IMDG Dangerous Goods Awareness study guide
IMDG Dangerous Goods Awareness · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
IMDG Dangerous Goods Awareness is an entry-level training credential that demonstrates a candidate understands how the International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code governs the sea transport of hazardous cargo. It is aimed at shore staff and ship's crew who handle, pack, document, stow or accept dangerous goods but who are not necessarily the designated dangerous goods professional: freight forwarders, warehouse and terminal operators, port agents, ships' officers, ships' agents and safety personnel. The IMDG Dangerous Goods Awareness study guide has 9 sections and about 3,464 words.
01IMDG Code framework, scope and application
Items here ask what the IMDG Code is, which instrument gives it legal force, where a rule sits in its structure, and whether a particular cargo is inside or outside its scope. The Code is adopted by the IMO and made mandatory for ships carrying dangerous goods through SOLAS chapter VII; marine pollutants also engage MARPOL Annex III.
364 words, about 2 min02Classification of dangerous goods
Classification questions ask you to derive class, division and packing group from data such as flash point, boiling point, toxicity or reactivity, rather than from a product name, and to recognise that one substance can carry more than one hazard. 1 explosives (divisions 1.1-1.6); 2 gases (2.1 flammable, 2.2 non-flammable non-toxic, 2.3 toxic); 3 flammable liquids; 4 flammable solids (4.1, 4.2 spontaneously combustible, 4.3 dangerous when wet); 5 oxidising substances (5.1) and organic peroxides (5.2); 6 toxic (6.1) and infectious (6.2); 7 radioactive; 8 corrosives; 9 miscellaneous, including environmentally hazardous substances and lithium batteries.
392 words, about 2 min03Dangerous Goods List and special provisions
This domain tests whether you can read a Dangerous Goods List (DGL) entry across its columns and know what a special provision does to the requirements. It is the most operational part of the Code.
370 words, about 2 min04Packing, marking and labelling
Questions here check that you can choose the right packaging for the packing group, read a UN specification mark, and state exactly which marks and labels a package, overpack or cargo transport unit must carry. Part 4 gives packing instructions: P for packagings, IBC for intermediate bulk containers, LP for large packagings.
385 words, about 2 min05Documentation and declaration
This domain tests the dangerous goods transport document and the container packing certificate: who prepares them, what must appear, in what form, and what makes a declaration defective. Prepared and signed by the shipper, commonly on the multimodal dangerous goods form.
379 words, about 2 min06Stowage, segregation and handling
Items here check whether you can apply the stowage requirements from the Dangerous Goods List, use the segregation table and segregation groups, and recognise the distances and physical barriers behind the segregation terms. Stowage requirements come from the DGL: a stowage category and stowage codes covering matters such as on-deck-only stowage, distance from living quarters, protection from heat and protection from moisture.
380 words, about 2 min07Emergency response and incident reporting
This domain asks where to find the response procedure for a specific substance, what the fire and spill schedules mean, and what must be reported, to whom, and with what content after an incident. The EmS Guide, in the Supplement, gives a fire schedule and a spill schedule for every entry, shown in the Dangerous Goods List.
391 words, about 2 min08Training, responsibilities and safety culture
Questions here test who must be trained under the Code, what the training must cover and how often it is refreshed, and how responsibilities are divided between shipper, forwarder, packer, carrier and master. Shore-side personnel whose duties involve dangerous goods must be trained before taking up those duties, to a level appropriate to their responsibility.
370 words, about 2 min09Limited quantities, excepted quantities and exceptions
This domain tests the relaxations the Code allows for small consignments and the limits that keep them small: what is permitted, what is still required, and when a substance is excluded altogether. Chapter 3.4 applies when the quantity per inner packaging does not exceed the value in the limited quantity column of the Dangerous Goods List, and the gross mass of the package stays at or below 30 kg.
433 words, about 2 min