Amazon fined £65k for trying to ship "dangerous goods" by air

[ThinkWithPortals]

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37454587

 

Quote

The online giant tried to transport lithium-ion batteries and flammable aerosols between 2014 and 2015.

It was found guilty at Southwark Crown Court of causing dangerous goods to be delivered for carriage in an aircraft in breach of air navigation rules.

An Amazon spokesman said: "The safety of the public, our customers, employees and partners is an absolute priority."

The prosecution had been brought by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) under the Air Navigation (Dangerous Goods) Regulations 2002.

The items were destined for flights in and outside the UK in four shipments between January 2014 and June 2015.

"These dangerous goods include lithium batteries, which are banned from being transported as mail or cargo on a passenger aircraft unless they are installed in or packed with equipment."

Prosecutor Martin Goudie, told the court: "Under the right circumstances the batteries, even new, undamaged batteries, could overheat, potentially causing burns, explosion or a fire."

 

 

 Amazon has been fined £65,000 British pounds (about $84,000 USD) for attempting to ship items that could be potentially dangerous on an aircraft, by air.

 

Personally I think this is a bit shady, especially for such a large company. Even if the items aren't massively hazardous they should at least have properly declared what they were. Thoughts?

[Oshino Shinobu]

Oh, £65,000. Must have been a big impact for a small company like Amazon....

 

1 minute ago, Nicholatian said:

What’s a lithium ion battery going to do on an airplane? Explode? Seriously? These aren’t lead acid batteries or anything heavy duty.

They were also transporting flammable, pressurised aerosols. No information if they were shipped on the same aircraft, but it could only take a single battery to explode/catch fire to set off a chain reaction and bring down the plane. 

[Misanthrope]

So...basically an actual fucking drone?

[manikyath]

5 minutes ago, Nicholatian said:

These aren’t lead acid batteries or anything heavy duty.

lead acid batteries are actually surprisingly stabile, and even when they reach critical fault they fail in a generally still safe and controlled manner. messy, but safe.

 

lithium on the other hand, if they reach critical fault, they are guaranteed fire, which you do not want on an airplane.

[ThinkWithPortals]

9 minutes ago, Nicholatian said:

What’s a lithium ion battery going to do on an airplane? Explode? Seriously? These aren’t lead acid batteries or anything heavy duty.

They were also hauling pressurised aerosols, which pose a more significant threat.

 

[DutchTexan]

13 minutes ago, ThinkWithPortals said:

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37454587

 

 

 

 Amazon has been fined £65,000 British pounds (about $84,000 USD) for attempting to ship items that could be potentially dangerous on an aircraft, by air.

 

Personally I think this is a bit shady, especially for such a large company. Even if the items aren't massively hazardous they should at least have properly declared what they were. Thoughts?

Well the thing about lithium polymer is that it is very hazardous when it is not stable. In the RC enthusiast community, there are many people who understand the hazard and place their batteries in special charing bags that would void an explosion as contained and in no way dangerous. However, the standard practice for lithium polymer batteries, LiPo, is they are strictly shipped via ground. That is a huge blunder by Amazon and I believe they should have been fined more heavily, but then again, I’m sure other people and companies have transported them by air also. The major reason they are/should be fined is because they failed to mark the contents as hazardous. That is a huge deal folks. That’s like moving hazardous chemicals without a SDS or any warning labels. Very dangerous. I would sue the shit out of them if I was a third party transporter of their products.

 

Lithium Polymer batteries can be a large hazard at anytime. However, they are much much more likely to explode while they are charging or discharging. I would argue transporting them is not too big of a deal, relatively, but when you are shipping them in bulk, then it should be limited to via ground shipping only AND be subjected to extra HAZMAT fees from the consumer or future holder of the product. 

[captain cactus]

30 minutes ago, Nicholatian said:

What’s a lithium ion battery going to do on an airplane? Explode? Seriously? These aren’t lead acid batteries or anything heavy duty.

*ahem*

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UPS_Airlines_Flight_6

[Snadzies]

28 minutes ago, Nicholatian said:

What’s a lithium ion battery going to do on an airplane? Explode? Seriously? These aren’t lead acid batteries or anything heavy duty.

 

I work for one of the major shippers and I've seen the top of a plane completely burnt off because a box of items with lithium ion batteries caught fire.

There is a risk of them catching fire on their own but there is also the concern of something else setting them on fire.

When those things catch fire they really burn.

 

Remember those "hoverboards" that were all catching fire some months back?

Imagine one of those catching during a flight.

[Bensemus]

3 hours ago, Nicholatian said:

What’s a lithium ion battery going to do on an airplane? Explode? Seriously? These aren’t lead acid batteries or anything heavy duty.

The lithium batteries can spontaneously catch fire and once alight are basically impossible to extinguish. They burn hot enough to cause significant damage and have caused crashes before. You can't starve the fire by flying high as the batteries produce oxygen as they burn, negating one of the safety procedures.

http://www.mpoweruk.com/lithium_failures.htm (Thermal runaway part)

 

Only one battery is needed to start a chain reaction causing the whole pallet to catch fire.

[sof006]

Lol thats like pocket money to Amazon. I bet they laughed and said "Haha yeah sure, there you go.. don't do it again yeah?" all sarcastic.

[ThinkWithPortals]

22 minutes ago, sof006 said:

Lol thats like pocket money to Amazon. I bet they laughed and said "Haha yeah sure, there you go.. don't do it again yeah?" all sarcastic.

Sadly, you're probably right.

[Snadzies]

14 hours ago, Bensemus said:

The lithium batteries can spontaneously catch fire and once alight are basically impossible to extinguish. They burn hot enough to cause significant damage and have caused crashes before. You can't starve the fire by flying high as the batteries produce oxygen as they burn, negating one of the safety procedures.

http://www.mpoweruk.com/lithium_failures.htm (Thermal runaway part)

 

Only one battery is needed to start a chain reaction causing the whole pallet to catch fire.

 

That just reminds me of an episode of the Caustic Soda podcast where they had a firefighter as a guest.

He talked about responding to car fires where the cars had aluminium engine blocks or magnisium rims and how there was nothing they could do once those started to burn as there was no way to put'em out.

By the time the things burnt themselves out there would be a hunk of metal melted into the pavement.

[KingUnicorn]

On 9/24/2016 at 5:41 AM, Snadzies said:

 

That just reminds me of an episode of the Caustic Soda podcast where they had a firefighter as a guest.

He talked about responding to car fires where the cars had aluminium engine blocks or magnisium rims and how there was nothing they could do once those started to burn as there was no way to put'em out.

By the time the things burnt themselves out there would be a hunk of metal melted into the pavement.

must have burned for a while. while magnesium burns pretty well, it takes alot of heat to ignite a massive block like that. normally its able to dissipate the heat, but with enough heat and enough time, it WILL ignite. i can imagine how much would be left, and thats barely any at all

[kelvinhall05]

On 9/23/2016 at 10:05 AM, ThinkWithPortals said:

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37454587

 

 

 

 Amazon has been fined £65,000 British pounds (about $84,000 USD) for attempting to ship items that could be potentially dangerous on an aircraft, by air.

 

Personally I think this is a bit shady, especially for such a large company. Even if the items aren't massively hazardous they should at least have properly declared what they were. Thoughts?

 

if it was lipos, then i understand. but lions? wtf??

[AshleyAshes]

On ‎9‎/‎23‎/‎2016 at 0:07 PM, Nicholatian said:

What’s a lithium ion battery going to do on an airplane? Explode? Seriously? These aren’t lead acid batteries or anything heavy duty.

YES.  That's EXACTLY what the concern is.  Because it actually happens and it's taken out entire 747's.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UPS_Airlines_Flight_6

 

Fun fact, I was the compositor on this particular episode of Mayday/Air Crash Investigations.

[Space Reptile]

On 23.9.2016 at 6:10 PM, Oshino Shinobu said:

Oh, £65,000. Must have been a big impact for a small company like Amazon....

yea those 65k must have hurt em alot

[Nano0806]

Ok, i agree and i understand that shipping Li-Ion/Po batteries by air is dangerous. But what i don't actually get is:

On 9/23/2016 at 7:05 PM, ThinkWithPortals said:

unless they are installed in or packed with equipment

 

If they are installed in some equipment....couldn't they explode anyway? aheNote7m maybe?

I mean ok a device might have some features to monitor the battery and so on but if it's turned off....I don't know....i'm skeptic that there actually are any hardware mechanisms in place to prevent a fire/explosion

[haloharry97]

57 minutes ago, Nano0806 said:

Ok, i agree and i understand that shipping Li-Ion/Po batteries by air is dangerous. But what i don't actually get is:

 

If they are installed in some equipment....couldn't they explode anyway? aheNote7m maybe?

I mean ok a device might have some features to monitor the battery and so on but if it's turned off....I don't know....i'm skeptic that there actually are any hardware mechanisms in place to prevent a fire/explosion

I have been wording this for months my self?

[tlink]

4 hours ago, AshleyAshes said:

YES.  That's EXACTLY what the concern is.  Because it actually happens and it's taken out entire 747's.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UPS_Airlines_Flight_6

 

Fun fact, I was the compositor on this particular episode of Mayday/Air Crash Investigations.

holy shit. Air crash Investigations is my fav show!

[Crowes]

For those of you on Dark Mode that don't want your eyes burnt:
 

Quote

The online giant tried to transport lithium-ion batteries and flammable aerosols between 2014 and 2015.

It was found guilty at Southwark Crown Court of causing dangerous goods to be delivered for carriage in an aircraft in breach of air navigation rules.
An Amazon spokesman said: "The safety of the public, our customers, employees and partners is an absolute priority."

The prosecution had been brought by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) under the Air Navigation (Dangerous Goods) Regulations 2002. The items were destined for flights in and outside the UK in four shipments between January 2014 and June 2015.

"These dangerous goods include lithium batteries, which are banned from being transported as mail or cargo on a passenger aircraft unless they are installed in or packed with equipment."

Prosecutor Martin Goudie, told the court: "Under the right circumstances the batteries, even new, undamaged batteries, could overheat, potentially causing burns, explosion or a fire."

 

[ShadowCaptain]

6 hours ago, Space Reptile said:

yea those 65k must have hurt em alot

Jess Bezos sleeps in a cardboard box now and licks the pavement for nutrients 

[AshleyAshes]

3 hours ago, tlink said:

holy shit. Air crash Investigations is my fav show!

I don't work on it now, I'm in Stereo Conversion now, but I was the compositor for the contracted out VFX company for the 15th season and the last three episodes of S14.

[bigneo]

Battery will catch fire this, battery will catch fire that...

 

But like receiving stuff fast is more important!