Air transport of lithium batteries: Disaster ‘only a matter of time,’ DeFazio says | 2015-04-15 | Safety+Health Magazine

This could get interesting in the USA.

“It’s only a matter of time until we lose another plane,” Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) said April 14 during a hearing before the House Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee. “We’ve lost a couple of cargo planes. It could be a passenger plane; it could be a cargo plane.”

Once again, we need to realize that in any incident where it is alleged that Lithium Batteries were a factor, it was not confirmed that legally tendered and properly packed / documented batteries were the cause.

Clandestine shipments of unprepared or undeclared batteries should be the primary focus.  Shipments of counterfeit or untested batteries are also a major concern.  However, with the exception of Asia, these types of shipments remain out of the spotlight and are not highlighted as a safety risk.

Lets not even add the potentiality of undeclared batteries turning up in the mail system.

Additionally, spare batteries in baggage are also a major concern and a more probable risk to safety.  Most of the travelling public is unaware of the dangers of these batteries;  signage / popups on check in screens have little effectiveness on educating the public.  My experience is that people do not take the time to read either.

The existing rules are complicated to understand.  When you mention lithium batteries at an airline, you get the deer in the headlight look or an "I dunno, ask the DG guy".  They are likened to collegiate trigonometry on the global "complicated" scale.  Even for the "experts" they can prove to be something that takes focused thought on how to translate and communicate in to lay-terms.

This level of mis-understanding, misinterpretation or just plain disregard causes shipments to either be unintentionally non-compliant or intentionally non-compliance.  Making them more restrictive or more complicated will exacerbate the existing problem and the potential of shippers taking the intentional disregard method becomes greater.

A total overhaul of the patchwork of battery regs needs to be done.  Stream line the regulations to make them simple and easy to understand.  remove any areas where shippers may find "work arounds" as is found in the section II of some packing instructions.  Personally, I think they need to be (all battery and energy producing devices)  placed in their own class, Regs in the works are making things increasingly complicated by introducing lithium battery class 9 labels and revised labeling requirements.

In the end, any decisions need to be risk based.  Conduct the necessary risk analysis, determine root causes and commit to corrective actions of at the sources of the risk.  Knee jerk reactions and embargoes just serve to "feed the fire".


Air transport of lithium batteries: Disaster ‘only a matter of time,’ DeFazio says | 2015-04-15 | Safety+Health Magazine



FYI - these views are my own and not those of my company or industry affiliations.