While new and emerging risks often capture attention with their novelty, many of the most severe dangers at your site may stem from human error or inadequate procedures. Here are seven hazards that might be going unnoticed at your factory, industrial site, warehouse, or distribution center.
1 Smartphone distractions
Although smartphones can improve safety in various workplace scenarios, they may also diminish attention spans, leading to slower reaction times when immediate decision-making is crucial.
“Smartphones can reduce situational awareness when a delay of only seconds in tackling a malfunction or hazardous situation could make a difference to any subsequent damage or business interruption, not to mention the impact on human life,” says Ryan Du, Risk Consulting Manager, Property, Asia Pacific, at Allianz Commercial. “If an employee tasked with monitoring an alarm panel takes their eye off the ball because they’re focused on their phone, they might miss a vital visual cue or audible warning from an automated system. I’ve even heard of operators silencing alarm systems so they can play games on their phones.”
Smartphone distraction is no longer a phenomenon largely confined to younger people, says Du, who observes phone use growing on-site during working hours among older age groups when he carries out inspections for risk assessments. “Smartphones are increasingly visible – in the hands of receptionists at front desks, security guards inside guardhouses, chefs in kitchens, machinery operators, or staff on their way to the canteen for lunch. So, as well as the potential to undermine safety procedures by causing distractions, phone use can heighten slip, trip, and fall risks.”
Large industrial plants can be hazardous environments, with many moving parts, including vehicles and heavy machinery, so employees walking around the premises with their eyes on a phone could be subject to the same risks from on-site traffic as they would be on a busy street.
Jude Cross, Regional Head of Property, Asia Pacific, at Allianz Commercial, says: “Cellphones have been around for years, but businesses haven’t always taken into account how our usage of them has changed as technology advances and the lines blur between work and ‘life’. Risk managers would do well to check the extent and scope of their cellphone policy, particularly with high-hazard activities, and consider how to update these if necessary.”
2 The proliferation of personal devices
Along with smartphones, employees are using a growing number of personal electronic devices in the workplace. A common device is the use of e-cigarettes or Vapes. “These usually contain lithium-ion [li-ion] batteries that require charging. In addition, employees often use a laptop or tablet, which they might leave charging on a desk overnight.”
If incorrectly handled, charged, stored, or transported, the potential hazards from li-ion battery incidents can be fire, explosion, and ‘thermal runaway’ – a rapid self-heating fire that can cause an explosion. They can also produce irritating, corrosive, or poisonous gases that can cause an explosion in a confined space. While the dangers of li-ion batteries have been well documented and implicated in serious fires involving electric vehicles on board car carriers, attention should also be paid to their risks with personal devices.
“Inappropriate or unmanaged charging can present a fire risk, particularly in environments that are already combustible,” says Du. “We recommend training employees about the hazards associated with battery charging, along with installing physical protection, such as overcurrent protection, overloading protection at the power supply side, and suitable fire detection and protection for expected risks. Vaping is not as serious a fire risk as smoking, but it should still be considered a potential hazard.”
Cross adds: “Personal devices might be small, but the output of their batteries has been getting higher in recent years. When you consider the volume of devices now in common use, they collectively represent a significant increase in a company’s exposure to fire or explosion.”
Photo: Gudellaphoto / Adobe Stock
3 E-vehicles parking on your site
Commuters seeking to avoid urban congestion or cut emissions have increasingly turned to alternative modes of transport, including electric cars, e-bikes, and e-scooters. E-scooters have become a common feature of the urban landscape in many countries, while the take-up of electric cars is incentivized by some governments to help meet their net-zero goals.
However, similar to personal devices, electric vehicles contain lithium-ion batteries, which necessitate careful consideration in fire risk assessments when used, stored, or parked on industrial sites. The London Fire Brigade has warned that e-bikes and e-scooters remain the UK capital’s fastest growing fire risk, saying there was a 78% increase in e-bike fires in 2023. A fatal fire in eastern China, thought to be sparked by an e-bike, killed 15 people in a residential block in February (2024).
“We had a client who wanted to park electric cars inside a facility,” says Cross. “That would present a significant fire risk, particularly if cars are parked close together, as we know the nature of these fires can be to spread rapidly and fiercely. Sometimes e-vehicles can present an incidental risk – say a senior member of the team drives their car to the factory and wants to park it on site, or employees occasionally use their personal e-bikes to get to the plant, or travel around it, and fire safety policies are either inadequate or not adhered to.
“Mitigation measures should include training and education of staff about the risks, the provision of safe storage and charging facilities – preferably in an external location – and regularly updated risk assessments and e-vehicle policies,” Cross advises. “A comprehensive risk assessment should be carried out by professional fire safety engineers before any ad-hoc parking of EVs is introduced, or whenever the location or nature of this facility changes, with strict adherence to relevant protection and mitigation policies.”
4 Improperly stored industrial batteries
Batteries have a wide range of use cases in industrial facilities, warehouses, and distribution centers. Different battery technologies, including li-ion and lead-acid, can power material handling equipment such as forklifts, as well as industrial cleaning machines and mobile robots. For larger commercial buildings Battery Storage Systems (BESS) are used as a buffer power supply to mitigate power outages.
“These technologies will have various technical specifications and be subject to different safety regulations, but with their increased use, we have seen incidences of neglect when it comes to their safe usage, handling, and storage,” says Du.
A number of studies indicate the higher a battery’s state of charge (SOC), the more reactive it is in a fire, so li-ion batteries require special handling and storage. Du recommends the SOC does not exceed 60% for safe storage, transport, and handling. “We believe the SOC risk is underestimated in many facilities,” says Du. “We have seen batteries being stored against safety advice, such as on high, rather than low, racks, and mixed with other, potentially flammable, items without adequate space or the use of storage boxes. Educating staff about batteries’ SOC should be a priority, as well as implementing emergency response plans that are assessed and practised regularly
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