NTSB ISSUES SAFETY RECOMMENDATION FOR PROTOTYPE AND LOW PRODUCTION LITHIUM-ION BATTERIES
July 6, 2020
On June 8, 2020, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued two safety recommendations, available here, providing that the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) remove certain exemptions in hazardous materials shipping standards for certain lithium-ion batteries. Specifically, the NTSB is asking PHMSA to close a loophole that allows “prototype” or “low-production” batteries to be shipped on aircraft without passing certain safety tests required of other lithium-ion batteries.
This recommendation arose from a joint investigation with Canadian authorities into a shipment of lithium-ion batteries that ignited while in transport on a delivery truck in Canada. During the June 2016 shipment, four large custom-made batteries had been accepted for shipment by FedEx from the manufacturer, Braille Battery, in Sarasota, Florida and transported on aircraft from Tampa, Florida, to Indianapolis, Indiana, and then on to Toronto, Ontario. The batteries subsequently caught fire approximately 10 hours after they had been unloaded from the aircraft, destroying the truck. The NTSB determined that if lithium-ion battery safety tests had been conducted, the conditions that caused these batteries to fail would have been discovered, and the batteries would not be accepted for shipment as air cargo.
If you have any questions, please contact Evelyn Sahr (esahr@eckertseamans.com or 202-659-6622); Drew Derco (dderco@eckertseamans.com or 202-659-6665), or Andy Orr (aorr@eckertsemans.com or 202-659-6625).
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