Lithium-Ion Fire Risk in Australian Warehouses 2026: Forklifts, Storage and Your Dangerous Goods Obligations

Walk through any modern Australian warehouse and you'll find lithium-ion batteries in places they weren't five years ago. The forklift fleet has gone electric. The pallet jacks charge on the floor between shifts. Cordless power tools sit on chargers in the workshop. Staff bring e-bikes and e-scooters in and plug them in near the lunchroom. And in a growing number of facilities, the stock itself — batteries, power banks, devices, energy storage units — is lithium-ion.

Each of these is a small ignition source. Put enough of them under one roof, alongside racking, packaging and stock, and you have a fire risk profile that base-building sprinklers and a standard ABE extinguisher were never designed for. Lithium-ion fires behave differently: they self-sustain through thermal runaway, they reignite, and they release toxic, flammable gas.

This guide covers what's actually driving the risk in a warehouse setting, where your legal obligations sit, what insurers increasingly expect, and the practical first-response equipment that belongs on your floor.

Why warehouses are now a named risk

Lithium-ion battery fires are no longer a fringe concern for industrial operators. WorkSafe Victoria explicitly identifies transport, logistics and warehousing among the sectors most exposed to the risks of using, storing and charging lithium-ion equipment. Fire and Rescue NSW has called portable lithium-ion batteries a leading fire hazard in workplaces, not just homes.

The reason is simple: warehouses concentrate the three highest-risk activities — charging, storage, and damage — in one busy, high-value environment.

Risk 1: Forklift and material handling equipment charging

This is the big one, and it's the one most operators underestimate.

Forklifts, pallet jacks and other material handling equipment are rapidly transitioning from lead-acid to lithium-ion. Lithium equipment typically relies on "opportunity charging" — instead of one central charging room, charging stations are spread out across the storage area so operators can top up quickly between tasks.

That convenience is also the hazard. Decentralised charging means the ignition risk is no longer contained to a single room you can isolate and protect. It's distributed across your whole floor, often right next to racking, stock and walkways.

International risk engineers recommend that interior charging areas be arranged to limit exposure to the rest of the facility — ideally along an exterior wall with outside access, enclosed where possible with fire-rated construction, so that crews can fight a fire or remove burning equipment without it spreading. That's the gold standard for a fixed charging bay. But opportunity charging, by design, works against it.

The realistic control for distributed charging points is layered: good battery and charger certification, operator training to spot the early signs of thermal runaway, and accessible first-response equipment at the charging point itself.

Risk 2: Stored batteries are Dangerous Goods

Here's the obligation a lot of operators miss. A battery inside a tool or a forklift is just equipment. But once batteries are held as standalone stored units — in a warehouse, distribution centre, recycling facility or similar — they are legally treated as Dangerous Goods and attract obligations under state and territory legislation.

In Victoria, for example, lithium-ion batteries fall under the Dangerous Goods (Storage and Handling) Regulations 2022. Schedule 2 sets out a Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking's obligations based on how much you store, using thresholds such as Placard Quantity, Manifest Quantity and Fire Protection Quantity. Cross a threshold and you trigger placarding, manifest, notification and fire-protection duties.

Other states apply their own dangerous goods frameworks, and there's a growing body of guidance to draw on, including Fire and Rescue NSW technical information on large-scale battery fire safety, Fire Rescue Victoria's battery energy storage system guideline, and AS/NZS 5139:2019 for energy storage installation.

The takeaway: if you store batteries as stock or as spares in any volume, this is a compliance question, not just a safety nicety. It's worth a formal assessment.

Risk 3: Damage, abuse and the everyday environment

Warehouses are rough on batteries. Lithium cells can enter thermal runaway when overcharged, damaged or abused — and "abuse" in a warehouse context includes dropping, crushing, piercing, vibration and exposure to heat. The NSW Resources Regulator has documented a steady rise in fires from lithium battery powered tools, including incidents where a battery shorted simply because it was free to move in a tool bag.

Add summer heat in an un-airconditioned shed, forklifts knocking pallets, and damaged returns sitting in a quarantine area, and you have plenty of routes to ignition that have nothing to do with charging.

What insurers now expect

Commercial property and contents insurers are increasingly asking about lithium-ion risk controls at renewal. Insurer risk bulletins now recommend that facilities keep accessible incident response kits near equipment — fire-rated blankets, heat-resistant gloves, non-combustible containment, and suitable suppression media — and that operators are trained to recognise thermal runaway and respond quickly.

In practice this means two things for your premium and your claim position: having the right controls can help at renewal, and not having them after a known, well-publicised risk can hurt you if you ever need to claim.

The practical first-response layer

Engineered suppression and base-building systems matter, but they're slow and expensive to change. The fast, affordable layer that closes the gap is portable response equipment positioned where the risk actually is:

• EV fire blankets at forklift charging bays and over high-risk storage, to contain a fire and limit spread while crews respond. Shop EV Fire Blankets
• Lithium-ion rated fire extinguishers kept accessible near charging points and workshops, designed for lithium-ion battery fires rather than relying on a general-purpose unit. Shop EV Fire Extinguishers
• Containment bags for damaged, swollen or quarantined batteries and devices, so a compromised cell can be isolated safely. Shop Containment Bags
• Fire curtains to isolate charging areas or battery stores where fixed construction isn't practical.

Browse the full Industrial EV Fire Solutions range.

A simple action plan for your site

1. Map your lithium-ion footprint — forklifts and chargers, power tools, stored battery stock, staff e-mobility devices, energy storage.
2. Check whether stored quantities trigger dangerous goods obligations in your state. If you're near a threshold, get a formal assessment.
3. Position response equipment at the risk — blankets and extinguishers at charging points, containment for damaged cells.
4. Train your team to recognise early thermal runaway signs and to act, not improvise.
5. Document it for your insurer and your WHS records.

Lithium-ion isn't going to leave your warehouse — it's only going to grow. The operators who get ahead of it now will be the ones with a clean compliance file, a happier insurer, and equipment on the wall before they ever need it.

Want help specifying the right kit for your site? Request a quote and we'll tailor a solution to your facility's risk profile.

This article is general information, not legal or compliance advice. Dangerous goods obligations vary by state and by quantity stored — confirm your specific duties with a qualified dangerous goods consultant or your state regulator.