Lifejacket battery caught fire
- Safety Flash
- Published on 10 January 2022
- Generated on 17 September 2025
- IMCA SF 01/22
- 2 minute read
During an inspection on a vessel in cold lay-up, the lifejackets stored underneath a sitting bench in the wheelhouse were found burned and melted. No-one was harmed; apart from the jackets, nothing was damaged.
Burned lifejackets
The lamp used in the lifejackets
Lalizas 71209 lamp of lifejacket
What went wrong?
A Lithium battery (3.6v) had exploded in one of the self-igniting lights. As the bench was in a properly closed position, without any gaps, the fire could not spread due to a lack of oxygen. Therefore the fire was not detected and did not activate a fire alarm, as the smoke was contained inside the storage compartment. Investigation showed that the battery of the “Lalizas 71209” life jacket light had expired five months earlier.
A possible cause could be that this battery was exposed to moisture before the lay-up period and water ingress affected the battery content after the lifejacket was put back in storage.
Lessons and actions
- Store such equipment in a secure, dry and cool place away from flammable materials.
- Keep batteries of any kind away from metal objects to avoid short circuit between the terminals.
- Lithium batteries in your work place:
- Assess where Lithium batteries are present and check, if possible, the condition of the battery and cover.
- Verify the expiry date of the battery.
- Regularly inspect batteries of lifejacket lights and other devices like radios as per planned maintenance schedule.
- If batteries are expired or damaged, remove them and dispose of them properly.
- For laid-up vessels, it may be appropriate to consider whether or not to remove Lithium batteries and other hazardous materials from vessels before going onto lay-up.
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IMCA SF 25/16
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IMCA SF 23/19
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