[Index]
Working together to
reduce the risk of industrial accidents
Geneva and Budapest, 29 October 2004
- Meeting in Budapest this week (27-29
October), the Parties to the Convention
on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial
Accidents1 of the United Nations
Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE),
have launched an assistance programme
for the countries of Eastern and South-Eastern
Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia
to help them put the Convention into practice.
A number of Central and West European
countries have pledged funding to get
the programme off the ground.
The programme will benefit
countries where few industrial facilities
have been modernized and most still use
obsolete technologies in outdated and
poorly maintained installations. These
facilities also have to deal with the
legacy of past mismanagement, such as
unstable tailings dams and accumulated
hazardous waste. The risk of industrial
accidents and other safety problems will
increase with any growth in capacity utilization.
The authorities and the operators of hazardous
installations can reduce the risk of industrial
accidents and improve industrial safety
by applying the Convention in full.
The Convention’s
second implementation report unfortunately
shows this is still not happening. In
fact, some UNECE countries are facing
an uphill struggle. They find the tasks
under the Convention complex and don’t
have the staff to implement, monitor and
enforce them. In addition, in some countries
the appropriate regulatory and institutional
frameworks are not in place.
The new assistance programme
is designed to help the recipient countries
to overcome these obstacles. In preparation,
the beneficiaries are required to show
a strong commitment to improving industrial
safety. They are also expected to implement
basic tasks under the Convention, which
will be verified by fact-finding teams.
The programme itself will comprise a series
of demand-driven activities such as capacity-building
workshops, technical and legal advisory
services and cross-border pilot projects.
Also on the agenda of
the three-day meeting are the Parties’
efforts to: strengthen their communication
procedures with their early warning system
to notify each other of industrial accidents;
and continue work aimed at preventing
accidental water pollution, including
by drawing up safety guidelines for pipelines.
The Parties have already elected a new
chairman. He’s Mr Ryszard Grosset
of Poland.
For more information,
visit the Convention’s web site
at
http://www.unece.org/env/teia/welcome.html
or contact:
Sergiusz Ludwiczak
UNECE Environment and Human Settlements
Division
Palais des Nations
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Phone: +41 (0)22 917 31 74
Mobile: +41 (0)79 217 30 11
Fax: +41 (0)22 917 01 07
E-mail: [email protected]
__________
1 The UNECE Convention on the
Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents
currently has 33 Parties: Albania, Armenia,
Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria,
Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary,
Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania,
Luxembourg, Monaco, Norway, Poland, Republic
of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation,
Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
United Kingdom and the European Community.
Ref: ECE/ENV/04/P17