What Is The International Civil Aviation Organization & Why Are They Important?

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is an important organization monitoring issues like those related to lithium batteries. To ensuring passenger safety of an aircraft and its passengers, the Chicago Convention set Standards that each state must follow. Annex 18 focuses on Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air, where it sets several principles that must be followed. Each state is required to perform inspections and set enforcement procedures to ensure compliance with requirements from the “Technical Instructions.”

From the Technical Instructions are classification of dangerous goods, which identifies the following type of goods, according to their website:

• Are forbidden under any circumstances;


• Are forbidden on both passenger and cargo aircraft in normal circumstances but could be carried in exceptional circumstances subject to exemption by the States concerned;


• Are forbidden on passenger aircraft but permitted on cargo aircraft in normal circumstances; and


• Are permitted on both passenger and cargo aircraft in normal circumstances

All dangerous goods must be packaged safely, and when in transport, are limited to a certain quantity depending upon the degree of hazard and the aircraft used in transportation.

Operators must inspect each package to ensure it meets requirements. There may be loading restrictions and segregation of packages holding dangerous goods to minimize damage that could potentially occur during movement in flight. In addition, the contents of the packages must be disclosed to the pilot-in-command — should an emergency arise, the pilot-in-command will need to provide air traffic services as to what contents are aboard the plane for emergency services.

This is important because incidents do and will occur. For instance, consider an incident in Aug. 2015 where a consignment of lithium ion batteries caused a fire at Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom. When one of Heathrow Airport’s handling agents was preforming his duty of breaking down a pallet of cargo that originated from a Hong Kong aircraft, he noticed smoke permeating from a box. Within that box was a woven plastic bag that he quickly removed and place it pallet.

He then used a fire extinguisher to cease smoke from continuing to emanate from the box. Once the smoke stopped, the box was opened and held within were 24 plastic shrink-wrapped cartons that contained a lithium battery that is used primarily to replace laptop batteries. While the outside of the box was not penetrated, one of the batteries had ignited and burnt through a side of the carton.

The batteries within the boxes were part of a consignment of 71 various pieces, which were described as holding the following: “Camera accessories, Pet life jacket, Briefcase and bags, Wrist band, Camera, Headset, Lithium ion batteries in compliance with Section II of PI967.” There was an issue with this. According to the ICAO:

The above statement of compliance with Section II of Packing Instruction 967 was not correct since that packing instruction is only applicable to lithium ion batteries contained in equipment, not lithium ion batteries on their own (UN3480), which are required to comply with Packing Instruction 965. It should be noted that the aircraft operator had imposed a prohibition on the carriage of lithium ion batteries on their own and therefore it is possible that there had been a deliberate attempt to avoid the prohibition.

This is a problem because the contents of the package were that the people handling the contents were not properly informed. The fire was attributed to the handling of the contents by the handlers.

One of the reason why our customer claim our company adds value to their bottom line is that we help prevent situations like this from occurring. Had the package gone through the proper tests, the fire most likely would not have occurred. Not only do we provide product — our company also often provides advice to our customers to ensure they are using the right products in the right way. That extra step that we take is the difference between a potential lawsuit and having your company in the green for the next quarter. If it wasn’t already clear from our tone, we take shipping of dangerous goods seriously.

In conclusion, if you would like more information on this topic, our company is more than happy to provide it to you. As a family owned and operated company, customer service is paramount to our success, and it is imperative that our customers are as successful as possible in response. Our representatives can be reached from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, by phone at (866) 272-9880. Alternatively, we also offer Live Chat to connect with a member from our team. During non-working hours, or if you want to be updated on the latest industry and our company news, visit our blog, which can be accessed by clicking here.