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New legislation for drivers of hazc hem goods has implications for the trainers—not least every five years.
Legislation governing the training of drivers of dangerous good vehicles has been considerably changed since 1995 to bring it in line with European rules—but it's likely that the new regime will do little to cut the accident rate which is already running at an extremely low level.
A spokesperson for £600m a year turnover chemicals company Ellis and Everard says: "Health and Safety Executive figures show there is only one death every two-and-a-half years directly attributable to the transportation of chemicals by road and this compares very favourably to the 3,600 deaths annually caused by other forms of road accident".
The two major changes in training in recent years were the introduction of the ADR regs in January 1995 and a broadening of the scope of these regulations which became law in August 1996.
Refresher
The 1995 act was first published in 1992. It called for drivers to take a compulsory refresher course five years after they received certification, and the 1996 act reduced the quantity of hazardous goods which could be carried by drivers without the ADR certificate.
However, the majority of training providers are saying that demand for training under the 1996 revision has been low but they are beginning to be kept busy by people taking refresher courses as the five year cycle comes round.
Jan Walker of Cheshire-based Chemfreight Training says: "We are nowhere near as busy as we were five years ago although we are beginning to see the first people coming to take refresher courses.
"Drivers can take a specially shortened two-day refresher course compared with up to seven days on the basic course," adds Walker," but they are finding it harder than they think. If they fail any of the refresher modules they then have to go back and take the whole course again". unexpectedly high with West Herts Training reporting that between 10 to 15% fail to get through the examinations. This can lead to drivers losing their permits to drive vehicles carrying hazardous goods because they then have to resit the whole basic course.
Every training provider echoes the sentiments exprsed by Barry Young of Ipswich-based RTT Training Services who says: "The real problem is that drivers can take refresher courses any time up to a year before their five-year period is up but most leave it until the last minute. They don't realise it takes six weeks for City and Guilds to mark their papers and if they fail they don't have time to resit the exams."
Best practice is employed by Ellis and Everard which has accreditation to train its own drivers and the firm puts them in for refresher courses 10 months before their permit expires.
Although demand for refresher courses is picking up, the changes in regulations, which considerably cut back the quantity of dangerous materials that drivers can carry without certification, is not attracting many new drivers to training courses.
Hilton Large of medium-sized haulier Shawfleet explains: "All our drivers went through the training first time round. We have a settled workforce who have all been here sometime so that no-one was swept into the net by the change in regulations".
And David Birch of Cambridge-based 90 vehicle Welch's Transport agrees; "Between 80 and 90% of our work is carrying chemicals but we have not found it necessary to put anyone through the course recently. Even I am qualified to drive a hazardous vehicle although to be quite honest I haven't sat in a vehicle carrying chemicals since I took the exams."
Birch argues that the predominately classroom-based course should be extended to cover more practical elements. "Currently the only practical elements in the course are first-aid and fire-fighting and all the fire-fighting consisted of was pointing a fire extinguisher at a blaze," he says.
However the spokesperson for Ellis and Everard says: "The ADR course should be complementary to practical training. We give all our drivers, even qualified ones, a three-week induction course on joining the firm but I am aware that smaller outfits running only a handful of vehicles simply cannot afford to do this".
Ellis and Everard is also critical of the training provided by some firms: "Basically you get what you pay for. It's rather like buying a car. A Skoda, Rolls Royce and a Ferrari all fulfil basic mechanical functions but the difference is in the performance.
"There has also been evidence that some training establishments are merely coaching people to pass exams and not to give them proper training. This problem is gradually being erased by City and Guilds issuing papers which have never been seen before to organisations they suspect of carrying out this practice and then comparing the results with the standard papers," says the E & E spokesperson.
Professional ' Transport firms have generally welcomed the new legislation and are prepared to put up with their drivers being away from work to undertake training. "We are increasingly becoming more professional and generally we welcome anything which is seen to be good for the industry," says David Birch of Welch's.
But Chris MacRae, the man responsible for hazardous goods at the Freight Transport Association, says: "The length of a course is not important, the question is, is the quality there? It is important to get the balance of the course right and not be driven purely by the need to conform to European standards".
And the spokesperson for Ellis and Everard adds: "The DETR needs further encouragement to set courses to develop driver skill. At the moment it is debatable who the courses are aimed at. Are they set to fulfil Government criteria, for individual drivers, the chemical industry or the general public? They should seek to provide a high common safety level for all who might be con_ cerned with the transportation of hazardous goods." The need to get an ADR certificate has considerably changed hazardous
goods training in this country.
(ADR is the initials from the French title of the European agreement) "The regulations were introduced to harmonise U law with European directive and are aimed at setting th . same Imits on the quantity of hazardous goods that ca be transported without a training certificate right across Europe," says a Department of the Environment Transport and the Regions spokesman.
It was necessary for every driver carrying hazardous good to have the appropriate certification by 'January 1995 and there are around 5,000 types of goods which have been branded hazardous. The
Carriage of Dangerous Goods on Roads Regulations, which were approved in August 1996, considerably . --reduced the
quantities goods that can I be transported without
certification. . The extent of the changes is shown by the amount of liquid chemicals that can now be transported. Caniers of chemicals graded of great danger can now only carry one litre without certification whereas previously they could carry five litres. They could also previously carry 200 litres each of chemicals graded medium dangerous or of low danger. These figures have been reduced to 10 litres and 25 litres. Training p include: • Chemfreight, Runcorn: 019 580505, contact Jan Walker.
• West Reds Transport Training, St Albans: 01727 873878, contact Peter Hodgson.
• Training Force, Bristot 01275 375666, contact Dave Francis.
• ITT Training, Ipswide 01473 602424, contact Bany Young. Other useful numbers: • The Freight Transport Association 01892 526171.