The National Dangerous Goods Awareness Day is provided to address some key points that are evident within businesses and industries within the UK. Those key points identify that when it comes to being compliant to the dangerous goods rules and regulations a UK business or industry falls into one of the following four categories:

• Fully compliant
• Partially compliant
• Non-compliant to said rules and regulations
• Knows that there are rules and regulations but chooses to ignore them as there is very little chance of getting caught

Instead of us tut-tutting and wagging fingers this National Dangerous Goods Awareness Day aims to inform and guide businesses into why there are the rules and regulations in the first place and how you can spread the essential knowledge and skills that everyone needs to keep their staff and the transport chain free from the significant effects that transporting such dangerous goods present.

There are four main transport codes and regulations for dangerous goods:

Road – referred to in Europe as ADR

Air – referred to in the world as ICAO and IATA

Sea – referred to in the world as IMDG

Rail – referred to in Europe as RID

A fifth code, ADN,  does exist for inland waterways (canals, rivers) but it is not valid in the UK.

Each code (ADR, RID, IATA/ICAO and IMDG) is enshrined with the legal system of the adopting country – click on this link to view the UK legislation that enshrines each dangerous goods code into our legal framework. (BADGP link to document)

Each code requires the appointment of a competent person to deal with the dangerous goods arrangements and in the case of Road and Rail that competent person is a qualified Dangerous Goods Safety Adviser (see DGSA below).

All transport codes require any business that offers for carriage (known as a consignor) or transports dangerous goods (known as a carrier) to train their staff in either a general awareness or function-specific capacity. The National Dangerous Goods Awareness Day will assist you with this requirement as we provide you with free to download posters and toolbox talks that address some of the general awareness training. Two introductory  films also provide an initial insight into the two of the guiding principles of dangerous goods transport.

DGSA – Dangerous Goods Safety Advisor

Compliance to the rules and regulations is essential but we often hear that many businesses find them to be too complex to both understand and apply. To assist each code requires a competent person to be appointed within each business. As most transport operations begin with a road element to the journey the ADR code stipulates the appointment of a Dangerous Goods Safety Advisor.

This can either be an employee who has undertaken the training and passed the national exam or it can be a service contracted in from one of the 2000 qualified DGSAs that the UK has. Both BADGP and the UK’s DfT hold voluntary contact lists of DGSAs at the following webpages.

BADGP Consultant List

DFT DGSA List

Sea and Air transport require the appointment of competent persons. For air transport an IATA certified employee is required within the business. IMDG also requires a competent person. If you send dangerous goods internationally you should also ensure that your DGSA is also IATA and IMDG certified or that you have other competent persons (sea and air) to work alongside the DGSA.

ADR stipulates that as of 1.1.23 all companies that consign or transport dangerous goods must appoint a DGSA to assist and advise them. For a full list of what a DGSA does and when your activities require one see this link (link to BADGP website – what does a DGSA do?)

The British Association of Dangerous Goods Professionals

We are a not-for-profit association that has as its core aim the need to provide opportunities to improve the knowledge and skills that all dangerous goods professionals require. We provide legal briefings and updates via our webinars, seminars and quarterly newsletters and we provide an annual general meeting where DG like-minded souls can gather, learn, network and feel part of a DG community.

From our starting point in 2013 we are close to 500 members and have regular meetings with the regulatory bodies and competent authorities that shape and underpin the content of the dangerous goods codes and their application within the UK.

The National Dangerous Goods Awareness Day is our initiative to bring the subject of dangerous goods back onto the table to ensure that companies and businesses do not get caught out by the recent legislative changes and the higher risk of inspection and fees and delays that shipping lines and air lines are applying where they identify an incident of non-conformance.

Why you should support the National Dangerous Goods Awareness Day

Dangerous Goods are chemical substances, products and articles that have a significant risk of causing harm, injury, loss and property/environmental damage.

Failure to apply the required safety risk controls in their transportation places an unacceptable risk on your workplace activities.

Should that failure result in an incident then the resulting investigation, costs and legal action can be punitive. All too often companies discover after the incident that their business insurance did not cover them for failing to apply the dangerous goods rules and as such all costs relating to the incident, both direct and indirect are uncovered and have to be taken from the company’s profit.

Prevention is always  better than the cure. Make sure your business activities are suitably protected with the required levels of preventative risk controls.

How can you support the National Dangerous Goods Awareness Day?

Quite simply it’s by getting involved. Download the posters as of the 1^st July and change them each day until the 11^th when we will hold our webinar. Identify those staff that would benefit from learning more about dangerous goods and have their managers read through the Toolbox Talk script on each day.

Download the Gif and logos and apply them to your email signature or convince your IT department to have it as a company screensaver for the month of July.

View the 2 small films that cover the basics of dangerous goods and determine whether your staff need to know more.

