I like to carry extra laptop and cell phone batteries with me when I travel for more than a couple of days at a time, especially if going outside the country. I fried a cell phone once using a faulty outlet converter overseas, so now I like to play it safer by depending upon extra batteries. It was fairly simple to pack the extra batteries into my checked luggage. It was a good simple way to have a backup power source while travelling.
Well, as of next Tuesday that simplicity is no more.
Effective January 1, 2008, all U.S. air travelers will be required to keep all their spare lithium batteries in carry on baggage, with the terminals covered, as a precaution against the possibility of the batteries exploding.
It appears the batteries in laptops have exploded before, and the Department of Homeland Security is afraid of the possibilities of terrorists using the batteries as explosives.
For more details, see the Department of Transportation’s Safe Travel Web site.
Check your corporate travel policies and information security policies. You will likely need to make an update, along with providing some awareness communications, to ensure your business travelers are in compliance with this new law and are not surprised when checking in at the airport!
Tags: awareness and training, Department of Homeland Security, department of transportation, Information Security, IT compliance, lithium batteries, policies and procedures, risk management, security awareness, security training, travel safety, U.S. law