Webinar surveys reveals that 16% of 450 organisations, including NHS sites, have had a lithium-ion battery fire incident.
Those attending a series of CPD accredited webinars on Lithium-ion battery safety, hosted by Firechief® Global, completed the survey, and while 16% admitted to having had an incident, 8% were unsure, while 76% said they had not.
Firechief® Global’s Matt Humby
The organisations surveyed included local authorities, NHS sites, and large corporate businesses as well as smaller SMEs. Most commonly, Lithium-ion battery fire incidents had occurred on manufacturing sites, hospitals and healthcare facilities; on waste management and recycling vehicles and sites, and in social housing and real estate premises.
Matt Humby, Senior Technical Consultant at Firechief® Global commented: “Although lithium-ion battery fires are relatively rare, they can be catastrophic when they do occur. As a fire safety business, we at Firechief® are often asked by businesses and other organisations about the safety of lithium-ion batteries and whose responsibility it is if there is a fire incident. Is it an insurance issue or a legal issue and how do fire risk assessments play a part?’
In Autumn 2023, a survey of over 500 organisations revealed that 85% had not undertaken a fire risk assessment for Lithium-ion battery devices on their premises.
To address these issues, the Firechief® Academy (the learning arm of Firechief® Global) is now planning to provide further insight to health and safety managers, facilities managers, heads of fire and safety; and persons responsible for a premises with the launch of its Burning Issues podcast series
Humby continues: “We really hope that our podcasts are going to be of interest and give a bit more of an understanding and education on this risk. We’re going to be talking to a number of special guests to give us a better insight; so we’re going to be looking at the risk from an insurance, legal and risk assessment perspective to provide further guidance and help.”
Guests lined up for the show include: Nick Tilley, Property Technical Risk Manager at AXA Insurance; Laura White, Senior Associate at Pinsent Masons law firm; and experienced risk assessor Graeme Warnell of EV-EXbox. The first three episodes will be available on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple from late November.
Humby will also be speaking on the FIREX Guidance & Expertise Stage and taking part in a panel discussion on the subject of Lithium-ion battery safety at Anticipate London on Tuesday 3 December.
