# IEC 62619 — Safety of industrial lithium batteries > IEC 62619 sets the safety requirements and tests for secondary lithium cells and batteries used in industrial applications — stationary storage (telecom, UPS, grid BESS) and motive power (forklifts, AGVs). Edition 2 (2022) added thermal propagation, battery-system design and EMC requirements. It is the cell-and-battery safety layer beneath UL 9540A and NFPA 855. - Source : https://industryhub.site/en/standards/iec-62619 - Body : IEC - Family : Energy Storage - Status : current - First published : 2017 - Latest revision : 2022-05 (Edition 2) - Edition : 2.0 - Next revision : Active maintenance - Access : Paid (IEC webstore) - Language : English ## Document structure - **IEC 62619:2022** — Safety requirements (this standard) : Safety tests and design requirements for secondary lithium cells and batteries in industrial use — overcharge, external short circuit, thermal propagation, plus battery-system design, protection against hazardous live and moving parts, and EMC (added in Edition 2). - **IEC 62620** — Performance (companion) : Performance requirements and tests for the same industrial lithium cells and batteries — capacity, cycle life, energy and power. The performance counterpart to 62619's safety. - **IEC 63056** — EES-specific safety (companion) : Additional and modified safety requirements for secondary lithium batteries used specifically in electrical energy storage systems (EES). Builds on IEC 62619 for grid-connected storage. ## Key concepts - **Industrial application scope** : 62619 covers stationary applications (telecom, UPS, electrical energy storage) and motive applications (forklift trucks, golf cars, automated guided vehicles). Road vehicles are explicitly out of scope — they are covered by the ISO 6469 / IEC 62660 automotive series instead. - **Thermal propagation test (TP)** : Edition 2 requires demonstrating that a single cell forced into thermal runaway does not cascade across the battery. An internal short is triggered and the design must show containment — the cell-level mirror of the system-level UL 9540A test. - **Cell vs battery-system safety** : 62619 addresses both the cell (overcharge, short circuit, crush) and the assembled battery system — its BMS, protection circuits, enclosure and isolation. A safe cell in an unsafe system is not compliant. - **Safe operating area enforced by the BMS (SOA)** : Lithium chemistry is safe only inside a window of voltage, current and temperature. The Battery Management System must keep every cell inside that window and react to faults; 62619 tests that the protection actually holds. - **IEC 63056 (EES deviations)** : Grid storage stresses cells differently from a forklift — deep cycling, large series-parallel strings, long calendar life. IEC 63056 layers EES-specific safety requirements on top of 62619 for that duty. - **Link to the installation stack** : 62619 makes the battery safe as a product; UL 9540A measures how a failure would propagate; NFPA 855 sets the separation, ventilation and suppression of the installation. Three layers, one safety case. ## The safety floor for industrial lithium Lithium cells store a lot of energy in a small space, and that is exactly why a faulty one is dangerous. **IEC 62619** is the international standard that makes a secondary lithium cell — and the battery built from it — safe enough for **industrial use**: stationary storage like telecom, UPS and grid batteries, and motive power like forklifts and automated guided vehicles. Road vehicles are deliberately excluded; they follow the automotive battery series instead. ## What it requires The standard tests the cell against the abuses that precede a fire: **overcharge, external short circuit, forced discharge, crush and heating**. Edition 2 (2022) went further. It added a **thermal propagation** requirement — force one cell into runaway and the design must stop the failure cascading to its neighbours — together with rules for **battery-system design**, protection against hazardous live and moving parts, and electromagnetic compatibility. The principle is simple: a safe cell inside an unsafe pack is not a compliant product. The **Battery Management System** must keep every cell inside its safe operating area of voltage, current and temperature, and 62619 checks that the protection actually holds. ## The companion documents 62619 rarely travels alone. **IEC 62620** covers the *performance* of the same industrial cells — capacity, cycle life, energy and power — while 62619 covers their *safety*. For grid storage specifically, **IEC 63056** adds and modifies requirements to reflect how electrical energy storage stresses cells: deep cycling, large series-parallel strings, long calendar life. Together they describe an industrial lithium battery that is both safe and fit for duty. ## Where it sits in the stack A battery storage installation is governed by three layers that build on each other. **IEC 62619** makes the battery safe as a product. [UL 9540A](/en/standards/ul-9540) then measures how a failure would propagate from cell to module to unit. [NFPA 855](/en/standards/nfpa-855) uses that propagation data to set the separation distances, ventilation and fire suppression of the installation itself. The system-level series [IEC 62933](/en/standards/iec-62933) ties the safety case together, and [IEC 62443](/en/standards/iec-62443) secures the controls that keep the battery inside its limits. ## Applicable industries Grid-scale and behind-the-meter battery storage (BESS), Stationary backup: telecom, UPS, data centres, Motive power: forklifts, AGVs, port and warehouse equipment, Cell, module and battery-pack manufacturers and integrators ## References & further reading - [IEC 62619:2022 — safety requirements (official)](https://webstore.iec.ch/en/publication/64073) - [NFPA 855 — stationary energy storage installation](https://www.nfpa.org/codes-and-standards/nfpa-855-standard-development/855)