Participants at the 3rd Laboratory Workshop in the Middle East for the Analysis of Chemicals Related to the CWC, which was held in Jordan in October 2014
The OPCW and the Government of Jordan jointly organised the third Laboratory Workshop in the Middle East on the Analysis of Chemicals Related to the Chemical Weapons Convention from 19 to 30 October 2014. The workshop was held at the Ben Hayyan Aqaba International Laboratories and attended by 13 participants from Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Yemen.
The workshop, which complemented the existing pool of OPCW courses for analytical chemists, provided basic training in the use of Gas Chromatography (GC) and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) for the analysis of chemicals related to the CWC. Participants received intensive hands-on training in the handling of different sample matrices for subsequent analysis by GC with element-selective detectors and by GC-MS in electron ionisation mode.
The training included an explanation of the hardware involved, instrument testing and optimisation, basic maintenance, and troubleshooting. Aspects related to good laboratory practice, sample preparation, and the applications of the OPCW Central Analytical Database (OCAD) in compound identification were also covered.