Participants at the basic course on response against chemical warfare agents and incidents involving toxic industrial chemicals, which was held in Lima, Peru from 7 to 11 March 2016.
The OPCW jointly organized with the National Authority of the Republic of Peru a basic regional course for specialists on responding to chemical warfare agents and toxic industrial chemicals (TICs). The course was held from 7 to 11 March 2016 in Lima for 27 participants from 17 States Parties in the Latin America and Caribbean (GRULAC) region.
This basic course is the first stage of a new training cycle for first responders designed for this region. The full cycle approach aims to develop and further consolidate the protective capabilities of States Parties in the region against chemical weapons and incidents with TICs by training a reference team of first responders through the year 2016.
The course provided general knowledge on chemical warfare agents and toxic industrial chemicals, individual protective equipment, detection and decontamination practices, and emergency response procedures that were discussed and tested in a table-top exercise on chemical emergency response. The course benefitted from instructors from Argentina and Peru and Spain under the umbrella of the Instructor Development and Exchange Programme that is implemented by the Assistance and Protection Branch. Team building techniques, interactive learning and knowledge exchange practised during the course will help strengthen the network of first responders that is being developed in this region.
This course will be followed by an advanced assistance-and-protection training that will be conducted in Buenos Aires, Argentina in April this year.
* Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela