Lithium-ion fire safety in aged care and hospitals: where residents can't just run

In most homes, the fire-safety plan for a battery fire is simple: get out and call 000. In aged care and hospitals, that plan runs into a hard reality, many residents and patients cannot get out quickly, or at all. When people can't self-evacuate, containing a fire in its first minutes stops being a nice-to-have and becomes the whole game.

The threat in these settings is often the smoke, not the flame. A failing lithium-ion battery vents dense, toxic gas (Larsson et al., 2017), and testing has shown a battery device fire in a shared escape route can make that route impassable in under three minutes (Association of Retirement Housing Managers [ARHM], n.d.). In a building of people who move slowly, three minutes is not long.

The devices to watch

Care settings are full of lithium-ion batteries: mobility scooters and powered wheelchairs (some of the largest batteries in the building, often charged where the resident sleeps), profiling beds and recliners, medical and monitoring equipment, and residents' own phones, tablets and devices. The Department of Veterans' Affairs has specifically warned about fires linked to mobility aids charged or handled incorrectly (Department of Veterans' Affairs [DVA], n.d.).

What good practice looks like

• Keep charging out of escape routes. Never charge scooters or devices in corridors, near fire doors or by exits. This single rule addresses the biggest life-safety risk (ARHM, n.d.).
• Keep a device and charging register. Know which residents have scooters or high-capacity devices, where they charge, and on what circuits.
• Set a charging policy. Compliant chargers only, no unattended overnight charging where practical, and damaged batteries removed and isolated.
• Train staff. Recognising warning signs, and a clear plan that prioritises moving residents and calling 000 over fighting a developed fire.
• Equip strategically. Position lithium-ion fire equipment near charging and storage points to contain a small, early fire while residents are moved.

None of this replaces your statutory fire-safety measures; it sits alongside them, aimed at the specific risk lithium-ion batteries bring into a building of vulnerable people. Treated seriously, with a policy, a register and trained staff, it's a very manageable risk.