Summary: The Dangers Of Electronic Nicotine Smoking

The undisclosed dangers of electronic nicotine delivery systems, also known as electronic cigarettes, pose a huge risk to our cutters and our people. E-Ciggs, as they are commonly referred to in the fleet, use lithium ion batteries to deliver the vapor and nicotine mix to the user. To date, there have been eight cases in the United States Navy, two of which resulted in a fire fighting team being used to extinguish the fires. The devices are not rugged enough to handle the abuse of the environment or mishandling by the owner. Lithium ion batteries in these devices have been reported to experience a thermal runaway failure and ignite into a fire and have the potential to spread quickly. It is critical that we enforce a ban on these devices on
our Coast Guard cutters before serious damage occurs to our people and our ships.
Under what the individual described as normal use, her E-Cigg experienced a battery failure while in her privately-owned vehicle, ‘POV’. The resulting explosion sent fragments of the battery behind the dashboard of the vehicle and onto the passenger floor board. With no way to extinguish the fire, the member’s POV received substantial damage from the fire. Fortunately, all occupants could egress the vehicle without injury. A second incident resulted in a battery fail-ure inside the member’s pocket and caused second and third degree burns to their leg. Had these instances occurred on a deployed ship, the resulting fire would have placed the crew and cutter in danger.
Another serious problem with these device is that they are not built to withstand the wet weather conditions that cutters experience, or rough treatment by the user. As most members keep the device in their pant pockets, or in the pocket of a jacket, they have an increased chance of being stuck and damaged without the user’s awareness. Once they plug the device in to charger, the battery could have been damaged and begins a thermal runaway condition that re-sults in combustion. Likewise, if the battery contacts become corroded from rain or salt water, this could affect charging the device safely. Unfortunately, there is no way to assess the condi-tion of the device other than visible damage which can easily be over looked. Many of these charging devices are not inspected by the electrical division for approval to use on the ship. Cheaply or poorly constructed charging cables are just another possible failure point and could be linked to the malfunction of these items. Many of the devices are constructed using very cheap materials and are even more prone to failures that result in fires or personal injuries. (Garret, 2016)
Battery fires on board a ship are classified as delta.
Burning lithium ion batteries are oxi-dizers, and difficult to extinguish with standard carbon dioxide or dry chemical extinguishers. Give that many of these devices would be charged in the user’s berthing space, they are typically kept near combustible bedding and clothing. Fires in berthing areas typically will spread very rap-idly and have a huge potential to spread to adjacent compartments. Because of the intensity of the type of resulting fires, a combined damage control effort would be needed to extinguish these fires. The risk to our people becomes significantly higher because of the intensity of these classes of fire. Delta fires have a huge potential to spread rapidly and require advanced training to
extinguish.
Unit Fire Marshals and Damage Controlmen have the difficult job of ensuring the ship remains free of fire causing hazards.
Injuries to personnel from poorly constructed batteries, and potential fires on our ships are simply not in alignment with our unit fire marshal programs and best practices for fire prevention. Their use must be restricted onboard our ships. Until a properly tested stowage system is developed, E-Ciggs are too dangerous to be kept on our ships. The United States Navy has just recently banned their use aboard their ships. (Merrit, 2017) The Coast Guard must do the same. It is only a matter of time before a Coast Guard ship, or Coast Guardsman experiences a casualty from these
devices.