Dangerous goods (IATA DGR) CBTA: building the assessment plan

Dangerous goods CBTA is competency-based training and assessment for people who handle dangerous goods by air. The employer defines what each job function must be able to do, trains to that standard, and collects evidence that each person can do it. The assessment plan is the document that says how that evidence is gathered and judged.

This guide is for dangerous goods training managers, instructional designers and quality staff at airlines, ground handlers, freight forwarders and training providers. It shows what ICAO’s and IATA’s guidance say an assessment plan contains, then walks through an illustrative plan for one function. It is not legal advice, and dates and approval rules differ by State, so check your competent authority.

Most pages that rank for this topic explain what CBTA is or promote a course. Few show how to design the assessment itself, so that is the focus here. For a from-scratch definition of competencies, observable behaviors and grading, read our guide to CBTA assessment: competencies, observable behaviors and grading.

Key takeaways

• Under the ICAO Technical Instructions, the employer must be able to show that each person is competent for the functions they perform, and the assessment plan is where that proof is designed.
• ICAO Doc 10147 lists eight things a plan should contain, from the final competency standard to the number of observations, and it sets no general pass mark, so you set and document your own.
• Practical assessment is the primary method in Doc 10147, so an online knowledge test can support a dangerous goods CBTA plan but cannot carry it alone.
• Authorities differ on dates and approval routes, and Doc 10147 is under revision as of October 2026, so record which edition and plan version each result was assessed against.

What does dangerous goods CBTA require you to assess?

Dangerous goods CBTA requires the employer to make sure each person is competent for the functions they perform, and to show it through assessment. In the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Singapore, programs had to be competency-based from 1 January 2023. Other States set their own dates, so check your competent authority.

The binding text sits in Part 1, Chapter 4 of the ICAO Technical Instructions (Doc 9284) and in your State’s rules. The UK Civil Aviation Authority’s CBTA for dangerous goods page says employers must confirm staff are competent before they perform a function, that the old staff categories no longer define course content (except for designated postal operators), and that external providers may deliver training or assess competence while accountability stays with the employer. These points are as of October 2026.

What the rules leave open matters more for assessment design. ICAO’s Doc 10147 (first edition, 2021) is guidance, and it says it does not prescribe a one-size-fits-all programme. It says assessment tools must be valid and reliable (quoted), but it leaves the methods, counts and pass marks to the employer. Your authority then decides whether your programme is acceptable.

What goes into a dangerous goods CBTA assessment plan?

A dangerous goods CBTA assessment plan states how trainees will be measured against the required competency. IATA’s guidance describes its purpose as detailing “how the trainees are to be measured against the competency” (quoted). ICAO’s Doc 10147 lists eight contents, shown below, from the final competency standard to the number of observations.

The table lists the eight plan contents in Doc 10147 (paragraph 2.3.3.3.3, items a to h) and the decision each one forces you to make.

Doc 10147 adds administrative procedures that normally sit in a training and procedures manual. They cover who is authorized to assess, roles, procedures, conditions, record keeping and the actions to take if a trainee fails. Items f to h need numbers, and Doc 10147 gives none, so you must be able to justify your own.

Which function and proficiency level is the plan for?

Write one plan per function and proficiency level, because competence is judged against what a person actually does, not their job title. IATA’s guidance defines a function by its responsibilities and rates proficiency at four levels: introductory, basic, intermediate and advanced. A cargo acceptance agent and a warehouse loader need different evidence.

IATA’s guidance also gives a generic list of eight tasks, from understanding the basics of dangerous goods to collecting safety data. Map each function to the tasks it performs, then set the required level for each. The table shows IATA’s function list with the former category numbers IATA prints beside each, as read in October 2026.

Use the old numbers only as a bridge for your gap analysis. They are not a requirement, and the UK CAA says the former categories may still serve as a guide but no longer define course content. IATA’s own pages describe the guidance as DGR subsection 1.5 material and, in some places, as Appendix H, so confirm which your DGR edition uses.

How do you turn a function into observable behaviors and standards?

