Hans van der Maat, founder of Special Cargo, visited (almost) every country in the world for Special Cargo College. Eight months a year he was away from home to give training on dangerous goods. How is it that these Dutch people travel all over the world? “Just like with the water barrier,” Hans states. “We have the practical experience. The same goes for Special Cargo College.”
Special Cargo College evolved from Special Cargo Services; a company dedicated to packaging and transporting dangerous goods. Hans van der Maat founded this company with Huib den Dikken. The gentlemen know each other from the industry.
For years they worked together at the then-former Hazardous Substances Control Corps of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. So safety regarding the handling of these substances is in their DNA. In 1998, the two started for themselves and Special Cargo Services became a reality. What began with an idea of two gentlemen grew into a company with several branches at home and abroad.
18,000 students
Soon came the demand for training and outside safety consultants. That made the company split in 2003: Special Cargo Services and Special Cargo College.
The company’s training arm was going like clockwork. More than 18,000 people worldwide have already been trained. “The demand comes from countries all over the world,” Hans continues. “Employees of companies that work with dangerous goods must be trained to remain certified. Those who are trained by us tell others. In this way, our global network is still expanding.”
We deal with people of all nationalities, but are all concerned with the same issue
We make the jump to 2017: Erik den Dikken (son of co-founder Huib) continues the business. “That’s really never been my ambition,” he acknowledges with a laugh.
“After high school, I first traveled around Australia. Only then did I start studying: International Business. After that, I still didn’t know what I wanted. Then my father invited me to come work in the company for a while. I did and never left. I haven’t regretted it for a single day. Our profession turns out to be more versatile than I could ever have imagined. We have to deal with people of many nationalities and cultures, but we are all working on the same subject: the safe handling of dangerous goods. I like that.”
In the future, competency-based learning will take center stage; the material will be fully tailored to your position
No substance from a book
Hans van der Maat stepped down and Erik became operations director of both Special Cargo Services and Special Cargo College. “In the combination of these two companies is our strength,” Erik explains. “Our people themselves have worked with dangerous goods and all the regulations that must be observed. That makes them good at transferring this knowledge and putting themselves in the other person’s shoes. We don’t share material from a book. We share experiences from practice.
Competency-based learning
And then the future. What does that look like in training land? “In the future, competency-based learning will take center stage,” Erik explains. “That’s a very nice development. Because, how often does it happen that a training course is only partially applicable to your company? Exactly, far too often. That’s going to change with competency-based learning; an approach where the material is completely tailored to the job you do. This allows you to go much deeper into the material with a group of people who perform the same function as you. This form of learning will also merge all forms of education: e-learnings for preparation, classroom meetings for intervision and digital assessments. This way you really get your own lines of learning that you can follow. Exactly as you need them. Wherever and whenever you want.”
