Deadline looms for new dangerous goods driver permits

JULY 1 is D-day for the implementation of new legislation related to dangerous goods driver permits. From that date, only permits obtained from a service provider accredited with the Department of Transport as well as an education and training authority like Teta (Transport) or Chieta (Chemical Industries) will be renewed. Former deputy directorgeneral of the Department of Transport, Gavin Kelly, told FTW that while the legislation had been widely communicated, the Minister of Transport announced the July 1 deadline in the Government Gazette late last year, a deadline that few training institutions appear to have heeded. According to Kelly no more than four or five institutions are currently registered with the department. Dangerous goods specialist Eddie Crane of EC Logistics explained that in terms of Regulation 280 of the National Road Traffic Act, the DoT must accredit all service providers involved in the training of drivers for Professional Driving Permits category D for dangerous goods. And this involves reviewing the provider’s training material and attending one of his presentations. Accreditation by a Seta like Teta is not sufficient. “Only accredited service providers will be loaded onto the DoT eNatis system which is a multi-purpose database listing a variety of transportrelated information,” he said. “This will go live towards the middle of the month and only those service providers listed on the eNatis database will be eligible to train drivers." Any driver who applies for his public driving permit and produces a certificate from a non-accredited training provider will find his application rejected – which will have significant implications in terms of driver availability unless service providers take swift action. The legislation will not affect any licences issued before July 1, but subsequent renewals will be subject to the requirement.