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The GW Hatchet

AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Skip scooters return to D.C. following temporary license suspension

DDOT+officials+suspended+Skip%E2%80%99s+operating+license+amid+three+lithium+battery-related+fires+over+the+past+year.
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DDOT officials suspended Skip’s operating license amid three lithium battery-related fires over the past year.

The District Department of Transportation will allow Skip to operate electric scooters on D.C. streets once again following multiple battery-related fires over the past year.

DDOT officials have reinstated Skip’s permit to operate scooters in D.C. after the company spent six weeks to meet with battery experts, develop new audit processes and implement safety regulations to prevent future battery fires, a release from the company states. The transit agency revoked Skip’s operating permit in June amid a report of a fire that broke out in the company’s basement warehouse in downtown D.C., NBC4 reported.

“Over the last six weeks, we committed ourselves to completely revamping our safety approach,” the release states. “It started with consulting battery experts and OSHA compliance firms to implement new operations and audit procedures for handling and disposing of damaged or vandalized equipment in the field and at our warehouses.”

Skip will implement real-time battery monitoring, mandatory safety education for warehouse employees and “comprehensive reporting” to DDOT for safety issues that arise including “critical alerts, time to disposal, number of disposals, and injuries to employees,” the release states.

Skip pulled its scooters off D.C. streets for one week at the end of May after a Skip scooter caught fire downtown. DDOT officials suspended Skip’s operating license after three lithium battery-related fires – the incident in June, one in September and one in October.

Skip will place scooters back in the District, Alexandria and Arlington in the next few weeks, according to the release.

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