SAEPA Archives - Aviation News from Professional

Undeclared, misdeclared or hidden Dangerous Goods are a catastrophe waiting to happen.

They put lives, equipment, and property at unnecessary risk. There has recently been a spate of incidents caused by undeclared, misdeclared or hidden Dangerous Goods which have caused a great deal of concern. These are clear and present risks.

Undeclared, misdeclared or hidden Dangerous Goods are difficult to detect once in the system.

Fortunately, in South Africa, we have a strong Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) determined to work with the industry to combat this scourge. The SACAA is uncompromising about compliance and firm about recording any breaches, yet at the same time it offers encouragement and provides guidance to industry. It works on a partnership basis, not master and servant and has a highly positive impact on the security of our business.

Misdeclarations may occur accidentally because of ignorance or confusion regarding the regulations. This clearly indicates the need for education and training, more intensively or more frequently.

Less commonly, there may be an irresponsible attempt to circumvent Dangerous Goods regulations, procedures, and costs. Such unethical activity puts lives and property at risk and has no place in a responsible operation or in the air cargo industry.

Every one of our people must be alert, aware of the rules and authorised to call out any behaviour inconsistent with security and safety standards.

What about hidden Dangerous Goods? Paints, aerosols containing various products, glues, and adhesives, bleaching powders, cleaners – many common household items contain Dangerous Goods. The public may be unaware of this when handing them over for transport and it is the responsibility of our people to recognise and neutralise such unintended exposure at every stage of the express supply chain.

For the last several years the SACAA, and industry have been laying great stress on the need to put watertight measures in place to deal with hidden, misdeclared and undeclared Dangerous Goods. All of us must take seriously this danger presented by Dangerous Goods by remaining alert to the risks and up to date in our knowledge and procedures for mitigating them.

A version of this article was previously published in the South African Express Parcels Association newsletter.

IATA Dangerous Goods Workshops

The International Air Transport is holding two interactive 1 day workshops which will include guest speakers from across the supply chain including the South African Civil Aviation Authority to learn about the essentials of shipping dangerous goods and lithium batteries by air.

Target Audience

The Workshop targets all stakeholders of the air cargo supply chain. It is of particular importance to training institutions, courier companies, shippers, freight forwarders, ground handlers and airlines in the industry.

Dates and Locations

Johannesburg, South Africa – 26 February 2019 (Emperors Palace)

Download the Johannesburg Workshop Agenda

Cape Town, South Africa – 28 February 2019 (Hotel Verde)

Download the Cape Town Workshop Agenda

Key highlights

An overview of the current regulatory framework and what changes will come in 2019 and beyond.
How these regulations align to the ICAO Technical Instructions, and an update on the new ICAO competency-based training and assessment (CBTA) approach
Regulatory compliance of the different entities in the supply chain giving you the opportunity to learn exactly what steps you need to take to keep the supply chain safe.
Participation fee is USD 100 (excluding of all applicable taxes). All delegates will receive an electronic (windows or mobile) copy of the DGR 60th 2019 edition valued at USD 328.

Registration & more information

For registration, please send an email to salome@professional.aero and CC tayeg@iata.org

We look forward to seeing you at one of the events.

Sincerely Yours,

International Air Transport Association

Dr. Alex STANCU

Head of account management, South and East Africa

“People first” the solution to security challenges?

We are in an age of progress and development, in love with technology; the latest phone, app, tablet…………

The “Internet of Things” is constantly in the news, everything connected to everything, sending our personal information to who knows where, to be used by who knows who, for who knows what, all supposedly safe.

“Big data” to be mined to revolutionize our lives, everything from medicine to security, we are in the era of technology doing everything, faster, better, more accurately, we will be safer because of technology.

Except we won’t.

A very cursory look will reveal dozens of instances where sophisticated systems have failed, where cyber breaches have revealed our most intimate data to the world, where automated security systems have failed.

In security and safety, people matter more than technology ever will.

People are on the front line of our security systems, we rely on people to operate our sophisticated security systems, people to keep all that “big data” where it is supposed to be and ensure that it is only used for the intended purpose.

And people to recognize the threats to our safety and security. People who are properly trained, motivated, engaged, people who have our safety and best interests at heart.

Our challenge is that it is much easier to deal with technology than with people, you program technology and it does whatever you tell it to do (in theory), it does not argue, talk back, think, feel, it is easy.

People are difficult, fallible, they argue, they make mistakes, they get sick, they have family and friends that distract them, they are vulnerable to temptation under the right conditions.

But people also have your best interests at heart, they think, they react to challenges, they rise to meet the threat, they feel, they can anticipate consequences, they can break rules when it is prudent to do so, people are our best protection.

We are bad at “people”. A very substantial percentage of our workforce is not engaged, not motivated, not functioning at their best. We treat people (especially security people) badly.

One reason for this may be that we treat people the same as we treat technology, switch them on, they run for 12 hours, switch them off. Repeat tomorrow.

We can have the very best systems, machines, processes, procedures but if your people are broken everything else will be as well.

