Dangerous goods training vital, says Air Niugini

CONSTANT training on the transportation of dangerous goods (DG) in the aviation sector is important because many airlines are facing challenges of “hidden dangerous goods”, according to Air Niugini.
Air Niugini non-technical training instructor Martin Tugano said items like lithium batteries, aerosols, paints, mercury, human or animal blood or body samples and tissues sometimes were not carefully checked.
Tugano said that companies who dealt with chemicals needed to undergo the training to help them understand what dangerous goods were and how they could safely prepare for transportation, including in airplanes.
Air Niugini offers DG training to external clients under the airline’s part 141 training organisation and issues certificates and licences under Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) Civil Aviation Rule (CAR) part 92.
A recent DG training conducted at the airline’s training centre at 7-Mile in Port Moresby saw a total 20 participants from eight organisations, among them nine personnel from the PNG Defence Force Air Transport Wing.
Tugano said DG were articles or substances that posed hazard to health, safety, property and environment.
Lithium batteries include power banks, mobile phone batteries, laptop batteries, electronic cigarettes and batteries in toy cars.
Aerosols include hair sprays and body sprays.
These are amongst the many hidden items passengers carry in their bags that are not confiscated by security or not declared upon check-in at the airline check-in counter.
“Passengers must comply and answer airline’s dangerous goods safety questions during check-in.
These questions are necessary so that any risk to the aircraft and its passengers and crew posed by hidden dangerous goods are eliminated or minimised on the ground rather than in the air,” Tugano said.