Participants at a practical workshop on chemical safety and security for Latin American and Caribbean experts, which was held in Sao Paulo, Brazil from 18 to 20 April 2016.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in cooperation with the National Authority of Brazil conducted a practical workshop on chemical safety and security for Latin American and Caribbean experts in São Paulo, Brazil from 18 to 20 April 2016.
The objective of this initiative is to increase the capacity of States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) to address chemical safety and chemical security issues, while making use of Brazil’s experience in this field.
Participants included 38 experts from 16 countries (Angola, Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Lucia, Spain and Venezuela). The group was diverse as it included government officials responsible for regulating chemical industry, chemical industry representatives, academics and chemists.
The programme covered a wide range of useful topics such as: Brazilian experience in safety management in chemical industries; industry outreach; chemical safety and security risk assessment for accident prevention and preparedness; simulation technologies applied to risk assessment; chemical safety and security hardware; identification and response to the threat of chemical weapons by the industry; and chemical security threats and mitigation strategies.
Participants shared information, experience and lessons-learned from chemical incidents in their countries.
The Brazilian chemical industry contributed meaningfully to making this training a success. The Brazilian chemical industry association (ABIQUIM) gave presentations, and Oxiteno chemical facility in Tremenbé, São Paulo hosted a study visit to their premises.