U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao Announces Appointees to Lithium Battery Advisory Committee
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
PHMSA 09-19
Contact: Randon Lane
Tel.: (202) 366-4831
WASHINGTON – U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Elaine L. Chao today announced the appointment of 20 individuals to serve as members of the newly-formed Lithium Battery Safety Advisory Committee (LBSAC). The committee was established in May in accordance with Section 333(d) of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018.
“The committee’s input will help the Department lead safety improvements in the transportation of lithium batteries to better protect shippers and travelers around the world,” said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao.
The Department’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) selected the 20 appointed members from across the transportation and manufacturing industries, including marketers and experts in testing and quality assurance, highway safety, and emergency response. This diverse group of individuals will provide input to continually strengthen the safety of lithium battery transportation.
The new committee will be responsible for providing the Department with information regarding new technologies and transportation safety practices, as well as developing policy positions for international forums, guiding activities to increase awareness of safety requirements. The committee will also develop a report to the Secretary and Congress on the steps that private sector and international regulatory authorities can take for the safe air transportation of lithium batteries.
The following individuals are being appointed as members of the LBSAC:
- George Kerchner, Executive Director, The Rechargeable Battery Association
- Philip Squair, Vice President, Government Relations, National Electrical Manufacturers Association
- David Weilert, President, Viking Packing Specialist
- Raju Desai, Senior Product Safety Engineer, Apple
- Brandon Martin, Director of Battery and Electric Products, Outdoor Power Equipment Institute
- Tim Sheppard, Vice President Supply Chain & Logistics Chief Customer Officer, Controller, Samsung Electronics America
- Doug Ferguson, Associate Technical Fellow, Boeing
- Todd Mackintosh, Global Propulsion Systems Standards & Regulations Technical Specialist & Process Lead – Electrification, General Motors
- Veronica Wilson, EH&S Director, Hazardous Materials Transportation, Walmart
- Robert McClelland, Managing Director of Safety, Compliance & Dangerous Goods, UPS Airlines
- James Davis, President, AccuFleet Testing
- Michael Tobin, Manager, Dangerous Goods, Alaska Airlines
- William Wojtas, Manager, Dangerous Goods, United Airlines
- Scott Schwartz, Director of the Dangerous Goods Program, Air Line Pilots Association
- Robert Brown, Vice President, Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations
- Stephane Rossetti, Sr. Program Manager, Int’l Trade & Dangerous Goods Compliance, Medtronic
- Kathleen O’Shei, Director, Environmental, Health, Safety, & Security, Integer
- Thomas Chapin, Vice President, Research, Underwriters Laboratories
- Bill Reese, Director of COHMED, Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance
- Paul Rogers, Member, International Association of Fire Fighters
For additional information about PHMSA and our programs, please visit http://www.phmsa.dot.gov.
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The mission of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is to protect people and the environment by advancing the safe transportation of energy and other hazardous materials that are essential to our daily lives. PHMSA develops and enforces regulations for the safe operation of the nation’s 2.8 million-mile pipeline transportation system and the 1.2 million daily shipments of hazardous materials by land, sea, and air. Please visit http://www.phmsa.dot.gov or https://twitter.com/PHMSA_DOT for more information.