D0NK – Member
Aside from my flippant remark, shirley the issue is with cheap/nasty/ outright dangerous application of cells/batteries. I presume the auto industry went through quite a dangerous period while figuring out the necessary procedures to make their power source safe-ish.
TR and others have since elaborated, but the post I replied to just read as batteries=bad
It’s not simply about making the power source ‘safe’ (or less hazardous), it’s about making sure those working on the things have fully appreciated the potential hazards and arrange their work areas accordingly…
Fire and electrical safety in the automotive service industry have probably been prompted more through the risks posed by Petrol than anything else… Cars are bloody dangerous so mechanics are used to taking preventative steps.
Imagine you run a garage, pretty much every car you work on comes complete with a complicated electrical system, providing multiple opportunities to ignite the integrated tank full of fuel… So assume a fire could happen at any time, how do you minimise the danger of it spreading?
Maybe move that cabinet full of chemicals to a separate area, make sure paper and cardboard don’t accumulate, clean up any spills immediately and have extinguishers on hand and maintained… Basically any measure aimed at preventing the spread potential fires could save your business (and life) one day…
Conversely bicycles haven’t historically posed much of a fire hazard to those servicing them, being mostly non-electrical, mechanical devices.
Previously the most likely source of any fire ignition in a bike shop would have been the kettle or the workshop radio, Hence they probably still don’t worry about fire loading anything like as much as a garage would, maybe they should start now the E-bike “Revolution” is upon us…
There will be more people taking their E-dandyhorse’s into the LBS for a tune up, not all will be built to an appropriate standard to start with, and shops aren’t used to dealing with explody batteries…