Page 10 - STAT June 2023 Latest Issue

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by becoming the world's first airport com-
munity to receive the Center of Excellence
for Independent Validators (CEIV) lithium
batteries certification from IATA.
Incheon International Airport Corpora-
tion (IIAC) established the Incheon Airport
Community in December 2022, consisting
of 11 companies including three airlines, one
ground handling company and six logis-
tics companies, to acquire the CEIV Li-Batt
certification. The community underwent
rigorous certification procedures over five
months including comprehensive education
and evaluations, resulting in every member
successfully obtaining the certification.
National focuses on ensuring that its
staff and clients are made aware of the
potentially hazardous nature of lithium
batteries through training and providing
assistance to the customer, adds Gana-
pathy and Karunakaran. "The goal is to
ensure that the transportation of lithium involved in receiving and handling hazard-
batteries is fully compliant with applicable ous materials. To prevent mishandling
safety legislation and its related criteria. or mis-shipment of hazardous materials
Procedures are established for report- due to non-declaration or misdeclaration,
ing and investigating incidents involving Incheon Airport follows the recommen-
lithium batteries that will lead to root cause dations outlined in the IATA DGR. These
analysis, implementation of corrective ac- recommendations include:
tions, and improvement of safety practices. ƒ Verifying if hazardous materials have
We have achieved zero incidents involving been non-declared or misdeclared through
lithium batteries at National, thanks to the cargo description or label verification.
special attention by the team to continual ƒ Conducting inspections by opening
improvements to meet safety standards. " suspicious shipments and directly contact-
Incheon Airport ing the shipper for verification, thereby
Dry ice challenges places great emphasis ensuring continuous monitoring; and
Brennan of IATA says dry ice (solid carbon ƒ Recommending verification of the "Dan-
dioxide) is widely used as a refrigerant for on continuous and gerous Goods Undeclared Checklist" that
some pharmaceuticals, frozen meat and regular internal training should be completed by the shipper.”
seafood. "The hazard of dry ice is from the There are three locations at Incheon
carbon dioxide generated as the dry ice to enhance monitoring Airport where hazardous materials are
sublimates, which in an enclosed space handled including a hazardous materials
such as an aircraft cargo compartment of the processes warehouse operated directly by IIAC, and
poses a risk of asphyxiation. For this reason, involved in receiving two terminals operated by Korean Air and
airlines are required to develop limits on Asiana Airlines, respectively.
the quantity of dry ice that can be loaded and handling hazardous The volume of hazardous materials han-
into an aircraft cargo compartment and dled at the IIAC-operated hazardous materi-
also to have procedures to advise aircraft materials. als warehouse over the past five years:
loading staff when dry ice is loaded into Sang-yong Lee 2018 3,834 tonnes
the cargo compartment. Incheon International Airport 2019 3,788 tonnes
"There are no specific plans to step up Corporation 2020 3,517 tonnes
monitoring risks as there is no evidence to 2021 4,465 tonnes
identify that the current requirements and ing dry ice, it is crucial to correctly apply 2022 3,905 tonnes
airline policies and procedures result in an and implement the IATA Dangerous Goods "National’s freighter fleet is an all-Boeing
unacceptable risk to airline employees or Regulations (DGR), says Lee of Incheon. fleet, and therefore the carriage of dry
to passengers." "Incheon Airport places great emphasis on ice as refrigerant on National flights is in
To ensure the safe handling and trans- continuous and regular internal training accordance with the limitations set by
portation of all hazardous materials, includ- to enhance monitoring of the processes Boeing and adherence to regulations
8 | JUNE 2023 www.stattimes.com