Security consultant training at the disaster management organization

2017. január 18. 11:37

A training course for security consultants supervising the rail transportation of dangerous goods was launched at the National Directorate General for Disaster Management of the Ministry of Interior in December. The first phase of the series of trainings funded by Norway Grants, including both theory and practice components, was completed on Thursday by way of an examination. A total of 51 consultants will be trained in the course of the project.

The curriculum of the training course conducted in the framework of the project titled “Local capacity development of disaster management institutions” is based on ADR skills, that is, the set of regulatory requirements governing the public road transport of dangerous goods, to be supplemented by rail security consultant training.
 
Although the system of ADR rules is quite similar to the rules of the rail transport of dangerous goods (RID), still there are differences between them. The training course is actually intended to make students – future professional rail security consultants – aware of these essential and significant discrepancies. One of the major differences, for instance, is that fixed rail transportation is less flexible and involves more risks than public road transport. A railway tank wagon can be filled with up to 86 thousand liters of dangerous substances, and a single railway train may forward as many as 20 to 22 of these tanks: this is the reason why the requirements concerning the rail transport of dangerous goods are even more stringent than the relevant rules of public road transport.
 
In the theory phase of the course, specialists first dive into the details of applicable legal regulations, to be followed by a substantive analysis of the system of rules of the rail transport of dangerous goods (RID). They master the scope and validity of this set of rules, that is, specifically when and under what circumstances it can be applied. General knowledge skills are followed by special information on railway regulation. The course is intended to make students precisely aware of the differences between ADR and RID.
 
Students learn to apply their theoretical knowledge in the practice phase by projecting the theory material to simulated though lifelike situations, and by producing case studies.
 
Members of the first group of twenty-five participants took the examination before a board of specialists of the National Transport Authority on 12 January. The examination must be retaken after five years, following an update training course.
 
Training courses for further two groups are to be launched in January and February, to involve a total of 51 specialists to be trained.

Fotó: Schober Andor - RSOE