Royal Decree of 29 July 1991 establishing the Higher Institute of Emergency Planning (amended by Royal Decree of 5 December 2011)
STRUCTURE
President: Jaak RAES
Director: Monique BERNAERTS
Permanent staff of centre:
6 persons
A scientific committee with an advisory role
OBJECTIVES
The ISPU seeks to make the approach to emergency planning and management more professional by building up relevant expertise and making it available to those involved in crisis management. Exchanges of information and know-how with foreign countries also form part of the approach. These activities go hand in hand with the essential analysis of hazards and vulnerabilities – carried out by the Government Co-ordination and Crisis Centre (www.crisis.ibz.be)of which the ISPU forms part, including work at cross-border level.
MAIN ACTIVITIES
The ISPU's activities involve four strands:
Research and development
Information sharing and training
Development of legal and practical tools, eg emergency planning guides
Establishment of a network of experts
PUBLICATION
Research
Every year, the ISPU runs a research project related to emergency planning.
To this end, it calls on teams of university researchers to address vital issues concerning emergency planning and management.
Guides
Emergency planning guide for transport and transit pipelines for gaseous and liquid substances in Belgium – 2008
This guide addresses the issue of pipelines with a view to drawing up an emergency plan and intervention plans, and is supplemented by hazard maps. Identification of the relevant hazards applies at local, provincial and federal level.
Emergency planning guide for identifying and analysing hazards at local level - 2009
This guide sets out a method for identifying and analysing hazards. It is intended for local authorities, ie municipal and provincial authorities.
Local emergency planning guide - 2010
This guide presents the latest emergency planning know-how and is intended both for local authorities and their response units and for their emergency planning officials.
Best practices
As a specialised centre, the ISPU is conducting a multiyear comparative survey of legislation on major hazard management in the member countries of the Council of Europe's EUR-OPA Major Hazards Agreement. The results of this project and the best practices identified here are published on the website www.ispu.eu. The member countries are also invited to publish factsheets describing the various tools available to them or which they have developed.
CONFERENCES
The ISPU identifies the training on offer with a view to making it available to those involved in crisis management and supplements it by holding information/training seminars. It also builds up its own know-how by taking part as a contributor or ordinary participant in colloquies and training events held in Belgium and elsewhere. This involves establishing useful synergies with Belgian and foreign universities and research centres in the area of training in hazards and emergency planning and management.
