The 3-day work of the 2nd International Event organized by the Hellenic Institute for Health and Safety at Work – ELINYAE in Thessaloniki from June 19 to 21, 2023, was completed with great success. The 3-day meeting is part of the program SETOFF – Smart Education and Training Program for central government and local government employees, in which the Institute participates together with 7 other partners from 4 countries (Greece, Spain, North Macedonia and Belgium).
The main objectives of the event were to improve prevention and preparedness in a disaster (Organization of services, Prevention infrastructure, Communication – security culture and Health care) and Specific issues of crisis management (Search, rescue and response, Emergency medicine, Living in emergencies, Recovery -Economic Dimension) and also to evaluate the usability and functionality of the e-training platform before its finalization.
The training carried out both physically as well as online. More than 80 experts, academics, researchers, civil protection officers, safety and health officers of the Police and Fire Brigade, representatives of the local government, Private Security Personnel, as well as volunteers, from four countries (Spain, Belgium, North Macedonia and Greece), attended the event.
Participants had the opportunity to be informed by experts, but also to exchange knowledge, academic opinions and experiences, to demonstrate and familiarize themselves with technological achievements, exploring established and innovative trends in crisis and risk management. In this way, they have contributed to the finalization of the material that will be the educational core of distance training, which aims to improve the preparedness, health and safety at work of both civil protection personnel and private sector safety and security personnel in case of crises and emergencies.
More analytically, the event opening ceremony started with the welcoming addresses from the Chair of the Board of ELINYAE, Rena Bardani who welcomed the participants, as well as from Prof. Michalis Chalaris, Scientific Coordinator of the program, who also presented the program. Following, Ms Sofia Sidiropoulou gave information about the program of the day, and separated the participants into 3 groups: Hercules – Achilles – Odysseus.
Mr Antonis Koukouzas, Chairperson of the Board of the Hellenic Association of Fire Service officers and subofficers (@EPAYPS) was also present at the event and welcomed the program and the participants, as well.
The first day, the curriculum was presented by Maria Roussi, Teaching staff IHU, as well as the e-training platform by Alexis Lechouritis, IT expert of ELINYAE. At the end of the day Dr Antonis Targoutzidis, Mechanical Engineer of ELINYAE presented a case scenario, where the 3 groups had the opportunity to co-operate, brainstorm and present their experience.
The second day of the training, Dr Antonis Targoutzidis, Mechanical Engineer of ELINYAE presented the 4 first subjects of the training material: introduction to risk, risk management process, risk perception and risk communication. The first subject was pilot presented via the e-platform so as to evaluate both the content and the overall experience.
The third day of the event, Dr. Paraskevi Georgiadou, Chemical Engineer of ELINYAE presented the contents of the courses related to major technological accidents and of health and safety of emergency responders that will be included in the on-line training platform. She referred to the types of accidents such as fires, explosions and toxic releases in facilities that handle large quantities of hazardous substances, in dangerous goods transport activities, in offshore oil and gas drilling operations activities, etc. She has also referred to accidents related to nuclear facilities. Special mention was made of technological accidents triggered by natural phenomena such as earthquakes, floods, storms (NATECH), with the accident at the Fukushima nuclear facility in Japan as a typical example. She analyzed the subsections that will be included in the training material, such as risk assessment, principles for taking preventive measures and safety management systems, in emergency planning with special emphasis on the role of civil protection personnel. The importance of protecting the health and safety of emergency responders and the principles of occupational risk assessment for difficult and unpredictable situations involving their duties and exposing them to risks of occupational accidents and occupational diseases was emphasized. She also referred to guidelines and regulations for taking organizational and technical protection measures against these risks that will be included in the relevant course, with a special section on personal protective equipment.
Following, Michalis Chalaris, Professor of Chemistry at IHU and Scientific Coordinator of the SETOFF project, presented part of the educational material that will be included in the sections on flood, fire and earthquake protection. Sections related to the analysis of the relevant risks and directions and tactics for their prevention and treatment were presented.
The international meeting with the rich discussion and exchange of experiences that took place during its duration contributed to the evaluation of the usefulness of the content and the usability of the asynchronous education platform of the SETOFF project. The conclusions of the 2nd international meeting will be used to improve the deliverables of the project.
The European SETOFF Project, co-funded by the European Union, is implemented under Erasmus+, led by researcher and co-ordinator Assist. Professor of Chemistry, Michalis Halaris, Lieutenant General of the Fire Brigade, in collaboration with Universities and institutions from the participating countries (Belgium, Spain, North Macedonia, Greece).