Americase expert to address lithium battery storage gaps at CHEMTREC summit

Americase International said HazMat Safety Consulting Senior Consultant Mike Pagel will speak Sept. 21 at the CHEMTREC International Hazmat Summit in Nashville. His session will focus on the split between transport rules and more fragmented on-site lithium battery storage requirements as battery use grows.

Why it matters: - Lithium battery use is expanding across energy, transportation and industrial operations, which raises the stakes for how batteries are stored and handled at fixed facilities. - Facilities now face a patchwork of fire codes, standards, insurer requirements and local interpretations instead of a single storage rulebook. - The gap matters for warehouses, distribution centers and battery storage sites because emergency plans may not fully address lithium battery fire behavior.

What happened: - Americase International announced that Mike Pagel, senior consultant at HazMat Safety Consulting, will present at the CHEMTREC International Hazmat Summit in Nashville, Tennessee, from Sept. 21-23. - Pagel’s session is titled "On-Site Lithium Battery Storage Standards: Navigating Risks, Prevention Strategies, and the Regulatory Gap." - The presentation is scheduled for Sept. 21 from 1:30-2:00 p.m. in the Hazmat Preparedness and Safety, Risk & Readiness track. - The summit will be held at Virgin Hotels Nashville and is hosted by CHEMTREC.

The details: - CHEMTREC says the summit brings together emergency responders, hazmat team leaders, shippers, carriers and EHS and compliance professionals for sessions on preparedness, response and regulatory change. - Pagel will cover risk pathways in storage settings, prevention strategies and evolving storage standards for warehouses, distribution centers and other facilities. - Key topics include thermal runaway, off-gassing and secondary fires in on-site storage and fixed-facility settings. - The session will also address how fragmented storage requirements affect facilities and response teams. - Other topics include practical detection and mitigation steps, integrating battery hazards into hazmat preparedness frameworks, and updating traditional emergency plans. - Pagel said transportation has a mature, highly prescriptive regulatory framework, while on-site storage is more fragmented. - Pagel said facilities may have to navigate fire codes, standards, insurer requirements and local interpretations, and waiting for every requirement to align is not a safety strategy. - He said conventional emergency plans are not always built around lithium-ion battery events. - Pagel said thermal runaway can generate intense heat and flammable gases, spread to adjacent cells and create the potential for reignition.

Between the lines: - Battery storage rules are still catching up to battery deployment, which is moving faster than the standards designed to manage it. - The 2024 International Fire Code introduced dedicated requirements for lithium-ion and lithium-metal battery storage, but the broader regulatory picture remains uneven. - NFPA 800, a forthcoming Battery Safety Code intended to address hazards across the battery lifecycle, including warehouse storage, is still under development. - The International Energy Agency said 108 GW of new battery energy-storage capacity was deployed worldwide in 2025, 40% more than in 2024, and total installed capacity reached 11 times the 2021 level. - That growth is increasing focus on battery risk across transport, storage, handling and protection.

What’s next: - Attendees are expected to leave with guidance on risk assessment, storage configuration and readiness protocols for battery incidents. - The session is aimed at EHS and safety professionals, emergency response coordinators, hazmat teams, facility and operations managers, and risk and insurance leaders. - Pagel brings prior experience from PHMSA’s Hazardous Materials Information Center, where he worked on hazardous materials regulation inquiries and alongside PHMSA technical and rulemaking staff. - Registration and the full agenda are available at the summit registration page. - Americase International also directs readers to its events page for participation details.

The bottom line: - Lithium battery safety is shifting from a transport problem to a broader facility and storage challenge, and the rules are still evolving faster than many operations can standardize.