SPECIAL REPORT:
EDUCATION = TRANSPORTATION AND TRADE SMARTS
By KATHLYN HORIBE
May 4, 2009
When you come in contact with dangerous goods while working on the job, you must be trained on how to safely identify and handle hazmat. Canadian law states that anyone who handles, offers for transport, transports or imports/exports dangerous goods must hold a valid training certificate, applicable to the specific mode of transport.
“Transport Canada and the IMO are cracking down on dangerous goods from a regulatory standpoint,” said Jim Moram, director of marine administration for the Shipping Federation of Canada. “Although it’s always been in the IMDG code that a shipping line or anyone dealing in dangerous goods is required to have trained personnel, Transport Canada is really pushing the training not only on the marine side but also on the truck, rail and air side.”
The International Maritime Organization’s Dangerous Goods Code (IMDG) applies to ocean transport. The IMO is a specialized agency of the United Nations that focuses on the improvement of safety at sea.
Transport Canada enforces this regulation in Canada as well as two other sets of regulations. The Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act and Regulations govern the transport of dangerous goods by all modes to, from, within and transiting through Canada. For air transport, there are two regulations, the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Technical Instruction and the International Air Transport Association’s Dangerous Goods Regulations.
“Transport Canada is coming up with what they call a ticketing regime where if you don’t have the knowledgeable people on staff, you could be fined. So far we haven’t seen any fines,” Mr. Moram said.
According to its ticketing proposal developed in collaboration with the Department of Justice, fines could range from $300 to $1,000 for common offences to the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act and Regulations. Currently, the primary available enforcement tool is prosecution in court, which the Transport Dangerous Goods Directorate considers too severe for minor infractions.
“I don’t think they’re going to be doing any major inspections,” Mr. Moram said. “However, if a company had an incident and did not have the trained people on staff, the fine could be substantial.”
The Shipping Federation of Canada offers one-day courses that instruct on identification, classification, packaging, marking, labelling and documentation requirements of dangerous goods by ocean. This year, courses took place in Toronto in April, and will be held in Montreal in May and Halifax in October. “We’re also looking at St. John’s where we’ve given courses previously,” Mr. Moram said.
The Shipping Federation does not offer dangerous goods training through distance learning, however. “We feel that the in-class training given by an experienced IMDG trainer is better for the student,” Mr. Moram said. “They learn something from his experience as that person has hands-on experience with the transportation of dangerous goods through the ports and he can inform the students on specific incidents.
“Generally, our dangerous goods courses within the marine community have a good reputation. Because of that, we’ve seen an increase in the number of students.”
The Canadian International Freight Forwarders Association offers dangerous goods training programs for freight forwarders, shippers, importers, exporters and cargo acceptance agents. The maritime program takes one day for initial training and half a day for recurrent. For air, initial and recurrent training takes three days and two days, respectively.
In locations around the world, the International Air Transport Association also offers initial and recurrent courses for transport of hazmat by air.
“The transportation of dangerous goods is becoming more and more important from the standpoint of making sure that your staff is adequately trained to handle the various cargoes,” Mr. Moram said. “Our members, in general, don’t want to have on vessels dangerous goods that are incorrectly packaged or incorrectly declared so they’re sending more and more of their people to the courses.”