B R I E F S

First independent Chemical Safety Audits course in Bulgaria

• The EMTC Bulgaria on held the first independent course on Chemical Safety Audits in Bulgaria Oct 20-24. The word "independent" is significant because chemical safety audits in Bulgaria are not yet conducted as a separate procedure but are part of Environmental Auditing. The training provided an overview of chemical process safety management, risk management planning, and chemical safety auditing.

  The Chemical Safety Audits course is a training module of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. For the recent training in Bulgaria, some of the materials were omitted or replaced with new versions that were shorter and more applicable to the Bulgarian conditions. Also, more exercises and case-studies were included.

  The 29 participants came mainly from occupational health & safety offices of the chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical and metallurgical industries in Bulgaria. Representatives from various ministries, a trade union, and an environmental NGO also attended.

  All of the lectures were presented on slides; some of the lectures were followed by video presentations. Also, in one of the days a demonstration of industrial safety equipment and audit test equipment was performed. At the end of each day participants worked on a case-study based on a real life situation. On the last day participants were asked to conduct a mock chemical safety audit and to write a report for a fictitious plant.

Follow-up Training of Trainers on management held in Albania

• The training course "Managing in an Environmental Organization," was held Sept. 22-25 in Tirana, Albania. The course was a follow-up to the course held June 9-12 in Szentendre, Hungary, this time in the framework of the "Training the Trainers - Albania" project.

  At the Hungarian training in June, trainers from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency trained 25 people from CEE countries, including four Albanians (See Insight, Summer 1997, Regional briefs). In the recent course, the Albanian facilitators passed along what they learned at the earlier session.

  The Albanian facilitators worked and acted as an active team in communicating and responding to the questions posed by the participants. They successfully used the interactive training method, brainstorming, working group discussions and role plays. They were able to adapt the EPA module to the Albanian situation, which made the course more practical and comprehensive for the participants.

  The 37 participants were all had an interest in the issues discussed, as most of the participants were managers representing various target groups: government, regional environmental agencies, NGOs, media, public institutions, business and local government.

  In the end, the participants considered the training helpful and requested that such trainings be organized more often, especially at NGO and local level. They also suggested organizing a separate training focused specifically on communication techniques.

Internet training in Budapest

• A training-of-trainers workshop was held Sept. 1-2, at the Regional Environmental Center in Szentendre, Hungary. The training demonstrated a number of Internet tools, such as accessing data by using lists and websites, as well as hands-on examples of how to use the Worldwide Web. About 10 participants from the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania and Russia attended the session, which was organized under the scope of RECNet Internet project. The project is designed to enhance accessibility of information to all three sectors (business, government and NGOs), but it will considerably strengthen the non-profit sector, especially those organizations not yet connected to Internet.

Members themselves finance 6th EMTC Network meeting

• The second of the two annual meetings of the members of the Environmental Management Training Centers (EMTC) Network was held Oct. 2-4 in Sinai, Romania. The workshop was organized by the Training Information Center for Eco-Development (TIMCED). It was the first meeting entirely financed by the members themselves. This shows the degree to which EMTC members wish to continue their collaboration with each other despite the end of a funding grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

  One major topic of discussion was EMTC Network membership criteria. The criteria for membership in the network will now include an annual membership fee of ECU 50. Workshop attendees also talked about the possibility of incorporating the network as an official legal entity, but a decision was postponed awaiting further discussion and investigation.