This article provides a brief overview of the risk posed by Lithium-Ion batteries in New Zealand. Building owners, property managers, and occupants are increasingly growing aware of the risk posed by Lithium-Ion batteries – often brought about by high-profile incidents domestically and overseas. This technology has enabled tools that are key to modern life – such as phones and laptops – however they are a hazard if not managed correctly. The primary hazard is that while lithium-ion batteries densely store energy, they can release this energy extremely quickly during a catastrophic failure – known as “thermal runaway”.
The likelihood of this occurring is exceptionally low – however, thermal runaway is extremely dangerous to any person or thing around it. This is primarily through heat, flame & toxic vapour, which can seriously injure or be fatal.
An explosion of an 18650 Lithium-ion battery installed in a mobile Bluetooth speaker
You can reduce lithium-ion battery fire risk by:
Never charging a lithium-ion battery in an escape route, or on a flammable surface.
Avoiding knock off products / non-genuine retailers.
Following best charging practice:
use the correct charger;
do not charge damaged li-ion batteries (including batteries that have been submerged); and
take-off charge once full and store the li-ion battery safely.
Always keeping lithium-ion batteries in an area with working smoke detectors and always dispose of damaged batteries appropriately.
Smoke detectors will provide lifesaving warning to those around – if you are a building owner and are considering the risk of Lithium-Ion batteries in your building, it would be best to talk to your fire alarm service provider about what you currently have in place.
Lithium-Ion batteries also pose a risk post-fire, as they can relight and are difficult to dispose of safely. If you have not already, it is worth discussing with your insurer about your coverage. No matter what – it is easier to prevent these incidents than it is to respond to them (there is no widely available tool to suppress lithium-ion fires) – so Safety First has developed a pamphlet for use in buildings, to help educate occupants and empower people to make good choices. This pamphlet is available on our website:
If you have any questions, would like training, advice, or fire evacuation planning help – reach out to our team by emailing us at info@safety.co.nz.
Customer Feedback
We received the following message from Coupland’s Bakeries as a result of this blog article that was sent out as a direct email to our customers. Thanks for sharing – we’re pleased that you had a good outcome!
“The email that was sent out regarding reducing the risk of lithium-ion battery fire on 26 February is great. It has been a real talking point for us, and we are taking steps to review what we have on our sites that may contain lithium-ion batteries. We also asked our retail stores to check the tablets that are used for team member to sign in/out on and out of 15 stores that had responded so far, 6 were found their tablets to be bulging. I was also talking with our relationship manager at Crown Forklifts last week to check what type of batteries our forklifts have, and they asked why I was asking about lithium-ion batteries, so I told them that it was all based on the email from Safety First and they were impressed by this. Well done to the Safety First team!”