LTB 580/16 Amazon Fined £65,000 plus £60,000 Costs for Trying to Ship Dangerous Goods by Air via Royal Mail

No. 580/2016

3 October 2016

Our Ref: E1/16

Amazon Fined £65,000 plus £60,000 Costs for Trying to Ship Dangerous Goods by Air via Royal Mail

To: All Branches

Dear Colleagues,

Online retailer Amazon UK Services Ltd has been fined £65,000 and ordered to pay legal costs of £60,000 to the CAA at Southwark Crown Court last week after being found guilty of attempting to ship dangerous goods by air on passenger planes, including lithium-ion batteries and aerosols in breach of the Air Navigation (Dangerous Goods) Regulations 2002. The retailer was found to have breached UK civil aviation rules in respect for four offences of “causing dangerous goods to be delivered for carriage in an aircraft.”

The offending items included Lithium-ion batteries for mobile phones or tablets, as well as cans of aerosol deodorant and hair spray, were sent via Royal Mail and were destined to be shipped on a mixture of domestic and international flights between January 2014 and June 2015.

Each item was intercepted by staff working for Royal Mail during routine screening, before they could be transported by Air.

The Prosecution told the Court that under the certain circumstances Lithium-ion batteries, even if new and undamaged, could overheat, potentially causing burns, explosion or a fire, which could be catastrophic on an Aircraft.

The Civil Aviation Authority has warned that the UK will take a hard line on shipping goods of this nature on passenger aircraft adding that around the world, retailers and online traders must comply with international restrictions, which prohibit the shipping of dangerous goods on passenger aircraft, which pose a flight safety risk. Whenever issues are identified the CAA works with companies to make sure those issues are addressed, however, if improvements are not made, the CAA will not hesitate to enforce the law in order to protect the travelling public. The safety of aviation and the public is paramount and the CAA will continue to work closely with retailers and online traders to ensure they understand the regulations and have robust processes in place so their items can be shipped safely.

The jury reportedly failed to reach a decision on a further six charges due to the detailed Technical nature of charges. The Judge decided that these will remain on file should Amazon come before the Courts again on similar charges.

Following sentencing, Amazon said that it was constantly working to further improve and will continue to work with the CAA in this area.

However in June it was announced in the USA that Amazon had repeatedly been accused of breaching regulationsand is facing a $350,000 (£247,000) fine for allegedly shipping hazardous chemicals that injured delivery workers in America. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposed the fine, accusing the firm of breaching rules by sending a corrosive drain cleaner by air. Nine UPS employees complained of burns after handling the package after the substance leaked, the authority said. Amazon said it would work with the FAA to improve its processes. According to the US authority, Amazon sent a package containing a one-gallon container of the corrosive drain cleaner called “AMAZING! LIQUID FIRE” from Kentucky to Colorado via UPS in October 2014. While being transported, some of the Liquid Fire leaked through the fibreboard box. Nine UPS employees who came into contact with the box reported chemical burns and were treated with a chemical wash, the FAA said. It accused Amazon of failing to package the shipment properly and said the box did not have the correct labelling or documentation and said the firm’s staff who handled it were not properly trained. Amazon has a history of violating the Hazardous Materials Regulations. From February 2013 to September 2015 alone, Amazon was found to have violated the Hazardous Materials Regulations 24 times. The FAA is continuing to investigate Amazon’s compliance with the Hazardous Materials Regulations applicable to air transportation, it said. The FAA has sought a total of nearly $1.3m in fines as a result of those instances. In at least 15, hazardous material leaked, the FAA said in its notice of violation. It was not clear how many times Amazon had paid fines or admitted responsibility because the FAA does not announce fines of less than $50,000, a spokesman for the authority told Reuters. The company did pay $91,000 in April 2014 for an incident the previous year in which its employees improperly shipped flammable liquid adhesive.

FedEx employees in Boulder discovered a gallon container of adhesive was leaking, not properly labelled and without proper shipping papers, the FAA said.

Amazon the company will continue to work with the FAA in this area.

The Royal Mail Group National Dangerous Goods Manager has paid tribute to the thorough and meticulous work of the Royal Mail Screeners and CWU members working at the Royal Mail Air Hubs for doing their job in removing and reporting these items. The CWU Health, Safety & Environment Department equally applauds the CWU members involved for eliminating the danger which is for them their everyday job and nothing out of the ordinary.

However, Amazon’s irresponsible and unsafe organisation has clearly been presenting a risk to aircraft passengers both in the UK and USA and profit clearly comes before safety. In 2015 Amazon UK Services had a turnover of £1 billion in the UK, with a profit of £38 million. In the USA Amazon is the leading e-retailer with more than $107 billion U.S. dollars in net sales and is one of the most valuable retailers in the world.

Yours sincerely

Dave Joyce

National Health, Safety & Environment Officer