ENHANCING LITHIUM BATTERY SAFETY IN THE SKIES
Addressing the Risk
Throughout LiBASAC’s six-year history, some of the biggest challenges that have emerged include how to manage lithium battery incidents on board, non- compliance of battery shipments, and a gap in public awareness of the issue and how to mitigate it.
Inadequate Performance of Fire Containment Products 1 Thermal containment products, typically called fire or battery containment bags, are designed to contain and suppress fires that may occur in electronic devices, such as laptops or tablets, especially lithium-ion batteries prone to thermal runaway. A variety of these products are marketed to air carriers as a method to mitigate the risk of a thermal runaway incident on an aircraft, but not all those products perform well. Substandard safety equipment in critical environments creates an illusion of safety. With the stakes so high, the aviation industry needs to ensure they have reliable products to keep their crews and passengers safe. A published consensus-based U.S. National Standard for safety, The Standard for Safety for Battery Fire Containment Products (ANSI/CAN/UL 5800), was developed to help the airline industry reduce the safety risk posed by lithium batteries. Commonly referred to as UL 5800, it is a safety standard developed by 47 experts on aviation and fire safety and sets a benchmark for fire containment devices. In December 2024, the FAA Hughes Technical Center released a report summarizing their testing of a number of these devices. The abstract of the report states, “Testing suggests that some containment products cannot currently meet the airlines’ present expectations for product performance.” Testing findings demonstrate that certain fire containment bags used on aircraft do not meet performance standards to ensure the safety of passengers and crew. Testing showed that products certified to UL 5800 performed adequately. While there is room for improvement in the product, devices certified to UL 5800 are the best option available today. 3 Recommendation: Fire containment devices that meet UL 5800 performance standards should be on U.S. passenger and cargo carriers (those classified as part 121 aircraft).
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