Come and join BADGP and keep your staff and designated personnel up to date and informed about both the legal requirements and their regular updates.

What does a DGSA (Dangerous Goods Safety Adviser) do?

The road dangerous goods code and UK law require the appointment of a Dangerous Goods Safety Adviser to any consignor, carrier or consignee that offers for transport, transports dangerous goods or receives and unloads dangerous goods.

Within the ADR code there is a long list of the duties that each DGSA has to perform. They are divided into the main duties and monitoring duties.

Main Duties	Explanation
Monitoring compliance with the requirements governing the carriage of dangerous goods	Conducting a programme of review, inspection, observations and audits to determine the correct level of compliance to the dangerous goods rules and regulations that the company is applying
Advising the business on the carriage of dangerous goods	Updating the business on rule changes and identifying the necessary steps to bring any non-conformance areas of the company to the dangerous goods rules and regulations back into a fully compliant state
Preparing an annual report	Preparing a detailed report that identifies where the company is compliant and where there are opportunities to improve and comply to the legal requirements that the company must apply

The DGSA is required to perform monitoring duties that ensure that the required safety and risk controls within each code are properly and consistently applied. These monitoring duties are:

Monitoring Duties (where applicable)	Explanation
Identification of Dangerous Goods being transported	Correct identification of dangerous goods and, where required, classifying them.
Purchasing means of transport	Should the company need to purchase specific vehicles to transport dangerous goods the DGSA will ensure that the purchase incorporates the specific elements of ADR parts 8 and 9 (vehicle equipment and vehicle design)
Procedure for checking the equipment used in connection with the carriage, packing, filling, loading or unloading of dangerous goods	Implement and apply or ensure it is applied a system for inspection and checking that the equipment is correctly used to apply the specific risk controls that dangerous goods require
The proper training of the company’s employees	Either by conducting the training themselves of confirming that the training provided by an external party is meeting the required provision
The implementation of proper emergency procedures	Ensuring that all employees know the initial first steps in dealing with a dangerous goods spillage or damage incident – this is usually in the form of writing safe working procedures, conducting drills and providing instruction/training
Incident investigation – (DG incidents)	Ensuring that a comprehensive incident investigation is undertaken and, where required, a report to competent authority is made
Implementation of preventative measures following accidents, incidents or serious infringements	The investigation should identify action items to prevent a recurrence of the incident. The DGSA should be instrumental in implementing or managing these
Advising and monitoring of sub-contractors or third parties where they are employed in the dangerous goods activities	Advising the company on the legal requirements that non-employees have to apply and ensuring that the monitoring activities take into account the regular inspection and (where agreed) auditing of contracted or third party entities.
Creating or reviewing detailed safety operating procedures	Where provided the DGSA must confirm the validity and sequence of the safety operating procedures or where they are not present write or assist in their writing and implementation
Increase awareness of the risks inherent in the transport of dangerous goods	Review current information, instruction and training and identify and apply areas of improvement
Verifying that documents and equipment required on vehicles on dangerous goods are present	Implement and apply a system of checking and inspecting to ensure that all vehicles have the required information and equipment to deal with any DG related incident
Verifying that packaging procedures are being properly applied (also includes filling, loading and unloading)	Check on the company’s packaging arrangements or where third parties are used – confirming that their arrangements are fully compliant
The implementation of a Security Plan	Required only where High Consequence Dangerous Goods are carried or offered for carriage.

It is possible that for small to medium companies these activities may not constitute a full-time role for an employee and may be best suited to an external contractor. For large companies with extensive dangerous goods carriage or consigning of dangerous goods a full-time employee within a business compliance department may be a more suitable arrangement.

Do I need a DGSA?

There are three national exemptions for a company.

1. The first is where, in national (UK mainland) transportation the quantity of dangerous goods does not exceed the Transport Category threshold levels.

• The second is where the company only engages in the national carriage of limited quantities, excepted quantities or items that are exempted from ADR by a special provision.

• The third is where the company occasionally consigns or transport dangerous goods.

The problem with these exemptions is that you need the advice from a DGSA or other dangerous goods competent person to confirm whether you can take advantage of these exemptions. More importantly these exemptions only apply to national carriage – if your business consigns or carries dangerous goods internationally or to UK islands or to Northern Ireland then you will need the service of a DGSA.

How are DGSA’s qualified?

All dangerous goods safety advisors have to undergo a process of learning (training, coaching or self-learning) and sit a national exam. These exams are held every 3 months at registered exam centres. The exam comprises three papers and the DGSA must achieve the pass mark in all three to attain the qualification.

The qualification is valid for 5 years after which the DGSA must sit three exams, achieve the pass mark in order to retain their qualification for a further 5 years.

Additional training courses and assessments are required where the DGSA needs to understand and apply the rules for transporting dangerous goods by air, sea and rail.