The Damaged Lithium Battery Handling SOP

Purpose

This procedure takes a swollen, cracked, leaking or overheated lithium battery from wherever it is found to a recycler that accepts damaged batteries, without it ever sitting in a van cab, a dumpster or a pile of other batteries. It exists because a damaged cell can go into thermal runaway hours or days after the damage, and the places a busy shop naturally puts a dead pack (the trash, a shelf of spares, the passenger seat) are exactly the places that turn a bad cell into a vehicle or building fire. The mechanism and the damage signs are taught in the reference card; this is what the shop does about it. See related: Lithium-Ion Batteries in Tools, Vans and Customer Equipment.

Scope

Covers: tool packs, phone and tablet batteries, laptop packs, and small device batteries showing any damage sign, whether the shop's own or a customer's the shop has agreed to take, up to the size that fits the shop's damage container with 2 inches of cover on every side.

Does not cover:

• A battery that is on fire or actively venting smoke. That is a fire, and the response is distance and 911, not this procedure. This SOP resumes only once the fire service has finished.
• Intact end-of-life packs with no damage sign. Those tape, box and go to universal waste recycling under EPA's universal waste rule (40 CFR Part 273). See related: Universal Waste Explained for a Service Shop.
• E-bike, scooter, mower and installed storage batteries too large for the container, and any vehicle traction battery. The tech documents, advises the customer, and does not transport them.
• Lead-acid batteries, which have their own handling. See related: Lead-Acid Batteries From UPS, Sump Backups and Vehicles.

Roles and responsibilities

The procedure

1. Read the battery from a distance before touching it

Stand at least 6 ft away, upwind, and look and listen for 30 seconds. Acceptance: no smoke, no hiss or crackle, no flame, no sweet solvent smell, and the swelling (if any) is not visibly growing. What wrong looks like: any smoke, any hiss, any jet of vapor. Stop rule: get everyone out of the room or away from the vehicle, close the door behind you if it is indoors, and call 911 if it is in a structure or a vehicle; do not pick it up to carry it outside, because a venting pack can flare in your hands. Hazard at this step: the vented gas is flammable and contains hydrogen fluoride, so stay out of the smoke entirely; nobody approaches a venting battery in any protective equipment the shop issues.

2. Cut power and free the battery without pressing on it

Put on safety glasses and leather or heat-resistant gloves. If it is on a charger, switch off or unplug the charger at the wall first, then lift the pack off by its housing with gloved hands or insulated tongs. If it is in a tool, release the latch and slide it out. Acceptance: the battery is free of every charger and device, or, where it cannot come out without force (a swollen phone or laptop battery glued in), the whole device is treated as the battery from here on. What wrong looks like: a pack that has to be pried, squeezed or levered out. Stop rule: do not pry; take the device whole. Hazard: pressing on a swollen cell can rupture it, so no squeezing, no prying, no flexing, and hands stay out of the line of the swollen face.

3. Set it down outdoors and prove it is not heating

Carry it outdoors to bare, shaded concrete, gravel or soil at least 10 ft from anything that burns, and not in the van. Take an infrared thermometer reading of the battery and of the same surface 2 ft away, then repeat 15 minutes later. Acceptance: on both readings the battery is within 10 F of the surface reference, and the second reading is not higher than the first. What wrong looks like: more than 10 F over the surface, or any rise between readings. Stop rule: leave it exactly where it is, keep a 25 ft clear zone around it, tell the office, and re-read every 15 minutes until two consecutive readings both pass; if smoke appears at any point, step 1's stop rule governs and you call 911. Hazard: stand upwind and read from about 3 ft, which the thermometer allows, rather than leaning over the pack.

4. Contain it in sand or vermiculite in a steel pail

Pour 2 inches of dry sand or vermiculite into a steel pail, set the battery in the center, and pour more until it is covered by 2 inches on top and at every side. Tape exposed terminals first with non-conductive tape only where that needs no pressure on the housing. Put the lid on loose. Acceptance: 2 inches of cover all round, one battery per pail, lid resting and not sealed. What wrong looks like: a battery touching the metal wall, two batteries in one pail, a gasketed or clamped lid. Stop rule: re-pour until the cover is met; a battery that will not fit with full cover is out of scope and stays where it is with the customer advised. Hazard: the lid stays unsealed because a venting cell pressurizes a sealed can; pour the media low and outdoors so you are not breathing its dust.

5. Label the pail before it moves

Mark the lid and the side: "DAMAGED LITHIUM BATTERY - DO NOT CHARGE - DO NOT TRASH", the date, the job or source, and the tech's initials. Acceptance: both labels legible from 3 ft. What wrong looks like: an unlabeled pail, which in a week is an anonymous can of sand somebody tips into the dumpster. Stop rule: no unlabeled pail goes in the van. Hazard: none at this step beyond the pail itself, which is handled closed and upright.

