Hazardous Materials Advisor - March 2025

The HMA course is a critical step in officer development and must be delivered by an accredited experienced provider across a 3-week programme to give the full qualification compliance with the National Operational Guidance, Foundation for Hazardous Materials. In recognition of the latest developments in the world of hazardous response incident management and in line with national guidance, Ricardo have updated our HMA delivered in partnership with the Fire Service College providing a world-class learning experience, delivered at FSC facilities by our renowned hazardous materials and chemical experts.

This course is a three-week residential course at FSC’s unique site, one of the worlds' largest operational fire and rescue training facilities. Lead by at least two qualified trainers – one an experienced hazardous materials advisor with over 20 years frontline experience, and one a sector competent chemist providing further technical insight. 

Using different approaches to learning, informed by years of both theoretical understanding and practical application of hazmat training delivery, we aim for qualified HMAs to build confidence and competence when responding to incidents.

Our instructors recognise that most learning takes place ‘on-the-job’ and therefore the course is delivered in a predominately practical way, with simulated exercises used to support learning at every opportunity.

Delegates practice their operational skills and provide tactical advice to incident commanders through participating in practical scenarios throughout the course, which are delivered via computer simulation or role play scenarios. Exercise simulations are taken from recent incidents, which either emergency responders at Ricardo have provided advice for, UKFRS officers have dealt with, or shared experiences provided by our global contacts in the emergency response sector. This helps learners in getting the most up-to-date and relevant experience from the course and ensures emergency scenarios will be realistic and appropriate to the environments in which Senior Officers will be exposed to once qualified.

During the course a combination of theory sessions, table-top scenarios, role play exercises and fire ground scenarios utilising the latest equipment, standard operation procedures and tactics are carried out. It includes training in emotional response and stress management, plume modelling as well as specific input on key resources: Chemdata and Chemsafe.

All delegates are provided with a tablet device containing course content and additional learning for use throughout the course and to return to service with, to support their competence and operations as an HMA.