UK Civil Aviation Authority’s Video “Posting Lithium Batteries in the Mail” is very useful for us to know the basic dangers of sending equipment containing lithium batteries (ECLB) by post.
Always check with your postal service before sending lithium batteries by post.
Read more about Lithium Batteries from Universal Postal Union
Below quoted from iNews880AM
The U.S. Postal Service is banning international shipments of electronics with lithium batteries such as smartphones, laptops and iPads, citing the risk of fire.
Beginning Wednesday, consumers may no longer make the shipments, including to army and diplomatic post offices. That means friends and family will have to use more expensive private companies such as UPS and FedEx to ship electronics to U.S. troops based abroad.
The Postal Service cited discussion by the International Civil Aviation Organization and the Universal Postal Union. They issue semi-binding guidelines for global trade.
Officials expect that U.S. consumers can resume shipments in most cases after Jan. 1, once the agency develops a new policy “consistent with international standards.”
Lithium batteries are believed to have caused at least two fires on cargo planes since 2006. (The Associated Press, twd)
http://www.inews880.com/Channels/Reg/CyberCorner/Story.aspx?ID=1703077
Lighters with flammable gas is assigned with UN Number 1057 under class 2.1.
IMDG Code specifies that a lighter must not have gas volume larger than 10 g of liquefied petroleum gas. The danger of flammable gas filled lighters is potential leakage of gas which will produce a flammable atmosphere in a shipping container.
These days in market we can buy “Torch” cigarette lighters; these are lighters with a small LED and two or three lithium metal batteries to provide power. Lithium metal batteries have gained notorious name to it due to its involvement in numerous accidents of which certain accidents resulted in total loss of aircraft and lives on board.
How safe are these “Torch” cigarette lighters or how dangerous are these “Torch” cigarette lighters more than other lighters?
United Kingdom raised the issue of “Torch” cigarette lighters in the fortieth session of Sub-Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods, hopefully by forty-first session we should have some guidance on transport of “Torch” cigarette lighters as cargo or guidance for carriage by air passengers.
Below photos of “Torch” cigarette lighter
IATA has published changes to Lithium Battery transport regulations document can be downloaded here
Transport of Lithium Metal and Lithium Ion Batteries
Batteries containing acid and alkali are highly hazardous due to its corrosive nature. They are classified under Class 8 (Corrosive substances) in model regulations.
Acid and Alkali reacts very dangerously with each other hence not allowed to be transported in same containers.
Below you can find Batteries and battery fluids ( both acid and alkali ) in different table as listed in IMDG Code 35-10.
Table no. 1
| UNNO | CLASS | PROPER SHIPPING NAME | |
| ACID | 2794 | 8 | BATTERIES, WET, FILLED WITH ACID electric storage |
| ACID | 2796 | 8 | BATTERY FLUID, ACID |
Table no. 2
| UNNO | CLASS | PROPER SHIPPING NAME | |
| ALKALI | 2795 | 8 | BATTERIES, WET, FILLED WITH ALKALI electric storage |
| ALKALI | 2797 | 8 | BATTERY FLUID, ALKALI |
Table no. 3
| UNNO | CLASS | PROPER SHIPPING NAME | |
| ACID OR ALKALI | 2800 | 8 | BATTERIES, WET, NON-SPILLABLE electric storage |
*Table no. 1 and 2 must not be mixed loaded in same container
*2800 must pass Vibration & Pressure differential test
Further if it does not show any leakage if cracked at 55 deg C or no free flowing liquids plus protected from short circuit can be transported as non-hazardous
Lithium Batteries or Lithium Cells not subject to other provisions of IMDG Code but only subject to special provision 188 is sometimes complicated to those who refer SP 188.
You can find a presentation breaking down the Special Provision 188 in easy to understand slides by clicking here
DUBAI // The pilots of the UPS cargo plane that crashed in Dubai last year may have been unable to steer because a fire in the cargo area caused the control cables to slacken, an interim report says.
Smoke that filled the cockpit could also have prevented the two US pilots, both of whom died in the September 3 accident, from seeing the instruments.
An interim investigation report released by the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) last month also noted problems with the oxygen flow to the pilots’ masks may have been related to rising temperatures from the fire.
The GCAA report, the first since a preliminary report was released in April, offered new details about what went wrong aboard the Boeing 747, which crashed in the Nad Al Sheba military camp less than an hour after taking off from Dubai International Airport.
The pilots reported a fire 22 minutes into the flight and turned back towards Dubai, but overflew the airport. It crashed on the way to an emergency landing at Sharjah International Airport.
“The investigation has centred on a probably uncontained fire on the main cargo deck as the primary significant factor,” the interim report reads.
“The investigation is focusing on several possible ignition sources, primarily the location in the cargo of lithium and lithium-derivative batteries that were on board.”
The interim report used data from flight recorders, air-traffic control transcripts and a cockpit voice recorder. About 25 minutes into the flight, Capt Doug Lampe could be heard on the cockpit recorder saying he was not able to manually control the plane. The control cables ran above the probable location of the fire, the report said.
Although Capt Lampe’s controls were limited, First Officer Matthew Bell had almost no control of the plane, but the autopilot was working normally because it used a different control system. Both men struggled to breathe.
The report also notes at least two shipments of lithium-ion batteries, which should have been declared hazardous materials, were in containers “beneath the area of interest, due to systems indications on the flight recorders”.
The company sending those particular shipments was not identified in the report.
“While the shipper indicated that testing of the batteries was completed in accordance with [United Nations] standards, no UN test report was provided to verify that such tests were completed,” the report said.
Since 2006, 34 aviation incidents related to batteries and battery-powered devices have been reported to the US Federal Aviation Administration, and 22 of those involved lithium-ion batteries. Of 34 incidents, 22 involved fire.
The investigation continues “with further testing and detailed analysis currently ongoing”. Main testing should be completed this year, and a final report is due next year.
http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/ups-pilots-could-not-steer-plane
IMDG Code Compliance Centre 