Turn a function into assessable standards by writing performance criteria. Doc 10147 defines a performance criterion as “an observable behaviour, condition(s) and a competency standard” (quoted). Start from the function’s tasks, pick the ICAO competencies that apply, then write each behavior with the conditions under which it is shown and the standard it must meet.

Doc 10147 offers five generic competencies to adapt: application of procedures and compliance with regulations, communication, leadership, teamwork and self-management, problem-solving and decision-making, and workload management. The table is our own illustration for acceptance staff, built on the structure of Doc 10147’s template. It is not an official list and not drawn from any official exam.

Pro tip: Tag Every Item To A Criterion. Doc 10147 says competence is judged against the adapted competency model, not the syllabus, and that every component of the model must be assessed. Give each performance criterion an ID, tag each question, checklist row and simulation step with it, and run a coverage report before you submit the plan.

Which assessment method fits which part of the competency?

Practical assessment is the primary method. Doc 10147 says “the primary method for assessing performance is the conduct of practical assessments” (quoted), and allows examinations, oral assessments, projects and simulation to supplement it. IATA’s guidance describes assessment as continuous rather than a single end-of-course test, so use each method for what it can evidence.

Doc 10147 lists written, online, oral, observed practical, online practical and on-the-job observation by fully trained personnel as examples. The table maps them to the knowledge, skills and attitude parts of a competency. The mapping is our suggestion, so confirm the combination with your authority.

An assessment platform fits the knowledge row and parts of the others: scenario items, a banked set of questions tagged to criteria, and stored results. It does not make a plan compliant. Authorities review training programs, and this guide does not treat any software as approved or compliant.

What does a worked dangerous goods CBTA assessment plan look like?

A worked plan shows how the eight plan contents fit together for one function. The example below covers dangerous goods acceptance staff (IATA function 7.3). It is our own illustration built on Doc 10147’s structure, with placeholder counts and decision rules. It is not an ICAO, IATA or authority template and not a sample of any official exam.

Read more: Scheduling dangerous goods recurrent training tests across a workforce

The plan follows Doc 10147’s milestone logic, where a trainee completes one milestone’s assessment before starting the next. Timing is the stage order itself, and the counts in the observations column are where you must justify your own numbers to your authority.

How should you set pass marks, retakes and failure actions?

Set pass marks and failure actions in the plan itself. Doc 10147 gives no general pass mark: pass marks for projects, examinations and oral assessments are set in the plan, and procedures must cover what happens when a trainee fails. Any number in a template is a sample unless your authority or client sets it.

Two authority documents show the pattern. Malta’s transport authority checklist includes sample text with an 80% minimum pass rate and a rule that repeat tests contain at least 30% new questions, but it presents these as sample wording for the operator to adapt. Hong Kong’s guidance uses 80% as an example and says the level is defined by the training organizer.

For knowledge tests, document how the pass mark was chosen, for example with the modified Angoff approach in our guide to setting cut scores for professional training courses. For practical tasks, use a decision rule on critical rows instead of a percentage, as in our guide to observation checklists for practical training. Doc 10147 also expects deficiencies to be diagnosed and addressed in a timely way, so log what remediation followed each failure.

How do you keep assessors consistent and records ready for audit?

Train and monitor assessors, and keep a record for every result. Doc 10147 says assessors should be “trained and monitored to achieve and maintain an acceptable level of inter-rater reliability” (quoted). IATA’s guidance says training and assessment records must be kept for at least 36 months. Check whether your authority requires longer.

IATA’s guidance adds that instructors should reach the advanced proficiency level for the tasks they teach. Doc 10147 says the record should “detail the task(s) and sub-task(s) from the task list for which competency has been demonstrated” (quoted). The fields below are our suggestion for meeting that, not an official list:

• Trainee, function and required proficiency level.
• Task and sub-task, with the criterion ID assessed.
• Result, date and the assessor, with the basis of their authorization.
• Reference to the evidence, such as the completed checklist or test attempt.
• Plan version and the Technical Instructions or DGR edition in force.
• Recurrent due date.

