Dive Brief:
- The Federal Aviation Administration proposed a fine of $78,000 against Amazon for violating its Hazardous Materials Regulations. Amazon must respond to the FAA's enforcement letter within 30 days of receipt.
- A package sent on August 7 from Ruskin, FL to Algonquin, IL via FedEx was found to contain the highly flammable liquid ethanol, which began leaking in a FedEx facility in Cary, IL.
- The package not only lacked the proper markings, but was also missing the required paperwork, including emergency response information.
Dive Insight:
The incident marks Amazon's eighth violation since August, 2013, amounting to a penalty sum of $872,000 for shipping malpractice in the past three years.
The last incident for which the FAA proposed a penalty occurred August 7, 2015, which shows ove a year in delays between the incidents and the completion of the investigations. All of the incidents were violations in the FAA's hazardous materials regulations, and some have included personal damage to FedEx or UPS employees.
Four packages in violations of the code have been delivered to FedEx and UPS each, which Amazon frequently uses to deliver its products. On average, three incidents have occurred each year, with penalties for 2015 likely still under investigation.
As a result, improvement on this matter is difficult to spot. However, earlier this year Amazon announced it would begin transporting its own goods, which decreases the likelihood packaging violations will be reported to the FAA unless personal or physical damage is inflicted.
Regardless, the large sums paid by the e-commerce company shows the importance of proper and safe packaging practices, specially since many of the incidents were violations not just in packaging but also in lack of appropriate paperwork.
