Gadget Batteries Get New Scrutiny

By DANIEL MICHAELS And ANDY PASZTOR
The Wall Street Journal

Stricter international safety rules will kick in next year to tackle hazards from shipments of lithium batteries aboard planes, but pilot groups and power-cell makers are battling over whether there should be even tougher measures.

Each year, more than one billion rechargeable batteries—used in mobile phones, laptops, electric cars and other products—are produced globally, with a total value exceeding $9 billion, according to several industry estimates. The ubiquitous batteries normally are safe, but damaged or overheated cells can spontaneously ignite and create fierce fires—especially when thousands are jammed in cargo planes.

Debate is escalating over the safest ways to package, label and handle the potentially volatile shipments. In the U.S. alone, air-safety regulators say, lithium cells have been implicated in at least 24 combustion incidents on or around aircraft in the past three years, both in cargo and carry-on bags.

Lithium batteries are suspected of contributing to two fiery crashes of jumbo-jet freighters since 2010, including an Asiana Airlines Inc.  Boeing Co. 747 that plunged into the Pacific Ocean in July of last year.

The accidents, which killed four pilots, helped persuade the air-safety arm of the United Nations, the International Civil Aviation Organization, to adopt stricter shipping standards that take effect Jan. 1, closing loopholes that have allowed some battery packages to avoid special precautions.

The final report is expected in coming weeks on the other accident, a United Parcel Service Inc. UPS 747 that went down in Dubai in 2010 after thick smoke obscured cockpit instruments an arm's reach from the pilots.

The report's findings, coupled with a recent call by U.S. crash investigators for improved fire-suppression systems on all cargo planes, are heightening pressure for additional action.

"Lithium batteries are becoming a big risk issue," said Alain Bassil, chief operating officer of Air France. The Air France-KLM SA unit recently decided to limit the number of batteries it carries in freighter aircraft and isolates them in compartments with enhanced firefighting equipment. On passenger planes, Air France is training cabin staff to douse smoldering personal electronics with water or juice because fire extinguishers are generally ineffective.

Pilot unions and independent safety experts want further protections, particularly because of the skyrocketing popularity of rechargeable electronics world-wide. They want strict controls on the number of batteries permitted in individual shipments, along with greater safeguards for damaged batteries and certain oversize versions that power vehicles.

Lithium-battery technology "is going to be part of our lives and transportation, so we need to step up and find a way to appropriately oversee it," said Bill Voss, president of the Flight Safety Foundation, a global safety advocacy group.

Battery suppliers and a powerful array of consumer-electronics manufacturers oppose tougher regulations, saying they are unnecessary. "What should be done is a lot more enforcement" of existing standards, said George Kerchner, executive director of the Rechargeable Battery Association, which represents companies that produce and use 70% of the world's lithium cells.

The association, which led an industry coalition that killed earlier U.S. proposals to unilaterally tighten shipping controls, continues to emphasize that investigators haven't officially cited batteries for causing either of the two recent crashes.

Despite resistance, many aviation officials see momentum for change. "It's a top priority and a very hot-button issue for industry leaders," said Guenther Matschnigg, the top safety official at the International Air Transport Association, the largest airline trade group.

People on both sides of the issue expressed concerns about substandard batteries, often sold on the Internet as replacements or that end up in low-quality products. Cargoes of such cells, which industry officials say are mostly produced in China and shipped globally from ports around East Asia, frequently carry insufficient or misleading labels to avoid scrutiny, regulators warn. Officials worry that some governments in the region lack resources or the political will to aggressively police battery shipments.

The potential danger of lithium batteries stems from the same chemistry that makes them so useful: the ability to store a huge amount of energy. If one overheats or something slams into it, combustion can begin and a single battery can ignite others. The internal reaction can take hours to become dangerous, which means an incident that goes unnoticed on the ground can spark a fire once a plane is airborne.

For now, advocates of tighter regulation can claim several victories. January's International Civil Aviation Organization rule change will close a loophole that permitted routine air transport of battery bundles weighing up to 22 pounds without any special protective packaging, warning labels or pilot alerts about the location of such shipments. Starting next year, any battery shipment containing more than two lithium-ion batteries will have to comply fully with those detailed ICAO hazardous-goods requirements.

ICAO and postal officials around the world last month agreed to begin cracking down on bulk shipments of batteries, as well as on portable devices containing them, that are sent through the mail.

Potential dangers of lithium batteries have been widely debated among aviation officials since 2006, when a UPS DC-8 cargo jet caught fire and was destroyed on landing in Philadelphia. The crew escaped.

After that fire, and again after the UPS crash in Dubai, U.S. regulators considered tightening rules for handling lithium batteries. The latest proposals withered under intense industry and congressional opposition, and federal regulators have no plans to resurrect them. Companies that make and use the batteries argued the compliance costs would far outweigh the benefits of combating what they described as a minimal risk.

Before new global rules take effect, UPS is taking steps, on its own, to minimize exposure to battery fires. The Atlanta-based shipping company is developing a new class of flame-retardant cargo containers and aerosol fire suppressants. "We're trying to give the crew more time" to get back on the ground, said Capt. John Ransom, the company's chief pilot for McDonnell Douglas MD-11 aircraft.

"The UPS crash was a big shock to a lot of us," said Tim Clark, president of Dubai's Emirates Airline, which has put special fireproof bags in the cabins of its passenger jets in case portable electronic devices catch fire.

The cause of the 2010 UPS accident may never be determined because the inferno and the impact of the crash destroyed critical evidence. Yet many air-safety specialists are confident that bulk shipments of batteries on board aggravated the blaze.

"Whatever started the fire, lithium batteries significantly exacerbated the situation," said Capt. Mark Rogers, chairman of the dangerous-goods committee of the International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations.

Source:   http://online.wsj.com