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Amazon Faces $350K Fine For Shipping 'Amazing Liquid Fire' (computerworld.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the hazardous-material dept.

An anonymous reader writes: The FAA has ruled that Amazon will face a $350,000 fine for shipping a one-gallon container of "Amazing Liquid Fire" by air. The corrosive drain cleaner was sent by air from Louisville, Kentucky, to Boulder, Colorado, on October 15, 2014. The container leaked during transit and nine UPS employees came into contact with the chemical, which caused a "burning sensation on their skin" that had to be treated with a chemical wash. According to Computerworld, "The FAA ruled the shipment wasn't packaged properly, wasn't accompanied by a declaration of dangerous goods, and was not properly marked or labeled as a hazardous package. It also said Amazon didn't provide emergency response information with the package and had not provided hazardous material training to employees who handled the package." The FAA said in a statement, "Amazon has a history of violating the Hazardous Materials Regulations." They apparently violated the rules 24 other times.

7 of 202 comments (clear)

  1. Slap on the wrist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This fine is nothing to a company like Amazon. It's a slap on the wrist rather than a significant penalty.

  2. Other rule violations by Imrik · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They didn't violate the rules 24 other times, they got caught 24 other times. I would be surprised if the packages leak more than 1% of the time so they've probably violated the rules thousands of times at least.

    1. Re:Other rule violations by Solandri · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The important figure would be number of violations per 100,000 packages shipped. Not raw number of packages in violation.

      Number of times they got caught vs. the number of times they got away with it is mostly irrelevant. Since other people/companies shipping hazardous materials will probably have a similar ratio of times caught to times they got away with it. So you can just compare the easy-to-determine number of times caught per 100,000 shipments across companies, and that'll give you pretty much the same ranking order as the much-harder-to-determine number of times they got away with it per 100,000 shipments.

  3. Negligence ! by invictusvoyd · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Imagine a drone doing that delivery !

  4. Re:UPS should send bill... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Mishandling doesn't matter in this case, accidents are expected to happen but illegal shipping is still illegal shipping.

  5. Lemee get this straight... by Ukab+the+Great · · Score: 5, Insightful

    My Diet Coke can't make it past airport security but something named "Amazing Liquid Fire" can?

  6. Proportionality by golodh · · Score: 4, Insightful
    It's called proportionality. Amazon sends millions of packages, but were caught out breaking safety rules about 24 times.

    You don't want to kill Amazon, just make it comply. I'd say that 350 K for a single transgression will get their attention. If not, the next penalty will be higher.