As batteries have fallen in cost they are more commonly installed in cars, homes, business, and utility applications by a new workforce of battery technicians. This new workforce needs specific guidance for how to safely assemble, maintain, repair, and disassemble battery systems. As part of his efforts to modernize battery worker safety standards, David Rosewater, grid energy storage researcher at the Sandia National Laboratories, was an invited speaker for the DOE’s Worker Safety and Health Policy Webex Series on May 8, 2024. His recently published paper, “Reducing Risk When Performing Energized Work on Batteries,” codifies best practices in battery hazard analysis and work planning controls. The Worker Safety and Health Policy Webex webinar had over two hundred attendees and served to spread analysis methods and work procedures that will prevent accidents and keep workers safe.
This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Electricity (OE), Energy Storage Division.
D. M. Rosewater, “Reducing Risk When Performing Energized Work on Batteries,” in IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, vol. 60, no. 2, pp. 2732-2741, March-April 2024, DOI: 10.1109/TIA.2023.3332828.