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THROUGH THE MILL DGSA • HCB’S EDITOR-IN-CHIEF RECENTLY SAT THE DGSA EXAM AND, WITH THE HELP OF GOOD PREPARATION, PASSED. HERE HE REFLECTS ON HOW IT WENT AND WHAT HE LEARNED IN EARLY MARCH, I did something I hadn’t done in 40 years: I went into a room lined with desks, sat down with my pen and took an examination. I heard recently that I passed and, as a result, I am now qualified to act
papers totalling more than five hours over the course of a day (closer to seven hours for those who take the rail paper too). The questions in the exam are designed to test the candidate’s knowledge of the
as a dangerous goods safety adviser (DGSA) for the road transport of dangerous goods anywhere in the EU. It’s unlikely I shall have the time to practice as a DGSA but the process of qualification has given me a new-found respect for those who do. The exam itself is a real test – three
regulations – in this case, the regulations contained in the annexes to the ADR Agreement. So the questions grab the candidate by the scruff of the neck and drag him or her backwards and forwards from the Introduction to Chapter 9.8 and back again, searching for the text to support each
HCB MONTHLY | JUNE 2020
answer. And knowing where those references are is just as important as knowing the answer: one cannot pass this exam without giving chapter and verse for each question. So I am now the proud owner not only of a confirmation from the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) that I have passed the exam but also a well-thumbed copy of the twovolume ADR regulations, extensively tabbed up and annotated to make it easier to remember where everything is. WHY BOTHER? You may well ask: what’s the point? Why should I put myself through a tough and costly exercise, at my own expense, just to get a certificate for the office wall? Well, to some extent it was to test myself. I have been writing about the transport regulations for around 25 years now and, though I might have thought I knew them pretty well, it would be good to find out.
