According to the current workplan, the following activities are to be implemented during the biennium 2017–18:
a) Involvement of Parties and other stakeholders
b) Exchange of information
c) Strategic partnerships
d) Financing
e) Review of the Long-term Strategy
f) Servicing intergovernmental bodies and expert groups
g) General programme management
a) Involvement of Parties and other stakeholders
- Targeted communication (newsletters, press releases, leaflets, website, promotion of online training on industrial accidents and participation in forums)
- Working visits and high-level missions to Parties
- Working visits to other stakeholders
b) Exchange of information
- Exchange of experience and good practices among Parties, for example, regarding risk assessment methodologies
- Implementation guide for the Convention
- Online system for national implementation reporting, Supporting body: Working Group on Implementation
- Follow-up to the development of guidance on safety and land-use planning: finalization of publication and a seminar for exchanging experiences, possibly based on case studies, Supporting country/organization: Belgium (Flanders Region) and the European Union/European Investment Bank, possibly in cooperation with the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context, its Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment and the ECE Committee on Housing and Land Management
- Development of safety guidelines and good practices for fire-water retention under the Joint Expert Group on Water and Industrial Accidents, Lead country: Germany
- Enhancing knowledge on industrial safety at universities (improving and increasing knowledge among students and teachers on tailings safety, and a legislative review, in Ukraine) (2017), Lead country: Germany
- Multilateral activities to strengthen industrial accident preparedness and response, including a bilateral exercise between Armenia and Georgia
- Two transboundary response exercises overseen by the Joint Expert Group on Water and Industrial Accidents: between Poland and Germany on the Oder River (4-5 September 2017); between Hungary and neighbours (first half of 2018), Lead countries: Germany and Hungary, together with the respective river commissions
c) Strategic partnerships
- Cooperation with OECD on reducing the risk of natural-hazard triggered technological disasters (NATECH) (OECD workshop in Germany in 2018 in the framework of the Environmental Emergencies Forum; sharing of good practices), Supporting Body: Bureau
- Meetings with partner organizations to coordinate joint activities, including inter-agency coordination meetings
d) Financing
- Donor meetings and bilateral visits, Supporting Body: Bureau
e) Review of the Long-term Strategy
- Development of a long-term strategy to 2030, including on communication and the opening of the Convention to countries outside the ECE region, Supporting Body: Bureau
f) Servicing intergovernmental bodies and expert groups
- Tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties
- Meetings of the Bureau (estimated 4)
- Meetings of the Working Group on Implementation (estimated 4)
- Meetings of the Working Group on the Development of the Convention (none foreseen in this period)
- Meetings of the Joint Expert Group on Water and Industrial Accidents (estimated 4)
g) General programme management
- Other secretariat activities, including human resources, financial and other management-related functions, administrative actions needed to ensure the functioning of the ECE industrial safety unit and reporting on substantive and administrative issues as part of the ECE secretariat