Fix the people and the problem is fixed. Simplistic but true. Treat your people as people not things, engage your people in designing solutions (they know more than you do about your operations and how it works or doesn’t) treat them as you want to be treated.

Let’s make the effort to recognize that people are the heart and soul of our security and safety systems, let’s train, equip, reward and include them as the most valuable security parner we have, and things will change, we will all be safer.

Please understand that everything your security people does, matters, and can make the difference between normal operations and disaster.

Let’s stop treating our machines and systems better than our people.

A version of this article was published in SAEPA News Delivery in October 2017

Changes to Dangerous Goods training?

Join IATA for the interactive Dangerous Goods workshops and learn about the changes that are on the way in how we train Dangerous Goods.

Dangerous Goods training is a particular challenge for the courier and express industry, this is your opportunity to learn first hand information how the significant changes to the way Dangerous Goods training will be done in future will impact of your business.

IATA Dangerous Goods Workshops South Africa 2018

The agenda and speakers for the IATA Dangerous Goods Workshops on 31 January in Johannesburg and 1 February in Cape Town is set out below:

Dangerous Goods Workshops_2018_Agenda South Africa

Please make sure that you book early at (IATA Dangerous Goods Workshop Bookings) and make sure that you don’t miss out on the opportunity of meeting with the Dangerous Goods Experts from IATA

And remember the participation fee is USD125 and all will receive a free electronic (windows or mobile) copy of the DGR 59th 2018 edition valued at USD328.

Dangerous Goods Workshops_2018_Agenda South Africa

DG Workshop Invite_SAF

IATA Workshops South Africa 2018: Meet the IATA Expert Team

The IATA Dangerous Goods Workshops (31 January in Johannesburg and 1 February in Cape Town) offer the perfect opportunity to engage with experts from IATA on critical issues impacting on how we deal with Dangerous Goods by Air.

This is your chance to meet with Dave Brennan and James Wyatt of IATA and get clarity on any Dangerous Goods question you may have direct from the IATA experts!

David Brennan

Assistant Director Cargo Safety & Standards

International Air Transport Association

David has been with IATA since 2002 and is currently Assistant Director Cargo Safety & Standards.

David is responsible for coordinating the activities of the Cargo team who are jointly responsible for the IATA standards publications and products that address dangerous goods transported by air. David is the Secretary of the IATA Dangerous Goods Board and the Panel member nominated by IATA to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Dangerous Goods Panel. David also participates, on behalf of IATA, in the meetings of the United Nations Subcommittee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods.

Prior to joining IATA David worked for Ansett Australia for a period of 26 years holding a number of supervisory and management positions within the Operations Division, the last being Corporate Advisor Dangerous Goods Compliance.

James WYATT

Assistant Director, Dangerous Goods Publications

James joined IATA in 2016 as Assistant Director, Dangerous Goods Publications. James, a British national, has 17 years of cargo industry experience and prior to joining IATA he worked for Lufthansa Cargo, AeroLogic, Qatar Airways and DHL Express.

James has been involved with Dangerous goods throughout his career and prior to joining IATA he managed the Global Restricted Commodities program for DHL Express, including all of the airlines under the DHL umbrella. James represented DHL Express at the ICAO Dangerous Goods panel, through the Global Express Association and the IATA Dangerous Goods board.

Industry will have the opportunity of engaging with David and James on the changes contained in the 59th Edition of the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations

The strategic change to Dangerous Goods training, is a matter of critical importance to every person and organisation that deals with Dangerous Goods. This is your chances of learning all about the changes, how these will impact your operations and how to prepare for the changes.

This will change how we think about Dangerous Goods education and training.

Summary of proposed Dangerous Goods training changes

Key highlights

An overview of the current regulatory framework and what changes will come in 2018 and beyond.
How these regulations align to the ICAO Technical Instructions, and
Regulatory compliance of the different entities in the supply chain giving you the opportunity to learn exactly what steps you need to take to keep the supply chain safe.

Participants will receive a free electronic (windows or mobile) copy of the DGR 59th 2018 edition.

Registration & more information
Please click here to register for the Workshop.

For more information

DG Workshop details

Interactive IATA Dangerous goods Workshops

Invitation to IATA Dangerous Goods Workshop
The International Air Transport is holding two interactive 1 day workshops which will include guest speakers from across the supply chain, learn about the essentials of shipping dangerous goods and lithium batteries by air.

Target Audience
The Workshop targets all stakeholders of the air cargo supply chain. It is of particular importance to shippers, freight forwarders and airlines in the industry.

Dates and Locations
Johannesburg, South Africa – 31 January 2018 Cape Town, South Africa – 1 February 2018

Key highlights
• An overview of the current regulatory framework and what changes will come in 2018 and beyond.
• How these regulations align to the ICAO Technical Instructions, and
• Regulatory compliance of the different entities in the supply chain giving you the opportunity to learn exactly what steps you need to take to keep the supply chain safe.

Participants will receive a free electronic (windows or mobile) copy of the DGR 59th 2018 edition.

Registration & more information
Please click here to register for the Workshop.

For more information, you can write to us at: igom-africa@iata.org

DG Workshop Invite_SAF