TTSB urges mandatory reporting of battery fires

BURDEN OF POWER: Twelve of the 17 reported incidents of battery packs emitting smoke or catching fire have been reported on trains from June 2024 through June this year

• By Huang Yi-ching / Staff reporter

• • Add TT as Preferred Source

The Taiwan Transportation Safety Board (TTSB) yesterday called for mandatory reporting of fires involving power banks on public transportation, after a report uncovered 17 incidents in the past three years, including nine last year.

Mandatory reporting of power bank smoke or fire incidents is currently only required on aircraft operated by Taiwan-based airlines, meaning some incidents might not be recorded, the board said.

Authorities should mandate reporting of all power bank smoke or fire incidents to ensure more accurate data for effective safety analysis, the TTSB said.

Power banks are pictured in an undated photograph.

Photo: Taipei Times

To better track incidents of smoking or burning power banks across different types of transportation, the board on May 26 asked the Ministry of Transportation and Communications and transportation authorities in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung and Kaohsiung to provide data on such incidents.

From 2024 to June, 17 incidents of power banks smoking or catching fire were recorded, including nine last year, according to the data, which covered aircraft, boats, rail and commercial motor vehicles.

Twelve incidents occurred on railways, the highest among transportation modes, it showed.

One incident resulted in three injuries and three incidents resulted in one injury each, while the rest did not result in injury, it showed.

Seven incidents caused equipment damage to vehicles, mostly to seats and flooring.

Two of the power banks were charging when they caught fire or began emitting smoke, while two were not in use and four were connected to mobile phones at the time of the incident, the data showed.

The status of the power bank was not known in the nine other incidents.

On aircraft, flight attendants use water or another nonflammable liquid to cool down and isolate power banks when a fire occurs, the TTSB said.

In maritime, rail and commercial road transportation, crew members, conductors and drivers used fire extinguishers to respond immediately to incidents and promptly evacuated passengers, it said.

Immediate on-site intervention led to a fire being extinguished in most cases, preventing major casualties or further spread of the fire, the board said.

Mandatory reporting of power bank smoke or fire incidents is required for Taiwan-based airlines, but there are no equivalent reporting rules for other modes of transportation, meaning that some incidents might not have been recorded, TTSB Chairman Lin Shinn-der (林信得) said.

To effectively track the actual number of power bank incidents across public transportation, authorities should review their procedures and mandate compulsory reporting, he said.

Power banks are mass-market consumer goods, and managing their risks involves product testing, consumer protection and fire investigation, the TTSB said.

In Japan, power bank fire investigations and data analysis are handled by the Japanese Fire and Disaster Management Agency, while the Japanese National Institute of Technology and Evaluation and the Consumer Affairs Agency address product safety, consumer warnings and market surveillance, to manage risks at the source, it said.