Union Says Safety Regulations Are Necessary For Lithium
Batteries
The Air Line Pilots Association,
Int’l (ALPA) is calling on the U.S. government to prohibit
shipments of lithium batteries on passenger and all-cargo aircraft
until new regulations are in place to ensure the safe transport of
these hazardous materials.
“ALPA has long called for regulations to ensure that
safety is the first priority in transporting shipments of lithium
batteries aboard airliners,” said First Officer Mark Rogers,
director of ALPA’s Dangerous Goods Programs. “Now, the
evidence of a clear and present danger is mounting. We need an
immediate ban on these dangerous goods to protect airline
passengers, crews, and cargo.”
In an August 20, 2009, letter sent to Cynthia Douglass, acting
deputy administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety
Administration (PHMSA), ALPA’s President, Capt. John Prater,
pointed to three recent incidents as proof positive of the urgent
need to prohibit lithium battery shipments.
During just the past two months,
fire, smoke, or evidence of fire associated with battery shipments
has occurred aboard three separate U.S. airliners. The incidents,
which took place in Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Minnesota, Santo
Domingo, Dominican Republic, and Honolulu, Hawaii, were similar to
a 2006 battery fire aboard a DC-8 in Philadelphia, Pa. In that
accident, the fire was severe and it prompted the NTSB to recommend
the full regulation of these types of batteries as dangerous
goods.
Lithium batteries provide essential power for millions of
Americans every day as they use laptop computers, cell phones,
flashlights, and cameras. ALPA is not calling for new restrictions
on what passengers are permitted to bring aboard aircraft, but the
world’s largest non-governmental aviation safety organization
is extremely concerned about the risk from transporting lithium
batteries aboard aircraft as cargo.
ALPA has long advocated for improved transport requirements for
lithium-ion and lithium-metal batteries. Since 2004, ALPA has urged
the Department of Transportation to fully regulate these batteries
as dangerous goods, including requiring appropriate packaging,
labeling, marking, testing, and pilot notification.
“ALPA calls on the agencies charged with protecting the
public from hazardous materials to issue an immediate ban on
lithium battery shipments to protect airline passengers, crews and
cargo until the proper safety regulations are in place and can be
enforced,” said Prater. “If we are not able to secure
these protections for the traveling public through swift regulatory
action, we will ask Congress to immediately intervene to ensure the
safe shipment of lithium batteries.”