6. Transport it in the cargo area, never the cab

Take one more temperature reading through the open lid immediately before loading. Acceptance: still within 10 F of ambient air. Load it upright in the cargo area, strapped or wedged so it cannot tip, away from gas cylinders, fuel and chemicals, and drive it directly to the shop with no stop where the van sits closed in sun. What wrong looks like: a reading over 10 F before loading, or the smell or sight of smoke while driving. Stop rule: over 10 F, return to step 3; smoke en route, pull over away from buildings and other vehicles, switch off, everyone out, call 911, and do not reopen the cargo doors to retrieve it. Hazard: the cab is excluded because nobody can get away from a battery fire in the seat beside them. Carriage of hazardous materials in the van generally is covered elsewhere. See related: Hazardous Materials in the Service Van.

7. Hold it outdoors or in the non-combustible holding spot

At the shop, place the pail in the designated holding spot: outdoors on concrete at least 10 ft from the building and from parked vehicles, or in a dedicated steel cabinet if the yard is not secure. Enter it on the holding log. Acceptance: logged, labeled, checked at the start of each working day by the shop lead, and shipped within 30 days. What wrong looks like: a pail inside the building on a wooden shelf, or a pail older than 30 days. Stop rule: move the misplaced pail outdoors now; an overdue pail goes to the recycler this week. Hazard: check the pail by sight and by a lid-off thermometer reading, and if it has warmed or smells of solvent, treat it as step 3 failing.

8. Hand it to a recycler that accepts damaged batteries

Use only a recycler that states in writing it accepts damaged, defective or swollen lithium batteries; most retail drop-off programs refuse them. Repack to the recycler's instructions. Shipping damaged lithium batteries by carrier is regulated under the DOT rules at 49 CFR 173.185 for damaged and defective cells, and the recycler or carrier specifies the packaging. Acceptance: a receipt or shipping record naming the battery and the date. What wrong looks like: the pail going out with the general trash or the intact-battery box. Stop rule: if no recycler will take it this month, it stays in holding and the shop lead escalates to the owner. Hazard: repack outdoors, after a lid-off temperature reading passes step 3's 10 F test.

The record this produces

One line on the holding log per battery, which is also what an insurer or fire investigator will ask for: date and time found, where (job address or shop), battery type and owner, damage sign seen, step 3 readings with the surface reference and times, the time it cleared, container label date, the date it entered holding, the recycler and the receipt date. The tech fills in steps 1 to 6 on the job ticket; the shop lead closes the line at step 8 and files the receipt against it. The owner reads it quarterly: two damaged packs from the same van in a quarter is a charging problem, not bad luck.

Worked pass: a swollen pack found on a summer afternoon

A tech on a 2 pm call opens the van's cargo doors and sees a drill pack in its tool case with a visibly bulged side. Air temperature is 88 F.

• Step 1, pass. From 6 ft for 30 seconds: no smoke, no hiss, no smell, bulge not changing.
• Step 2, pass. Gloves and glasses on. The pack was not on a charger; latched in a case, it slides out by its housing without force.
• Step 3, fail. On shaded driveway concrete 30 ft from the house and the van. First reading: pack 104 F, surface 2 ft away 88 F. 104 minus 88 is 16 F, over the 10 F gate. The stop rule applies: pack left in place, 25 ft clear zone, office told, tech reads from upwind at 3 ft every 15 minutes. At 15 minutes: 101 F against 88 F, 13 F over, still failing (though falling). At 30 minutes: 96 F, 8 F over and lower than the reading before, first pass. At 45 minutes: 94 F, 6 F over and lower again, second consecutive pass. Cleared 45 minutes after the first reading.
• Step 4, pass. Steel pail, 2 inches of sand under, pack centered, 2 inches on top and sides, lid loose.
• Step 5, pass. Both labels written with date, job number and initials.
• Step 6, pass. Pre-load reading 91 F against 88 F air, 3 F over. Strapped in the cargo area, away from the cylinder rack, driven straight to the shop.
• Step 7, pass. Logged into outdoor holding at 4:40 pm.
• Step 8, pass. Shipped to the shop's damaged-battery recycler 9 days later, inside the 30-day limit; receipt filed.

The office moved the tech's next call by an hour, which is the real cost of step 3 failing and the reason it has a stop rule rather than a judgment call. The tech's instinct on finding a warm pack was to drop it in a pail of sand and get going. Containing a battery that is still heating puts a rising heat source inside a can in a closed van, which is the exact fire this procedure exists to prevent.

The owner then read the log: the pack had been charged on the van inverter the night before in a vehicle parked in sun, the same root cause the shop's charging rule already prohibits. The rule was re-briefed at the next huddle.

References

• 49 CFR 173.185, transport of lithium cells and batteries, including damaged and defective cells
• 40 CFR Part 273, universal waste batteries
• Battery and tool manufacturer guidance on damaged packs
• See related: Lithium-Ion Batteries in Tools, Vans and Customer Equipment
• See related: Hazardous Materials in the Service Van