at the core of our decision-making process during casualty handling. We are continuously developing our processes to ensure that the services we purchase meet our sustainability expectations.
Casualty & Major Claims response team
Skuld’s Casualty & Major Claims team is a specialized unit established to provide additional support to the Business Units and ensure that the lessons learned from past experiences are shared across the organization. The team provides strategic, legal, and technical support during incidents and arranges casualty training for all Business Units in preparation for incidents.
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Andreas Øgrey
Senior Vice President, Global Head of Casualty and Major Claims
Andreas Øgrey has been employed with Skuld since 2014. As Global Head of Casualty and Major Claims, he oversees the handling of Skuld's Casualty and Major Claims worldwide with a focus on dealing with emergency response, hereunder collisions, allisions, groundings, fires, capsizing, salvage, wreck removal and major pollution incidents. Andreas is a qualified Norwegian Lawyer and Accredited CEDR Mediator and holds a master’s degree in law from the University Oslo and LL.M. in Maritime Law from the University of Southampton. Prior to joining Skuld he worked for a commercial underwriter for 5 years.
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Nina M. Hanevold-Sandvik
Vice President, Head of Environmental Claims, Casualty and Major Claims
Nina M. Hanevold-Sandvik has been employed with Skuld since 2021. She was appointed President of the Norwegian Maritime Law Association (CMI) in 2024. Nina is a Qualified Norwegian lawyer with expertise in maritime and insurance law from 12 years in private practice, including as a litigator and emergency response lawyer. Her litigation and casualty handling experience includes pollution, limitation of liability, salvage and wreck removal cases. She holds degrees in law from the University of Oslo, the University of Edinburgh and New York University.
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Tony Riches
Assistant Vice President, Casualty and Major Claims
Tony Riches joined Skuld in 2026 and is a qualified English solicitor with extensive experience of casualty cases including groundings, fires, collisions, cargo loss and pollution. He has completed many incident investigations, advised on wreck removal and salvage operations and, as a partner at a leading London law firm, led litigation arising from casualties in the English courts and arbitration. Tony served nine years as a Royal Navy officer, working at sea worldwide in seamanship and management roles and in counter-piracy and counter-smuggling operations.
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Helga Grønlund Hodne
Assistant Vice President, Casualty and Major Claims
Helga Grønlund Hodne joined Skuld in 2023. She has a legal background with expertise in casualty response and salvage cases, and has 6 years’ experience from claims handling prior to joining Skuld. Helga is an Accredited CEDR Mediator, and holds a master’s degree in law from the University of Bergen. She was appointed Chair of the Salvage Forum of the International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) in 2025, and regularly contributes to industry committees on salvage.
