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New training from FSRI: Science of Fire and Explosion Hazards from Lithium-Ion Batteries

Underwriters Laboratories’ (UL’s) Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI) has just released a free, online training module, Science of Fire and Explosion Hazards from Lithium-Ion Batteries.

Lithium-ion battery-powered devices are everywhere. They can be found in consumer products like laptops, cell phones and power tools, on our roadways in electric vehicles, electric scooters and other electric mobility devices, and they are even being used to support the nation’s electric power grid.

Along with their increased use, fires involving various lithium-ion battery products have also increased at an alarming rate, resulting in numerous injuries and fatalities. Even when the initial cause of a fire was not the lithium-ion battery-powered device, the involvement of these batteries can increase the intensity and magnitude of the fire.

FSRI’s new online training draws on its foundational research conducted to date with lithium-ion batteries. The course aims to help firefighters better understand the physical phenomena that determine how hazards develop during lithium-ion battery incidents.

The lessons are supported by video footage from FSRI’s lithium-ion battery experiments which capture the physical phenomena and illustrate the hazards in action.

Firefighters can use the foundational understanding of the hazards gained from this course to develop strategies to mitigate the associated risks.

The course is estimated to take about one hour to complete. It is self-paced and offers a certificate of completion after successfully passing a short multiple-choice test.

Accessing the course requires a free account with FSRI’s Fire Safety Academy. Once logged into the Fire Safety Academy, visit the course page to launch the course.

You can learn more about FSRI’s ongoing research with lithium-ion batteries and access additional training related to this topic at FSRI.org.

(Source: FSRI)