OSCE helps Ukraine to improve control and risk management for prevention of major accidents involving dangerous substances

Ukraine’s challenges in modernizing its chemical regulatory system to meet international standard were discussed at an OSCE Project Co-ordinator-hosted workshop on 12 and 13 June in Kyiv.

More than 90 Ukrainian governmental and industry representatives learned from their counterparts from the European Commission, France, Italy, Romania and the United Kingdom their experiences to help Ukraine match its regulations to the European Seveso III directive concerning emergency prevention and industrial safety, as well as other international best practices.

“Ukraine has a large number of enterprises using hazardous chemicals and this creates a high risk of accidents,” said Oleh Melchutskyi, First Deputy Head of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. “There are 675 locations where over 240 tons of such chemicals are stored or used for production,” he said.

The OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine, Vaidotas Verba, said that accidents involving dangerous chemicals pose a significant threat to human health and lives, the environment and the economy. “For improved emergency preparedness and response, it is also important to be able to better assess the potential effects of an industrial accident or natural disaster affecting chemical facilities.”

The workshop also featured a presentation of the software tools developed by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission to assess these effects.

The workshop is part of a major OSCE programme to improve Ukrainian chemical safety and security, which includes other regulatory reform, border control and identification of hazardous substances.

The OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine, the OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre and the State Emergency Service of Ukraine organized the workshop with financial support from the European Union and the United States.