Dangerous Goods Safety Adviser (DGSA)
Impact: Protecting people, property, and the environment by ensuring the safe transport of dangerous goods
Advise organisations on the safe transport of dangerous goods by road (ADR), sea (IMDG), and air (IATA DGR), ensuring compliance with international dangerous goods regulations. Conduct dangerous goods audits; develop compliance procedures; train staff on dangerous goods handling and documentation; investigate incidents; and prepare annual reports for competent authorities. Develop expertise in a specific transport mode or dangerous goods class.
What the day looks like
- People interaction
- Moderate
- Team vs solo
- 40% Team / 60% Solo
- Client facing
- Sometimes
- Impact visibility
- Moderate
- Travel
- 20-30% travel to clients and sites
- Schedule flexibility
- Moderate
- Remote work
- Hybrid
- Typical work hours
- 38-50 hours/week
- Stress level
- High
At a glance
- Median salary
- $58,000
- Entry-level
- $30,000 - $45,000
- Senior
- $90,000+
- Growth by 2033
- 7% (dangerous goods regulation increasing; pharmaceutical and chemical logistics growing)
- Demand
- Growing
- Freelance potential
- High
- Salary growth potential
- High -- 90-200% growth from DGSA to head of dangerous goods compliance or logistics director
- Typical student debt
- $0 - $10,000
Skills you'll use
Hard skills
- ADR (road dangerous goods regulations)
- IMDG Code (sea)
- IATA DGR (air)
- Dangerous goods classification
- UN number and packing group identification
- Dangerous goods documentation
- Incident investigation
Soft skills
- Attention to detail
- Compliance awareness
- Communication
- Analytical thinking
- Training delivery
Technical complexity: Very High
How to get there
- Minimum education
- Certificate or Vocational Training
- Licensing
- Yes
- Years to mid-career
- 3-5 years
- Years to senior
- 7-12 years
- Career switching
- Hard
Where this career leads
How people arrive here
- Logistics Coordinator
- Health and Safety Manager
Where you can go from here
- Head of Dangerous Goods Compliance
- Logistics Director
Typical progression
- DGSA
- Senior DGSA
- Head of Dangerous Goods Compliance
- Logistics Director
Future outlook
- Automation probability
- 10% -- dangerous goods compliance requires human expertise and judgment
- AI disruption risk
- Low
- Demand trend
- Growing
How people feel about it
- Overall satisfaction
- 7.5/10
- Meaning
- 8/10
- Work-life balance
- 7.5/10
- Prestige
- 7.5/10
- Social perception
- Moderate