James Mountain explores the various fire risks associated with the use of industrial vehicles and how to protect your people, assets, and environments.
For businesses operating within highrisk industries, such as manufacturing, mining, or agriculture, the everyday use of industrial vehicles is commonplace. Forklifts, self-propelled vehicles, and tractors are all examples of vehicles which are essential to the day-to-day operations of these businesses. However, for operations to run smoothly, there is little room for any period of delay or downtime. This means vehicles are often in constant use, posing several key fire risks, which all need to be addressed and mitigated to ensure site safety.
What are the risks associated with industrial vehicles?
Electrical failures
The UK’s ongoing sustainability shift towards the increased use of electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles (EVs and HEVs) means that more and more industrial fleets are experiencing the ‘electrification’ process. Businesses are actively seeking to reduce their carbon footprint and increase the sustainability of their operations, and EVs and HEVs can provide the perfect opportunity for that.
However, these vehicles bring about new safety risks – the primary risk being that of thermal runaway. Thermal runaway is a state involving the chemical reaction resulting from a failure within the battery’s cells, which causes a rapid temperature increase. If a battery enters thermal runaway, the propagation process will quickly become more or less self-sustained, as the battery begins to produce its own oxygen to further propel the fire. Electrical faults, such as overheating, overcharging, or short-circuiting can all lead to this state of thermal runaway.
Aside from EVs and HEVs, industrial vehicles also often have a large number of various electrical components, meaning they are subject to similar fire risks.
High-risk environments
Many industrial vehicles operate in demanding high-risk environments, including amongst hot works, close to flammable materials, or other material storage. As such, there are a myriad of factors that could pose significant fire risks.
When working with hot works, for example, vehicles can be exposed to multiple ignition sources. Works such as welding, soldering, grinding, or cutting may give off stray sparks from time to time. These sparks can cause any surrounding combustible materials to ignite, and they can also cause significant damage to assets and vehicles.
Infrequent cleaning or maintenance
Over time, due to constant use to fulfill tightly packed work schedules, industrial vehicles can become clogged as a result of dust buildup. In large warehouses or mines, this is particularly common and can bring about increased fire safety risks. Additionally, a lack of maintenance can also result in the deteriorated performance of industrial vehicles, as mechanical faults, electrical faults, or other fire warning signs may go unnoticed for longer periods of time. If unmonitored, these faults present significant fire risks.
Unattended fuel spills from the vehicles themselves, either due to a lack of maintenance or from flammable liquids being transported around the site, also present significant fire hazards. If fuel spills are not cleaned, they can interfere with a vehicle’s performance and bring about increased fire risks to the vehicles, endangering teams and assets in the process.
Arson
Arson is often overlooked when it comes to ensuring the safety of industrial vehicles. Albeit less common, this is still a significant cause of vehicle fires across the UK. Unattended or unsecured vehicles are at increased risk of arson, as criminals will often target these.
Reducing the risks and ensuring site safety
If you own or manage a fleet of industrial vehicles, there are a number of practical steps you can take to safeguard your teams, assets and ensure minimal downtime:
Select the right fire protection and suppression solution
Your vehicle’s fire protection and suppression solution should be tailored to its individual risks and uses. There are a number of different factors to consider here:
- Electric or hybrid-electric vehicles - if you operate with EVs or HEVs, your vehicle’s suppression solutions should reflect that. They should be specifically designed to prevent the battery from entering thermal runaway, or delay this state where prevention isn’t possible. A failing battery will vent its over-pressure as a pre-stage to thermal runaway – it is at this point that your EV/HEV suppression solution should act to initiate battery cooling to mitigate or delay the risk of thermal runaway. When prevention isn’t possible, delaying the progression to thermal runaway is crucial for enabling the safe evacuation of passenger and operator.
- Monitor the risks - conducting a regular risk assessment on your vehicles and their uses will help you to identify any risks they may be exposed to. This will enable you to implement the most effective fire suppression solution and ensure maximum fire safety.
Consistently monitor the vehicle's surroundings
The environment in which your industrial vehicles operates plays a pivotal role in the effectiveness of your fire suppression solutions. It’s important to continually monitor this environment to mitigate the risks you face:
- High risk environments - you should ensure vehicles are not in operation in close proximity to active high-risk works, such as hot works.
- Materials storage - all storage surrounding the vehicle’s environment should be monitored carefully and the storage of any flammable liquids should be kept away from vehicle operations to mitigate the risk of stray sparks causing a fire.
- Risk assessments - a regular fire risk assessment will highlight any new or evolving risks which may compromise your site’s safety. By carrying out the recommendations from these assessments, you can stay on top of the risks arising from your vehicle’s surroundings, safeguarding both your assets and your people.
Keep up to date with regular vehicle and site cleaning and maintenance
Keeping on top of regular vehicle cleaning and maintenance is essential to reduce dust build up and enable quick identification of any mechanical or electrical malfunctions, before they present a larger safety risk. There are a number of steps which can be taken to ensure this:
- Temperature monitoring - as industrial vehicles are in constant use, the ongoing monitoring of temperatures can help to prevent the risk of overheating.
- Vehicle charging - any vehicle charging should take place away from other operations, as it may cause sparks when connecting and disconnecting from power supplies which can provide an ignition source for any surrounding flammable materials.
- Site cleanliness - prompt cleaning of any fuel or flammable liquid spills is important to prevent ongoing risk to vehicle operations.
Implement key security measures to protect your plant and equipment
Although arson is a less pertinent risk, it is still important to put the appropriate measures in place to mitigate this. This lies with your site’s security and storage protocols:
- Secure your premises - ensure your site is secured from the outside whenever it is unattended. You should also keep any valuables locked within the site and ensure any externally stored materials are kept away from the site’s perimeter.
- Store flammable materials away - any flammable materials or other potential fire accelerants should be locked within your site when it is not in operation to prevent ease of access for any intruders.
- Restrict area access - access to any storage areas should be monitored carefully, and these should be secured when left unattended or not in use.
- Encourage team reporting - share the importance of safety with your teams, and encourage them to have open conversations with you about any concerns they may have regarding suspicious behaviour on or around your site.
Industrial vehicles are an asset to any high-risk industry, but they should be managed carefully.
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James Mountain is Sales and Marketing Director at Fire Shield Systems.