Online Basic Course on Emergency Response to Chemical Incidents for North Africa and Sahel Region

Online

7 – 10 December 2020

The course is jointly organised by the Technical Secretariat of the OPCW and the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco. 

The course is a capacity-building initiative within the framework of Article X of the Chemical Weapons Convention to support the OPCW Member States in the region, and to strengthen their capacity in responding to incidents involving Chemical Warfare Agents (CWAs) and Toxic Industrial Chemicals (TICs), which will directly benefit their civilian populations. 

The course is designed for both civilian and military first responders who are involved in responding to emergencies involving release of CWAs/TICs and on CBRN Emergency preparedness (i.e. Civil Defence, Fire/rescue department, Police, Military CBRN Units, HAZMAT teams, medical responders, etc.).

Content 

The course will also facilitate the exchange of information and experiences regarding the implementation of Article X of the Convention and will provide a forum for the discussion of future cooperation among participating Member States and what further assistance they might make to the OPCW under Article X. All selected participants will be given access to the course materials during the asynchronous period of the course then on the last day, the participants will be invited to a live online session for further discussion and feedback

Aims 

At the end of this course, the participants will be able to:

  • Define the types and toxic effects of CWAs/TICs, sign and symptoms of exposure
  • Describe principles of response to emergencies related to chemical agents, and corresponding operating procedures
  • Describe the concepts of protection against CWAs, use of Individual Protection Equipment (IPE), Donning and Doffing
  • Explain the principles of detection of CWAs, detection methods and use of various detection equipment
  • Describe principles of decontamination, decontamination equipment/materials