A workshop involving all stakeholders was organized on 16th of November, 2004 at the premises of the Haldia Development Authority (HDA) to discuss various issues related to the implementation of the ERRIS project in the Haldia industrial region. Shri Laxman Seth, Chairman of HAD and member of the legislative assembly presided over the interaction. About forty representatives of potentially hazardous industries in Haldia, administration and the community were present at the meeting.

In the inaugural address, Shri Seth welcomed all the participants and briefed them about the ERRIS project. He also commended the ICC for selecting Haldia for implementing such a project and committed all possible support from the administration and the community to make the project a success.

Mr Nazeeb Arif, Secretary General, ICC gave a brief overview of the ERRIS information system and the other aspects of the project. He elucidated that the ERRIS information system would provide a software tool that can be used by decision makers and other relevant stakeholders for managing on industrial emergency. However, he also opined that the response agencies would also have to play a crucial and timely role to take necessary mitigation measure. He mentioned that under the ERRIS project, there are also plans to build capacity and educate stakeholders on various issues related to risks and emergency management. This was also followed by a technical presentation on the benefits of using a distributed GIS system for emergency management by the ERRIS team.

After the presentations, the industry representatives expressed their views on the project. They were keep to know how the ERRIS would benefit them in establishing a bridge between the on-site and off-site emergency plans. Queries were also raised about the detail of information that would be stored in the ERRIS database and how the system would ensure that security of critical industry data.

The Indian Chamber of Commerce organized a two-day workshop on "Industrial Hazard and Risk Assessment" on 30th-31 st August 2005 at the ICC Premises in association with the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers to cover various aspects of identification of industrial hazards and specialized techniques for risk assessment.

The workshop was designed for MAH installations to address the preventive aspects of potential industrial accidents. The workshop was inaugurated by the Dr. Sudip K Banerjee, Chairman of the West Bengal Pollution Control Board. Dr. Banerjee expressed his concern over the number of industrial accidents that have occurred in recent times in the state and stated that the industries should give more importance to their safety management programmes. Mr. Nazeeb Arif, Secretary General of the Indian Chamber of Commerce presented an overview of ERRIS to the participants and the system was largely appreciated by all the participants and the speakers. The inaugural programme was followed by a Film on Bhopal Gas Tragedy.

The first technical session of the workshop witnessed presentations on "Basic Concept of Hazard and Risk Analysis" by Dr. S K Dos, Dept of Chemical Engineering, Calcutta University and on "Hazard Analysis" by Dr. K V Ramanayya from Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad.

The second technical session dealt with "Introduction to Thermochemical Analysis and Hazardous Reaction" by Mr. G Swaminathan, Deputy Director, Cell for Industrial Safety and Risk Analysis of Central leather Research Institute, Chennai Failure Frequency Analysis by Dr. K V Ramanayya.

The third technicalsession of the workshop started with the presentation on "An Approach to Safer Process Plants" by Mr. S Das, Retd. GM (SHE), IPCl, Baroda. This was followed by presentations on "Consequence Analysis and a guide to modeling" by Mr. G Swaminathan and "Emergency Management and Response Plans" by Dr. S. K. Biswas, Environmental & Safety Consultant. Attended by 24 participants from various organizations, the workshop concluded with an interesting interactive session.

In keeping with the plans to build capacity at the local level and at the same time develop necessary appreciation on the subject of industrial risk management among stakeholders 2 local level workshops were organized in Durgapur on February 13 and 14, 2006. The principal objective of the workshops was to demonstrate applicability of ERRIS in preparing for and responding to industrial emergencies.

The first workshop was targeted at administrators and local crisis group members who would be responsible for managing and updating the ERRIS information system locally with assistance from the Risk Management Centre of the ICC as also NGOs and educational institutions. The workshop was initiated by Mr N S Nigam, CEO of ADDA and ADM, Burdwan District. Mr Nigam stressed on the importance of the stakeholders playing an active role in making such a system successful and he committed all possible support from the ADDA's side in making the ERRIS outreach centre at Durgapur operational.

ERRIS Team Member, Mr Debanjan Bandyopadhyay gave a brief presentation on the various aspects of disaster management and how the availability of appropriate information at the right time can play a crucial role in saving lives and reducing damage to property and environment. In his presentation, Mr Bandyopadhyay also covered issues like hazard identification for MAH installations, prediction of hazard maps, vulnerability assessment, response actions, use of GIS for risk management, coordination with industries during emergency scenarios, etc. Subsequently, Mr Debashish Manna presented the legislative and institutional framework for disaster and emergency management as stipulated by legislation and explained the specified roles and responsibilities for administration and response agencies.

This was followed by a demonstration of the ERRIS system by Mr Nilanjan Paul and hands-on exercises using the ERRIS software that gave the participants the opportunity to use the system and also understand the functionalities that it offers including viewing spatial information, making queries and editing data. Discussions were held in between sessions to get feedback and suggestions from the participants.

The second workshop on 14th February was targeted at industry managers who are responsible for emergency management at their respective plants. Mr Nazeeb Arif, Secretary General, ICC briefly discussed the objectives of the ERRIS project and how the project can help industries to work closely with other social actors in line with the principles of Corporate Social Responsibility. He also said that the project is a part of the ICC's effort to promote Durgapur and Haldia as favorable destinations for industries who would like to operate in an area where industrial risks are well managed. This was followed by presentations by ERRIS team members which were on similar lines as the first workshop, but focusing more on the industries' role in industrial risk management and emergency response. Mr Nigam, while speaking in the inaugural session, urged the industry management to come forward and proactively participate in the project and provide the required information so that the information system can be put to good use during an actual emergency. In the workshops, there was general agreement that the ERRIS system would be successful, only if the stakeholders actively participate in the emergency planning process, fully understand the capabilities of the system and how it can used for management of industrial risks.