IEC 60086-4:2025 specifies tests and requirements for primary lithium batteries to ensure their safe operation under intended use and reasonably foreseeable misuse.
What are the OSHA standards for lithium-ion batteries?
While there is not a specific OSHA standard for lithium-ion batteries, many of the OSHA general industry standards may apply, as well as the General Duty Clause (Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970). These include, but are not limited to the following standards:
Are lithium batteries covered by the general product safety regulation?
The General Product Safety Regulation covers safety aspects of a product, including lithium batteries, which are not covered by other regulations. Although there are harmonised standards under the regulation, we could not find any that specifically relate to batteries.
Are lithium batteries safe?
Lithium batteries are subject to various regulations and directives in the European Union that concern safety, substances, documentation, labelling, and testing. These requirements are primarily found under the Batteries Regulation, but additional regulations, directives, and standards are also relevant to lithium batteries.
While there are standards for the overall performance and safety of Lithium-ion batteries, there are as yet no UK standards specifically for their fire safety performance. IEC 62133 sets out requirements and tests for the safety and performance of Lithium-ion batteries in portable electronic devices, including cell phones, laptops and tablets.
What information should be included in the technical documentation of a lithium battery?
The technical documentation should contain information (e.g. description of the lithium battery and its intended use) that makes it possible to assess the lithium battery's conformity with the requirements of the regulation. The regulation lists the required documentation in Annex VIII.
Safety test standards are designed to ensure that certified LIBs have sufficiently low risks of safety accidents in specified kinds of thermal runaway induction and expansion situations. Battery safety standards are constantly being updated and optimized, because current tests cannot fully guarantee their safety in practical applications.