Sounds good mate :smile: Thought that would be the case

Some advice on Stuff What Should You Do If Your Car Catches On Fire

More from Stuff on a Hybrid EV Involved In Highway Blaze On The Whagamoa and why do cars catch fire? Silly Car Question #51 Why Do Cars Catch Fire

Didn't spot this at the time, it does highlight why Lithium Ion batteries should be treated cautiously

Car gutted after battery sparks fire in Kerikeri

So push has come to shove on the boarder, with some Customs Workers having their employment contracts terminated because of their refusal to be vaccinated, it will be interesting to see where this goes.

ot us we carry them onto our customer sites as it is their site rules and short of not doing the work what would you suggest, and I will point out they are corporates.... — Don Ramsay

Hi Don
Certainly they can require you to carry a fire extinguisher, but they can't require you (or your team) to try and fight a fire with them.

Obliviously, if you were grinding a piece of metal, and a spark from that process ignited a fire in some adjacent rags, you would use an extinguisher to knock it down before it could spread. But if you were to rock up to one of their sites and find a vehicle well on fire, for the reasons I've outlined above, you would be very unwise to even approach the vehicle, much less try and put it out. The time would be better spent calling FENZ and getting them on the go, getting folk back from the fire and doing what you can to prevent it spreading..

Gee Steve, why do you think it's such a bad idea to leap in with the 1Kg or 2 Kg Fire Extinguisher that my boss had fitted to my car, if I see a vehicle on fire, or my company car catches fire while I'm driving it?

Grass Hopper, I'm glad you asked:

How to prep (for a vehicle fire)

So how do fire chiefs prepare for such an event in their response area?

First, firefighters must wear full PPE, including SCBA on all vehicle fires. Vehicles are built from many materials including steel, aluminum and composite resins. But they also contain plastics and synthetics that can off-gas cyanide and carcinogens as well as sulfuric acid, carbon nickel, copper, lithium or cobalt.

Vehicle fires can also take an unexpected turn of events, whether a tire that explodes and destabilizes the vehicle, a ruptured fuel tank or the ignition of some exotic contents kept in the trunk. That’s why PPE and SCBA are always essential for firefighter safety.

Next, while carefully approaching the vehicle, firefighters need to identify if it uses an alternative fuel or an electrified battery pack. Most manufacturers place an emblem on the trunk and sides that indicates if it is powered by fuel other than gasoline.

Finding the emblem in the dark may be difficult. Tesla recommends the use of a thermal imaging camera to scan any electric vehicle to see if the battery is overheating or burning.
Once identified, firefighters must size-up the emergency and establish priorities (rescue, extinguishment, extrication, patient care), immobilize the vehicle from any sudden movement and start handling the emergency according to the listed priorities.

Remember that after the emergency, there may also be a need for overhaul that involves extremely hazardous materials, so this may take a prolonged time to safely mitigate. — Robert Rielage

In the case of EV fires in particular, but even in ICE vehicle fires, heat build up is rapid, Dry Powder Extinguishers work by effectively suppressing a fire by staving it of oxygen, but they do not provide any cooling. So really easy for the fire to reflash and get going again.

Getting people out of the crashed vehicle and away from it, contacting FENZ and keeping well meaning (and not so well meaning) Lookie Lous and the social media set away, would be a better option.

https://line.17qq.com/articles/kwnngqky.html

Why would you expect cars coming onto your site to carry a fire extinguisher. — Andrew

Not a problem carrying one, as part of the Franchise purchase, I had to buy one, spent it's entire service life in the box it came in, safely stored in a bin in the back of the van i used to run my test & tag business out of the back of. Used to have to show it to my Franchisor every year as a part of my compliance audit.

If you are going to drag a fire extinguisher round, at least make it worthwhile, get a Dry Powder one, 5Kg Minimum with a wand. I'd carry a large fire blanket too - Be aware fire extinguishers should be checked by a competent person annually, arguably it might be prudent to do six monthly checks, they have a date of first fill stamped into them, as pressure vessels under NZS 4503:2005 they must have a pressure test every five years, cost generally means at this point they are taken out of service and a replacement purchased. .

Better have a policy that vehicle drivers are not to wear any nylon or polyester clothes that might melt into the skin of wanabe flick the fire fighters, some PPE along the lines of flame retardant gloves and a hood/balaclava would be sensible, going onsite presumably your team would have boots/closed toe shoes

Having said all that, a functional fire extinguisher in a vehicle may one day be very, very useful and is a pro-active safety measure. Rural work location is a good reason for fitting extra safety kit and if a person is competent to drive the vehicle, being able to make a safety assessment prior to then correctly operating a "pull pin and squeeze" fire extinguisher is not a biggy. — Benjamin Basevi

How many vehicle fires have you successfully extinguished with the size of fire extinguisher fitted in the average car/van/ute Ben?

My experiences in seeing a car on fire ahead of me, stopping and trying to stop it (along with other well meaning souls) is that it was a complete waste of time at best.

