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TRAINING
Hauliers have once again been left with hardly any time to comply with new legislation. From 1 July drivers of tankers and tank containers carrying dangerous goods will have to comply with a European Community directive which requires more training. Training centres have yet to be approved for training to the new EC standards, and the examinations still have to be finalised.
Although drivers on domestic journeys in their own countries will be able to continue to deliver dangerous substances using a provisional certificate in the short-term, those drivers under ADR regulations, the European Agreement for Dangerous Goods by Road, will not be allowed into other EC states after 1 July this year without a new certificate. However, they will be allowed to drive through non-EC states under their existing ADR certificates. Drivers of vehicles carrying dangerous goods in packages are not required to comply with the EC directive until 1 January 1995.
The Road Haulage Association believes that the number of drivers on international journeys under ADR to be about 2,000; others believe about 600. Whatever the figure, time is running out.
"There is a shadow over the drivers' ability to earn a living," says Tony Cook, the RHA's controller of hazardous and bulk goods. "We don't want to be unnecessarily critical of the Health & Safety Executive and the Department of Transport, but pressure is building up and we are concerned the time left for training and passing exams is being concertinaed," he says.
The 11-point directive on the driver training throughout all EC states not only stipulates the type of training drivers must receive, but says that they must attend a government-approved training establishment, and pass approved exams for each group of dangerous substances they are expected to deliver.
The National (Dangerous Substances) Driver Training Scheme, sponsored by the RHA, Freight Transport Association and the National Association of Waste Disposal Contractors, had hoped to become the approving body and already has a network of approved training organisations in place. It has trained more than 50,000 drivers since 1987.
However, the HSE and DTp feared creating a training monopoly, which contravenes current Government attitudes towards free competition. This has led to a disagreement between the three parties. The National Scheme tried to convince the HSE and DTp that its approved centres were fiercely competitive, but failed; the Government decided early last year to set up a new driver training system from scratch. Under the proposed new scheme the exams will be set by the City & Guilds London Institute, on behalf of the Government. Whether this will be overseen by the DTp or the HSE has yet to be decided.
Peter Benson, test development manager of CGLI, says: "There will be a number of mini papers. They will include a general core section on safety issues which everyone will take, then a paper on either tank or tank container issues (one for packaged goods will be included by 1995). There will be an additional exam paper for each classification the driver needs." There are nine classifications in all.
Benson says that the exams are still being tested but will contain between 10 and 20 multiple choice questions. There will be a charge for sitting each exam, but how much is not yet finalised. This means operators still do not know how long exams will take or how much training will be needed.
City & Guilds will also be appointed to approve the training centres — the majority of which are likely to belong to the National Scheme. Ironically, City & Guilds was first brought into the picture by the National Scheme which wanted it to prepare exams for the National Scheme's own approved training network.
Michael Jones, managing director of S Jones, Aldridge, West Midlands, says: "Over all, the system has to be applauded, but it's unrealistic when you consider the time left. There are 50-year-old truck drivers, damn good blokes, who may never have taken an exam in their lives, who now have to sit down knowing that their future depends on the pass certificate." Jones employs about 50 drivers on ADR journeys.
S Jones also runs a training centre which is part of the National Scheme network and hopes to be included in the new training system. Jones points out that the exams will mean more training and drivers will have to take time off work to take exams. "That's not including the cost of time away from the job and the extra cost of the exams," he says.
The Health and Safety Commission is expected to see the final proposals sometime this month, but nothing can be done until they have been agreed by the Secretary of State for Transport, Malcolm Rifkind. It will then be 40 days before the plans become law. Only then can the approval procedure for training centres begin, Even if the proposals become law before the end of April, ADR drivers will only have two full months to complete the training before the 1 July deadline.
"Our estimate of about 2,000 is based on training carried out by the National Scheme since 1989. We estimate that the 19 centres of the scheme alone would have to provide 105 places for the three-day training course. That's 315 days of full training," says the RHA's Tony Cook.
The exams then have to be marked, checked, and forwarded to the drivers, who must then send their pass certificate and proof of attendance at an approved training centre, to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. City & Guilds agrees time will be lost here, but says it has arranged a direct link with the DVLA to speed things up.
Anyone with experience of applying to the DVLA for official documents in the post would be pleased to get a response inside three weeks. This means drivers will need to receive pass certificates by the first week of June.
The RHA has lobbied strongly for government action. Last month questions were asked on its behalf in the House of Commons, but the Government claimed the proposals were on course for the July deadline.
Both the RHA and the FTA have written to the HSE and DTp to emphasise the point. The FTA asked the DTp to try to establish which of the EC states would be sympathetic to drivers carrying the provisional certificates.
Unfortunately this plea is likely to fall on deaf ears. The HSE says that no drivers from EC states will be allowed into the UK unless they comply with the new directive.
0 by Steve McQueen