Important notice for all carriers of Transportation of Dangerous Goods Certificates
There are planned and potential changes to the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Regulations. Importantly, there is a proposed amendment planned for Part 6 of the Regulations related to training.
The Canadian General Standard Board (CGSB) has released the first draft of the new National Standard of Canada CAN/CGSB-192.3 entitled Transportation of Dangerous Goods Training, Assessment and Competency. Once the Standard is finalized and published, the CGSB will propose an amendment to Part 6 (training) of the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Regulations, which would allow the Standard to be incorporated by reference.
Statement from Transportation Canada about proposed changes to the training regulation
Description
Current provisions in Part 6 are largely administrative in nature, where a valid certificate does not guarantee that a holder has the knowledge and skills to adequately perform their job functions. Furthermore, the current term “adequately trained” is subjective and open to interpretation.
The proposed amendments will require that persons who handle, offer for transport or transport dangerous goods be deemed competent through training and assessment according to a Competency Based Training and Assessment Standard (CBTA). These standards will be incorporated by reference into the amended regulations and includes a general awareness component as well as a function-specific component.
Potential impacts on Canadians, including businesses
The overall impact of the requirement for persons to be deemed competent through training and assessment in accordance to a standard will be felt by a range of stakeholders including:
- Small businesses that may not have the know-how or financial resources to train and assess employees.
- Large companies with many companies across Canada may find it to be an administrative burden, and in some cases costly if they require third party training and assessment services.
- Training institutions may benefit from companies requiring their services.
- Canadians would benefit from knowing that the handling, offer for transport or transport of dangerous goods are done safely by competent persons. This would reduce impacts to human life, the environment and property.
View draft Standard and Public Review Period
If you are interested in obtaining a copy of the draft Standard and corresponding comment form during the Public Review period, please contact Beata Hart at Beata.Hart@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca at the CGSB. All comments must be submitted to CGSB using their comment form by October 24 2019.
View the complete list of planned and potential changes to the Regulations that Transport Canada expects to bring forward over the next two years, public consultation opportunities and departmental points of contact here: