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Amazon Has Been Fined £65,000 for Trying to Fly Dangerous Goods in Europe

posted by janrinok on Saturday September 24 2016, @07:46PM   Printer-friendly
from the you-can't-do-that dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story. Some goods which are dangerous to transport by air are legally described as Dangerous Goods or Dangerous Air Cargo. There are specific regulations covering the movement of these items and special procedures must be followed :

Amazon has been fined £65,000 after being found guilty of attempting to ship dangerous goods by air.

The online giant tried to transport lithium-ion batteries and flammable aerosols between 2014 and 2015. It was found guilty at Southwark Crown Court [London, UK] 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. They were only discovered when the cargoes were screened by Royal Mail before departure, and seized before they could reach the aircraft.

The court heard that Amazon had tried to ship a lithium-ion battery to Jersey on a day before 7 January 2014, and a flammable gas aerosol to Romania on a similar date.

Another shipment, destined for Ireland on a day before 17 July 2014, contained another aerosol, while Amazon illegally tried to send two more lithium-ion batteries to Northern Ireland between 12 May and 3 June 2015.

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  • (Score: 2) by NCommander on Saturday September 24 2016, @09:44PM

    by NCommander (2) Subscriber Badge <michael@casadevall.pro> on Saturday September 24 2016, @09:44PM (#406049) Homepage Journal

    Lithium ion batteries are explicately allowed in the passenger compartment as long as they're not held in bulk (there's a limit per person, though that isn't often enforced). The cargo deck is different since it may not be accessible easily from the passenger deck, and even if it is, by time a fire is detected, it would be inaccessible to access whatever it is that is burning due to the heat (SA 295 was a case where a fire broke out in a cargo section of the airplane).

    A single lithium ion battery fire, while bad, is manageable. you can get it in a fire blanket, and if necessary, throw it out the door (there are procedures on what a pilot can do to successfully allow the doors to be opened in flight; specifically meant for venting smoke).

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