Battery storage site commissioned without on site fire water provision, concern raised before any incident

What happened

In 2018 a grid connected battery energy storage site in the UK was built and commissioned to operating status. An engineering practitioner later raised a formal concern through a UK collaborative safety reporting scheme, stating that there was no fire hydrant within 90 metres of the site, the nearest being about 1.7 kilometres away, and that no emergency water supply had been provided on site. The reporter stated that the absence of accessible firefighting water had not been identified during consultation with the local fire and rescue service, nor at the design and approval stages.

The scheme's expert panel reviewed the concern and published it with commentary in 2023. No fire occurred at the site, and the matter was recorded as a fire response vulnerability identified before any incident.

Contributing factors

As stated by the reporter and the reviewing expert panel: (1) the general building fire safety guidance applied, Approved Document B, was considered not always sufficient for battery specific fire hazards, and the reporter's view was that such sites fall outside the common building situations the guidance addresses; (2) the fire and rescue service consultation carried out for the project did not identify the water supply gap, although consultation was the intended route for fire response considerations to be raised; (3) the reporter considered that suggestions to treat attenuation ponds as an emergency water supply were not an adequate substitute for dedicated fire water provision; (4) the reporter also noted that site safety signage was inadequate, with 'Danger of Death' signage not displayed on the required yellow background, which the reporter regarded as a separate departure from the Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002.

Lessons learned

1. Battery storage sites need dedicated fire water within 90 metres. Operators must confirm hydrant access in writing before commissioning.
2. General building fire guidance may not cover battery thermal runaway. Check and add site specific water supply where it falls short.

More lessons on fire suppression and firefighting, worker safety and safe systems of work, from every incident on the register.

Not yet known

• Exact site location
• Battery model and age
• Fire water volume required

This entry is updated when these are reported. Get an alert for the next one like it.

Standards referenced

Approved Document B

Source

cross-safety.org