Launched in 2019, Sectrans-Nas is a project of the European Union’s CBRN Centres of Excellence that has involved strengthening the transport of chemical and biological dangerous goods in North Africa and the Sahel (NAS). After three years of implementation, in which ADELFAS participated together with other organisations, a series of results were achieved, which we present below.
The first video we share below presents the project as a whole: the objectives and implementers, the working method and the results:
Awareness raising was a very important aspect of the project. To this end, in addition to brochures and posters developed for representatives of ministries concerned with the transport of dangerous goods and for all those involved in the transport chain, radio spots were developed in the official languages (Arabic/French) and local languages (Hausa, Bambara, Zarma), as well as two awareness-raising videos. The first one, below, was produced in collaboration with Tunisia, but is intended to be broadcast in North African countries as they share a similar language and reality on this issue.
This second video, made in collaboration with Niger, is aimed at the countries of the Sahel and sub-Saharan Africa in general. It aims to combat a phenomenon that is as absurd as it is tragic: the dozens or even hundreds of deaths that occur every year in this area when poor people try to collect fuel from the tanks of the vehicles that transport it in accidents.
During the three and a half years of the project, hundreds of actors in the transport chain (shippers – carriers – drivers, etc.) were trained in accordance with international regulations, in particular the ADR. In addition, a group of first responders (usually from the civil protection services of the participating countries) were trained to reinforce their operational procedures; furthermore, and in addition to this training, they were introduced, in theory and in practice, to the use of the CERES software, which, when used correctly, is a valuable predictive tool in the management of an accident involving hazardous materials.