Revolutionise your approach to hazardous goods handling & transportation

What Is A Dangerous Goods Safety Adviser - DGSA?

A Dangerous Goods Safety Adviser (DGSA) is a person who has passed the Department for Transport's DGSA examinations, administered by the SQA, and holds a current vocational training certificate. The role is defined in section 1.8.3 of ADR and given legal force in Great Britain by the Carriage of Dangerous Goods and Use of Transportable Pressure Equipment Regulations 2009.

A DGSA's job is to help a business prevent the risks that dangerous goods pose to people, property and the environment during carriage. In practice that means checking how goods are classified, packaged, marked, labelled, documented, loaded and carried; making sure staff are trained; investigating incidents; and producing the annual report that every undertaking in scope must hold on file for five years.

A DGSA can be an employee or an external consultant. DGSA Solutions provides the external route: you get a qualified, insured adviser without the cost of training and keeping one in-house.

Do I need or require a Dangerous Goods Safety Adviser - DGSA?

If your business consigns, carries, packs, fills, loads or unloads dangerous goods by road on a regular basis, the answer is almost certainly yes. Since the 2019 edition of ADR the duty extends to consignors — including office-based consignors who never touch the goods themselves — as well as to hauliers and packers.

There are exemptions, and they are narrower than most people assume. Broadly, you may not need to appoint a DGSA if your involvement is only occasional, if the goods are carried within the limited-quantity or small-load thresholds in ADR, or if you are only ever the consignee receiving goods. Whether an exemption actually applies depends on the substances, quantities and frequency involved, and getting that judgement wrong is a common cause of enforcement action by the DVSA and HSE.

If you are not sure where you stand, that is exactly the question to ask us first. A short scoping conversation will tell you whether you are in scope, and if you are, what level of support you need.

Benefits of using us as your DGSA

Our Consultancy service is available for all those involved in the transportation of dangerous goods. We provide honest, professional advice to companies legally obliged to appoint a DGSA and those who sometimes benefit from being able to ask an expert.

We keep it simple. An initial conversation establishes whether you are in scope and what you need. We then agree a fixed annual fee for appointment, the compliance review and the annual report, with ad hoc work quoted separately so there are no surprises. You will know who your adviser is, how to reach him and what he is going to do for you.

We are based in Newport, South Wales, and work with clients throughout Wales, the South West and the wider UK. Much of the support is delivered remotely; site visits are arranged where they add value.

About us

Tim Hourahine is Director and Principal DGSA of DGSA Solutions Limited. He holds the DGSA qualification (Road and All Classes), is a member of the British Association of Dangerous Goods Professionals (BADGP) and an Associate Member of the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (AMCIWM), and has spent 47 years in transport, waste and environmental compliance. He writes regularly on ADR and hazardous waste at DGSA Insights.