Published on
APELL: the UNEP programme for preparing communities for industrial accidents
Institutional watch: the APELL programme of the United Nations Environment Programme offers a ten-step method for organising, at local level, preparedness for industrial accidents between operators, authorities and communities.
Institutional watch. This article presents a public programme and its relevance for our clients. It does not replace the official documents.
The programme
APELL (Awareness and Preparedness for Emergencies at Local Level) is a programme launched in 1988 by the United Nations Environment Programme, following the major industrial accidents of the 1980s. It aims to reduce the consequences of technological accidents by organising preparedness at local level, where emergency services actually respond.
The method
APELL is based on a ten-step process, led by a coordinating group bringing together operators, local authorities, emergency services and community representatives:
- Identify the participants and their roles.
- Evaluate the risks and hazards of the area.
- Review existing emergency plans.
- Identify the required tasks not covered.
- Match these tasks to the participants.
- Integrate individual plans into an overall plan.
- Write the plan and obtain approval.
- Train the participants.
- Test the plan through exercises.
- Educate and train the community.
Why we refer to it
Industrial sites in Central and West Africa are often in direct contact with residential neighbourhoods, markets or artisanal activity areas. The response to an accident can only be effective there if it has been prepared with local stakeholders. APELL provides a simple, proven and recognised method for doing so, which we use in our site and zone emergency planning assignments.
Source: United Nations Environment Programme, APELL Handbook (1988) and later editions.