These weren't my first rodeos, when you join the Navy, you do a basic firefighting/damage control course, each time you get promoted, you do another, plus workups, even did a maintainers course . Franchise I brought into, decided that servicing/selling fire extinguishers would be a terrific money making plan, another mini course (the kind that companies would send their staff on)

As a consequence of my experience, I agree with Andrew, where fires are concerned, getting the flock out of Dodge is the best scheme

We just need to step back to our risk management approach. If you are providing fire extinguishers then you are saying you expect a person to use them in a fire situation. I don't have that expectation. If there is a fire I expect our people to walk away, and stay clear. That's is what insurance is for. — Andrew

Exactly Andrew, in another life I managed two different plastic recycling plants, insurance companies insisted that fire hoses be provided, totally redundant as toxic smoke that would be present in a fire and abundance of heavy current extruders and granulators would make any kind of fire fighting without training and breathing apparatus too dangerous to merit any kind of consideration

Under the Portable Fire Equipment Standard NZS 4503:2005, if you provide extinguishers etc, you provide training in the safe and effective use of that equipment.

Maily online inductions and the like, they want individual emails and I am not handing out personal emails or cell phone numbers. most are pretty good about it but some just have their way of doing things and everyone must conform. — Don Ramsay

And if you reuse a number/email their system spits the dummy, could always ask the team to register an email addy, wouldn't use gmail, but there other free ones. They can use it as a spam trap for all the "give us an email to enter the draw" and only need to monitor it as and when they are doing a course where it's been requested.

I may be overthinking this but how does the disclosure of email addresses and phone numbers for the purposes of inductions sit with the privacy act. I only ask as we do not have company phones or emails thus the information is personal. — Don Ramsay

Or are you talking you and your team rocking up to another companies site, doing an induction for that site, and as a part of that being asked for "your" contact details Don? I'd give them your employers number/email if you don't have a company cell and email

In New Zealand, Registered electrical workers, Electricians, Electrical Service Technicians, Electrical Appliance Serviceperson etc are all required to complete a biannual Electrical Refresher and First Aid Refresher.

This has been in place since the mid 1990's, at each one I've done since then, I've asked one question, "what has been the reduction in numbers of qualified electrical workers killed or injured in electrical incidents in the last 24 months?" Like the overall workplace death rate, it hasn't changed.

That said, the three most lethal items of equipment to be found in many workplaces are forklifts, motor vehicles , and angle grinders, so I favour better training and independent testing for forklift operators, defensive driving courses for all drivers of company vehicles and where possible, removal or restrictions on size and use of AGs, along with their competent test and tag.

Test Your Reactions

This simulation puts you in the driver's seat of a car. You're driving down a road, when you see a big red hand flash in front of you,

You have to put on the brakes.

Then, the Reaction Time Test tells you how old you are, when it comes to driving.

Test Your Reactions


Bet you try more than once! :razz:

This set of courses might be of interest too, and can be completed extra-murally

Industrial Battery Electric Vehicle Maintenance Course

NSW SafeWork EV Hazard Info

If you see the standard of some of the forklift drivers we see, you'll understand why they need to be retrained. Some companies have only a few drivers and the supervisor or owner doesn't necessarily know best practice. — Darren Cottingham

That would be fine if they were getting "retrained", or indeed had been trained in the first place, but with some courses, it's the tick and flick accompanied by CU in three years. What would be of benefit, would be an independent examiner, same as Driver License. Student FL driver attends your course and then gets tested by someone else.

HSNOCOP 42 Storage of Class 3.1 substances in retail stores conforming to AS/NZS 3833
Approved: May 2010

The purpose of the code is to overcome the restriction of 2350 litres of flammable liquids that can be kept in a retail store without the need to comply with specified separation distances. Retailers have found it impossible to keep stocks below this figure in the new large format retail stores and typical stock levels can be up to about 10,000 litres.

This code can be purchased from New Zealand Retailers Association Incorporated: www.retail.org.nz

You can also view a hard copy of the Code at our office in Wellington.

https://www.epa.govt.nz/industry-areas/hazardous-substances/rules-for-hazardous-substances/codes-of-practice-for-hazardous-substances/

This might be of interest Michael

UK Transport Engineer - EV Safety In The Workshop

Above In PDF

Video - EV workshop safety according to French standard UTE C18-550.

Hi Brendon
Here are some links that might be of interest

Workshop Air Quality Heath n Safety

HSE Vehicle Exhaust Emissions

MDPI Paper- Indoor Air Quality In Auto Repair Shop

Presume you've searched WorkSafe, but JIC

Working Together To Reduce Carbon Monoxide

We need to be doing environment testing first and foremost to make sure our employees aren't being exposed to anything dangerous. If we find they are we should work hard to improve our risk management. That is, putting in proper controls. — Andrew

Absolutely Andrew, that's a given. But there will plenty of workers like Sherie's that may have been exposed to substances previously, or that may be exposed to a potentially damaging substance by virtue of the industry that they work in. Some examples could be Asbestos Removal, Concrete Grinding/Cutting, Stone Bench Top Manufacturers. Again, responsible employers will try and engineer solutions to separate them from those substances, but there may have to be some reliance on PPE

I was able to bring up a hearing check from 25 years ago which showed he had hearing loss at the time and it was likely due to him being in a foreign army and using heavy artillery. — Andrew

And under the 2016 Regulations, you are required to retain the results of any health monitoring for 40 or 30 years, so while in your case, it didn't help someone prove they had developed a health issue from a gradual process exposure to some agent they came into contact with back in the day, being able to prove that contact will help folk in the future. Which would be why I think the advice that you should "consider" transferring health monitoring records to the new owner of a business that is sold, should be altered to "you shall" as it conflicts with the wording and presumably the intent of the regulations Cathy.