FAA proposes penalties against three companies for hazardous materials violations

WASHINGTON, DC – The US Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposes civil penalties ranging from $54,000 to $63,000 against three companies for allegedly violating Hazardous Materials Regulations.

In each case, the FAA alleges the packages were not declared to contain hazardous materials and that the materials offered were not properly classed, described, packaged, marked, labeled and in proper condition for shipment. The agency also alleges the companies failed to ensure their employees received required hazardous materials training and failed to provide emergency response information with the shipments.

The cases are as follows.

$63,000 against the Sherwin-Williams Company of Cleveland, Ohio. The FAA alleges that on Oct. 15, 2014, Sherwin-Williams offered a shipment of 10 cans of flammable paint for transport aboard a FedEx flight from Piqua, Ohio, to Niagara Falls, N.Y. FedEx employees at the company’s sorting facility in Indianapolis discovered that the shipment was leaking.

Sherwin-Williams is scheduled to meet with the FAA in mid-August to discuss the case.

$63,000 against Rock Water Energy Solutions, of Houston, Texas. The FAA alleges that on June 20, 2014, a Rock Water Energy Solutions employee offered five 17-ounce spray cans of flammable aerosol paint in checked baggage aboard an Envoy Airlines passenger flight from Denver, Colo., to Midland, Texas. The spray cans released paint in the cargo hold of the aircraft.
Rock Water is scheduled to meet with the FAA in mid-August to discuss the case.

$54,000 against X-Chem, LLC, of Irving, Texas. The FAA alleges that on Mar. 9, 2015, X-Chem offered a shipment of six bottles of hazardous materials, including five bottles of flammable liquids and one bottle of corrosive material, to FedEx for transport by air from Midland, Texas to Irving, Texas.

X-Chem has 30 days from receipt of the FAA’s enforcement letter to respond to the agency.