The movement of dangerous goods is becoming more complex than ever before.According to David Alexander, CEO of Professional Aviation Services, this is driven by the ever-increasing e-commerce uptake and the continual demand in the market for smartphones and numerous other devices that use lithium ion batteries. “Lithium ion batteries represent (probably) the greatest risk in the transport of dangerous goods,” he said. So much so that Iata recently launched an industry certification programme to improve the safe handling and transport of lithium batteries across the supply chain.Alexander says companies need to invest in the training of everyone involved in the handling of dangerous goods – particularly those who deal with lithium ion batteries. Special courses are available on the safe transport of these batteries.“Regulations are undergoing review with the aim of improving safety and making mandatory compliance applicable to a wider range of industry participants. The changes will include the requirement for a Dangerous Goods Operations Manual that will address the warehousing and handling of dangerous goods, and the training requirements for organisations and their personnel. A key change is the requirement for every organisation to have a person nominated as the Responsible Person for Dangerous G oods.”Another important change, he said, was that every single industry participant would have a legal obligation to report all dangerous goods incidents and accidents to the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA). “At present, only an operator is compelled to report and we are losing the opportunity to learn from what happens on the ground in the industry,” he explained. “All these changes are currently being finalised and all in the business of dangerous goods need to make sure that they are fully aware of how these changes will impact their operations.”According to Alexander, there appears to be some “reluctant compliance” within industry, including the approach in some quarters that the dangerous goods regulations don’t apply to certain sectors because they are not mentioned in the applicability section of the regulations.“The failure to report incidents and accidents is widespread, with companies reluctant to report their clients to the SACA A as this could impact business relationships. This must change so we can learn from what is happening in the interests of safety,” he told Freight News. “ We have no standards for dangerous goods operations in companies other than operators at present, so the task of the SACA A to ensure compliance and therefore safety is impossible. The changes to the regulations address this.”Commenting on the impact of Covid on the sector, Alexander said new commodities like hand sanitiser were being carried in greater than normal volumes and e-commerce and the transport of electronics had increased.“At the same time Covid caused personnel reductions, while volumes increased in some instances, so the systems and procedures were strained. We also lost very experienced people and experience is hard to do without.”While people were reemployed after the initial recovery, a number of them struggled to regain peak operational efficiency. “Dangerous goods handling is a skill that must be practised,” he said