IATA’s guidance requires recurrent training within 24 months of the previous training, with specific rules for completion in the final three months of validity. Our guide to recertification and recurrent testing covers how to calculate and store those dates.

Pro tip: Stamp The Plan Version On Every Result. Regulations and guidance are reissued on a cycle, and Doc 10147 itself is being revised. Store the plan version and edition with each result so that, when a rule changes, you can list exactly which records were assessed under the old plan and need review.

Do authorities differ on dangerous goods CBTA?

Yes. The ICAO Technical Instructions set a common base, but States set dates, approval routes and templates. Hong Kong, Singapore and the United Kingdom use 1 January 2023, Malaysia’s advisory says full implementation by 1 January 2025, and United States hazmat employee training sits in separate rules. Check your competent authority.

The table summarizes what each source says, as read in October 2026. It describes what the documents state, not what any authority will accept for your programme.

Approval attaches to programs, not tools. IATA also runs a CBTA Center certification for organizations that build training on a competency-based approach, with reassessment every two years. That is an IATA certification of an organization’s training, not a regulator’s approval.

Doc 10147 is also moving. An information paper to the 30th meeting of the ICAO Dangerous Goods Panel, dated 1 October 2025, describes a revision to make the guidance more practical and says the revised draft is not mandatory. It gives simplified guidance as due by the end of the 2026 to 2027 biennium. Confirm you hold the current edition, and read IATA’s Dangerous Goods Training Guidance alongside it.

What should you do next?

Pick the one function with the most staff and build its plan using the eight contents in the first table. Write the performance criteria first, then the assessments, then the counts and decision rules. Pilot the plan with a few trainees and two assessors, and compare it with the approval checklist your authority publishes.

If you plan to deliver the knowledge part online, SimpliAssess’s features page lists Item Banking, Test Management, Examinee Management and Analytics and Reporting. Its published pages do not describe observation checklists or dangerous goods features, so decide separately how practical evidence will be captured. SimpliTrain, a separate training platform from the same company, describes on its aviation training page a certification tracker with alerts before expiry. That page does not describe dangerous goods assessment design, so ask any vendor how it records criterion-level evidence.

Frequently asked questions

What is CBTA for dangerous goods?

It is competency-based training and assessment. The employer defines what each dangerous goods function must be able to do, trains people to that standard, and assesses their performance against it. ICAO’s Doc 10147 describes the approach as built on competencies made up of knowledge, skills and attitude, with performance measured against defined standards, rather than on staff categories.

When did dangerous goods CBTA become mandatory?

Under the ICAO Technical Instructions, programs had to be competency-based from 1 January 2023, according to the UK CAA, Hong Kong’s Civil Aviation Department, Singapore’s CAAS and IATA. Malaysia’s advisory sets full implementation at 1 January 2025. Dates depend on your State, so check your competent authority before relying on any single date.

Is ICAO Doc 10147 mandatory?

No. Doc 10147 states that it provides guidance and does not prescribe a one-size-fits-all programme. The obligation is that employers ensure personnel are competent. A revised draft described to the ICAO Dangerous Goods Panel in October 2025 says it is not mandatory. Your authority decides what it accepts for your programme.

How often must dangerous goods training and assessment be repeated?

IATA’s guidance requires recurrent training within 24 months of the previous training, with specific rules for completion in the final three months of validity. Initial training and assessment must come before a person performs the function. Confirm the exact window and any grace rules with your authority, because they can differ.

Can an online multiple-choice test alone satisfy dangerous goods CBTA?

Probably not on its own. Doc 10147 calls practical assessment the primary method and says every component of the adapted competency model must be assessed. IATA’s guidance describes assessment as continuous, not a single end-of-course test. A test can cover knowledge, but your authority decides whether your combination of methods is acceptable.

Can a training provider assess my staff for me?

Yes, with limits. The UK CAA says external providers may deliver training or assess competence, but accountability for competence stays with the employer. Doc 10147 also allows an employer to build a third-party assessment into its own plan. Define in the plan who is authorized to assess and how their results are recorded.