Hazardous Materials Transport Specialist
Impact: Protecting public safety and the environment by ensuring the safe transport of hazardous materials across all transport modes
Manage the safe transport of hazardous materials by road, rail, sea, and air, ensuring compliance with ADR, IMDG, IATA, and RID regulations to protect public safety and the environment. Classify and package hazardous materials; prepare dangerous goods documentation; train staff in dangerous goods compliance; audit transport operations; and manage hazardous materials incidents. Develop expertise in a specific hazmat domain such as chemical transport, radioactive materials transport, or lithium battery transport.
What the day looks like
- People interaction
- Moderate
- Team vs solo
- 50% Team / 50% Solo
- Client facing
- Sometimes
- Impact visibility
- Low
- Travel
- 20-30% travel to transport sites and audits
- Schedule flexibility
- Moderate
- Remote work
- Hybrid
- Typical work hours
- 40-52 hours/week
- Stress level
- High
At a glance
- Median salary
- $60,000
- Entry-level
- $32,000 - $48,000
- Senior
- $100,000+
- Growth by 2033
- 12% (lithium battery transport and e-commerce hazmat compliance driving demand)
- Demand
- Growing
- Freelance potential
- High
- Salary growth potential
- High -- 80-170% growth from hazmat coordinator to dangerous goods safety adviser
- Typical student debt
- $20,000 - $50,000
Skills you'll use
Hard skills
- ADR (road) dangerous goods classification and documentation
- IMDG (sea) dangerous goods compliance
- IATA (air) dangerous goods compliance
- RID (rail) dangerous goods compliance
- Dangerous Goods Safety Adviser (DGSA) qualification
- Lithium battery transport compliance (UN 3480
- UN 3481)
Soft skills
- Regulatory knowledge
- Attention to detail
- Communication
- Training delivery
- Problem-solving
Technical complexity: Very High
How to get there
- Minimum education
- Bachelor's Degree
- Licensing
- Yes
- Years to mid-career
- 3-5 years
- Years to senior
- 8-15 years
- Career switching
- Hard
Where this career leads
How people arrive here
- Logistics Coordinator
- Health and Safety Manager
Where you can go from here
- Dangerous Goods Safety Adviser (DGSA)
- Hazmat Consultancy Owner
Typical progression
- Hazmat Coordinator
- Dangerous Goods Specialist
- Dangerous Goods Safety Adviser (DGSA)
- Hazmat Consultancy Owner
Future outlook
- Automation probability
- 10% -- dangerous goods documentation automation is growing; compliance strategy and training remain human
- AI disruption risk
- Low
- Demand trend
- Growing
How people feel about it
- Overall satisfaction
- 7.5/10
- Meaning
- 8/10
- Work-life balance
- 7/10
- Prestige
- 7.5/10
- Social perception
- Moderate