These two documents from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) provides guidance for governments seeking to develop, review or strengthen their national chemical accidents prevention and preparedness programme.

UNEP is leading an international initiative to promote chemical accident prevention and preparedness. The initiative focuses on the development and implementation of a Flexible Framework for Chemical Accident Prevention and a Flexible Framework for Addressing Chemical Accident Prevention and Preparedness. Both offering guidance for governments wanting to develop, review or strengthen their national chemical accidents prevention and preparedness programme.

UNEP informs that almost every country experiences chemical accidents each year, occurring both at small facilities such as pesticide warehouses and large installations such as refineries, at public facilities (including water treatment plants using chlorine or private manufacturing facilities for the chemical, pharmaceutical, and consumer products industries), in urban settings and industrial parks or in rural areas where there might be mining operations or refrigeration facilities.

Find more information about the guidance on Flexible Framework for Chemical Accident Prevention and the brochure on Flexible Framework for Addressing Chemical Accident Prevention and Preparedness on the Environmental Emergencies Centre (EEC) here

Download the brochure here and the guidance here