Do you have concerns with electronic cigarettes or vaping?
As always, check with your national organization’s policies regarding smoking and vaping. While we do not have a position on electronic cigarettes, most of the incidents occur to a single individual with minor property damage. Sixty-one percent of the incidents occurred while the device was in a pocket and eighteen percent of incidents occurred while the device was being stored.
The US Fire Administration offers the following key points regarding electronic cigarettes:
- The combination of an electronic cigarette and a lithium-ion battery is a new and unique hazard. There is no analogy among consumer products to the risk of a severe, acute injury presented by an e-cigarette.
- Fires or explosions caused by the batteries used in electronic cigarette are uncommon; however the consequences can be devastating and life-altering for the victims.
- It is likely that the number of incidents and injuries will continue to increase.
- Since the current generation of lithium-ion batteries is the root cause of these incidents, it is clear that these batteries are not a safe source of energy for these devices.
- Between January 2009 and December 31, 2016, 195 separate incidents of explosion and fire involving an electronic cigarette were reported by the U.S. media. These incidents resulted in 133 acute injuries. Of these injuries, 38 (29 percent) were severe.
- To date, there have been no deaths in the United States caused by electronic cigarette fires or explosions.
- One hundred and twenty-one (62 percent) of the incidents of explosion and fire involving an electronic cigarette or its battery occurred when the device was either in a pocket or actively in use.
- The shape and construction of electronic cigarettes can make them (more likely than other products with lithium-ion batteries) behave like âflaming rocketsâ when a battery fails.
- Lithium-ion batteries must be charged in accordance with the manufacturerâs instructions.