The Hague, 18 October 2000

Inspection Teams Succeed in Achieving Zero Accident Rate

The Acting Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Mr John Gee, announced today that the Organisation's inspectors have completed 50,000 inspection days free of lost-time accidents. He characterised this as a "significant accomplishment", and said that "the OPCW greatly values the commitment that its Member States have shown to ensure that inspections have proceeded without significant accidents or injuries."

The OPCW has conducted over 830 inspections in 44 States Parties since it commenced inspection operations on 1 June 1997, shortly after the entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) on 29 April 1997.

Safety is a major concern for the OPCW, considering the potential dangers present at many of the sites that are routinely inspected world-wide by the Organisation's inspectors. In keeping with the provisions of the CWC, OPCW inspectors routinely inspect chemical weapons storage facilities and former chemical weapons production facilities. They also monitor the destruction of chemical weapons at designated destruction facilities and the inactivation, closure and destruction of former chemical weapons production facilities, or their conversion for purposes not prohibited under the Convention. The conduct of these activities requires the highest safety standards, given the hazardous nature and the acute toxicity of the chemical agents involved.

The OPCW also inspects locations where old and abandoned chemical weapons are stored. These war remnants pose particular safety hazards, given the extent to which they have deteriorated. The OPCW's other inspections take place at chemical industry facilities, where industrial safety is a major concern.