Dangerous goods training requirements
Guidance for airline staff.
UK Reg (EU) 965/2012, the Air Navigation (Dangerous Goods) Regulations 2002 and the International Civil Aviation Organization Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air (Doc 9284) require an operator's dangerous goods training programme to be approved by the State of the Operator, i.e. the UK CAA, if that operator performs:
• commercial air transport operations (CAT), whether they transport dangerous goods or not;
• commercial specialised operations that carry dangerous goods;
• non-commercial operations with complex motor-powered aircraft that carry dangerous goods; or
• non-commercial specialised operations with complex motor-powered aircraft that carry dangerous goods.
Regardless of whether CAA approval is required, the operator must develop training programmes for all relevant staff with responsibilities concerning the carriage of dangerous goods by passengers and crew, as cargo, within mail or as stores.
Such personnel must be trained and assessed or training must be verified prior to them performing any related duty. Recurrent training and assessment must be completed within the specified period and training and assessment records must be retained.
Some operators develop their own training programmes, whereas others use a commercial training provider to either provide training directly or supply suitable training material. When generic training is used it should be supplemented with a review of the operator's own dangerous goods procedures to ensure that any processes which are specific to the particular operator are understood.
When seeking initial approval of dangerous goods training programmes, or their re-approval following amendment, CAT operators are required to submit the materials to:
- their assigned Inspecting Officer (Dangerous Goods) if a dangerous goods approval is held or
- their assigned Inspecting Officer (Operations)
At minimum the following personnel must receive dangerous goods training
Operators, including:
- Staff accepting dangerous goods;
- Staff accepting cargo, mail or stores (other than dangerous goods);
- Staff responsible for handling, storage and loading of cargo, mail or stores and baggage;
- Passenger handling staff;
- Flight crew members, other crew members and load planners;
- Cargo reservations staff*;
- Passenger reservations staff*;
- Operations staff*; and
- Commercial staff*.
Frequently asked questions
Dangerous goods training and assessment must be provided or verified upon employment, before you carry out any of the functions for which you are employed involving dangerous goods, general cargo, passengers and mail
Training and assessment must correspond with the job role and responsibilities and must include familiarisation, function-specific training and safety training. An approach to ensuring personnel are competent to perform any function for which they are responsible is provided in CAP483 Training in the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air and Guidance on a Competency-based Approach to Dangerous Goods Training and Assessment (ICAO Doc 10147).
Trained personnel assigned to new functions must be assessed to verify their competence for those duties. If competence is not demonstrated, further training must be provided.
No, personnel must receive recurrent training and assessment within 24 months of previous training and assessment to ensure that the competency has been maintained.
The CAA has compiled a list of companies that are approved to provide dangerous goods acceptance training for staff of operators.