TruckandTrackSpring2020

Truck and Track Spring 2020 www.truckandtrack.com 60 DANGEROUS GOODS Online training has, for many years, been accessible to those involved in the transport of dangerous goods. However, in UK and Irelandthishasbeen, until now, thepreserveof seaandroad transport. To complywith the regulations, these courses are for those whose duties concern the carriage of dangerous goods and who “…shall be trained in the requirements governing the carriage of such goods appropriate to their responsibilities and duties.” All training must be function specific and online courses are available for packers, consignors, shippers, loaders, operators and for those who only require general dangerous goods awareness. The tests to show competence are within the course material so there is no need to sit a separate exam. Tomeet the requirements for air, anyone shipping dangerous goods must a have a current certificate to show that they have passed an exam to demonstrate competency. Both the training and the examare approved by the state regulator - in the UK, this is the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and in Ireland, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA). Recurrent training must be provided every 24 months to ensure that knowledge is current. Traditionally, this training has always been delivered in a classroom environment over a number of days. Typically, a generic course for shippers and cargo agents (Category 1) will take three days and a refresher course would normally take two days. New CAA accredited course for air Labeline is pleased to offer the first CAA approved online training courses for the safe transport of dangerous goods by air. Online training is both cost effective and flexible for employers, staff and the self-employed. It gives candidates the opportunity to take the course at home and at any time. Furthermore, the modules can be repeated as often as required to reinforce learning. Currently, the followingCAA accredited online courses are available: ■■ Category 1 (Shippers) ■■ Category 6 (Operators) ■■ Lithium Batteries To ensure that candidates are tested for competency, an invigilated classroomexammust be taken after completing the online training modules. To fulfil this requirement, multiple dates and locations offer plenty of options to attend the exam: Heathrow; Milton Keynes; East Midlands; Manchester; Exeter; Crawley and Aberdeen. To help overcome the uncertainty around the availability of exam venues during the pandemic, accessibility to these courses has been temporarily extended to 24 weeks. For a relatively small additional fee, Labeline can arrange for a proctor to come and invigilate an examination in your workplace. All candidates will need access to the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR) to accompany the course and a printed copy to refer to in the exam. Candidates can purchase the IATA DGR at discounted prices from Labeline. With the move towards competency-based training in the air industry, generic courses will not always be appropriate. Going forwards, online solutions will offer the flexibility to be modular and easily tailored to suit the role and specific requirements of individual candidates. For some, the classroom environment will always be the preferred option as it brings in the benefit of the trainer’s experiences and interaction with other candidates. However, it is clear that, especially in these uncertain times, interest in online training is gathering momentum and may soon become the norm. Digitisation of DG Documents Changes arealsoafoot in theway thatDangerousGoodsDocuments (DGD) are generated for all modes of transport. At Labeline, we regularly hear from customers who have had consignments held by their forwarder or transport company for providing handwritten DGD’s. Fortunately, we can offer DGOffice which generates and prints compliant documents for all dangerous goods shipments. It is a sophisticated software solution that saves a significant amount of time by classifying a consignment and self-populating pre-saved product information, such as pack sizes, packaging types, consignors’ addresses and other data. During the process it will also highlight when limited quantity thresholds are breached and, for air, calculate the Q values. Labeline International explores how digitisation & online solutions are being rolled out in the Dangerous Goods industry Around the world, and across all sectors, the COVID-19 outbreak has led to the cancellation of classroom courses and an unprecedented shift towards online training solutions