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Industrial accidents

Introduction

Industrial accidents can have severe consequences on human health and the environment, including in other affected countries. The accidents in Schweizerhalle, Switzerland, and Baia Mare, Romania, have brought this message home. The Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents helps Parties to prevent industrial accidents that can have transboundary effects and to prepare for, and respond to, accidents if they occur.

In focus

The 11^thmeeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP-11) was successfully held in a hybrid format in Geneva and online, 7-9 December 2020, over three morning sessions, resulting in significant outcomes, steering the industrial safety community into the next decade, prepare towards achieving Agenda 2030 – captured in the related Press Release

The advance online Seminar on mine tailings safety in the UNECE region and beyond (Geneva and online, 1 December, 9.30 – 12.30) resulted in agreed conclusions, and paved the way towards adopting the decision on strengthening mine tailings safety at CoP-11 – see related Press Release

Following CoP-11, the Information Repository of Good Practices and Lessons Learned in Land-Use Planning and Industrial Safety was launched – see related joint UNECE/EIB Press Release. The repository was developed in close partnership between the EIB and UNECE under the leadership of the Industrial Accidents Convention, in cooperation with the Committee on Urban Development, Housing and Land Management, the Espoo Convention and its Protocol on SEA and the Aarhus Convention. It contains over 40 case studies relating to the fields of land- use planning, industrial safety, disaster risk reduction, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), public participation and information, and transboundary cooperation. The submissions of new good practices continue to be possible.