World Environment Center (WEC), December 1995, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. Abstract: Final report by the grantee (World Environment Center) on the Local Accident Mitigation and Prevention (LAMP) program to mitigate industrial disasters in Thailand. The report covers the period from 10/92 to 9/95, when U.S. assistance to Thailand was suspended. Thailand is now confronting industrial safety issues on a nationwide level with both more vigor and more rigor, and LAMP has played a critical role by facilitating the UN Environment Programme's (UNEP) Awareness and Preparedness for Emergencies at the Local Level (APELL) process, and by encouraging Thai groups to organize and to improve emergency planning mechanisms, upgrade safety and response equipment, and practice emergency response procedures. As a result of these efforts, emergency response equipment budgets were expanded in both the private and public sectors to provide industrial workers and emergency responders with improved, often state-of-the-art, equipment. In early 1994, for example, the Ministry of Interior (MOI) purchased 100 emergency response trucks for all provinces in Thailand. Also, a Thai delegation will attend an industrial safety equipment `buying mission' to the United States in early 1996 -- something that would not have been productive prior to the project. Equipment purchases and infrastructure improvements have increased the demand for specialized training of responders. LAMP trainers are already encountering opportunities to return to Thailand and teach teams about fire and confined space rescue, hazardous materials emergency response, and other topics. This is another sign that LAMP's achievements will be sustainable. LAMP made significant progress in the area of emergency management information by introducing CAMEO software and training information managers in its use; more than 17 Thai agencies now use CAMEO. CAMEO has also prompted information managers to develop other channels for collecting and, in the case of an emergency, disseminating information. Additionally, the MOI and LAMP are developing a Transportation Emergency Response Information (TERI) database, which will provide critical chemical information to emergency response teams. Lessons learned are as follows. (1) LAMP is most successful when working with highly motivated people. LAMP interventions in Thailand came at the right time and with the right compositions of local and national Thai actors. (2) Effective intervention requires a committed LAMP Country Manager. (3) Local industrial safety clubs or organizations such as Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs) provide a platform of essential support for LAMP. If these are not yet formed, the option not to initiate LAMP activities should be strongly considered. WEC was fortunate to find organized, aware, and motivated groups in both Map Ta Phut and Bangpoo. (4) Replicability requires that LAMP work intensively at a few selected sites. Bangpoo was added only after Map Ta Phut was sufficiently developed to serve as an example for Bangpoo. Now, both sites set the standard for industrial sites throughout Thailand. (5) Emergency response infrastructure is a primary indicator of a community's preparedness for LAMP.
