Safety Advice NRA22-04 – URGENT – Quarantine Certain Lithium-Ion LED Work Lights
OVERVIEW
Investigation of the fire which destroyed a building at Network Rail’s Northampton depot on 28 June has indicated a particular model of LED site light may be the cause. Evidence shows the fire started where Lithium Ion batteries from a Ledlenser IF8R task light were being charged. The fire could have started from the charging cable/plug or the batteries themselves. It is clear that the initial fire was made more intense by the batteries.
The lights were fairly new but depot staff had already changed how and where they charged the batteries because they became hot. The team had stopped charging them in vehicles and were charging them in the depot stores, positioned vertically rather than flat side down to limit heat transfer.
IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED
- Temporarily suspend purchase or use of any Ledlenser IF8R task lights.
- Quarantine all existing lights of this model. The battery should be removed from the light unit and both the light and battery should be placed in your usual quarantine area.
- Whilst in quarantine the battery must not be inside a metal container or allow contact with other battery terminals.
This type of lighting falls outside the product acceptance process and is classified as an ancillary item.
The i-Store catalogue number for this light is 0111/122069 (and 0111/122068, a duplicate). It was added to the catalogue when standard products were refreshed in September 20 Since then at least 79 have been purchased in i-Store. But some customers, and members of Network Rail’s supply chain may have ordered others through another supplier.
There is no indication that other models of LithiumIon worklights have the same problem.