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https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business...m-ion-battery/
An NHS trust is taking the IT giant HP to court after an exploding laptop caused hundreds of thousands of pounds of damage in a hospital X-ray lab.
The London North West Healthcare NHS Trust is seeking £687,314 in compensation for damaged equipment after the computer’s battery cells ruptured in the middle of the night, causing a six-hour fire that had to be extinguished by firefighters.
The incident occurred at Ealing Hospital in 2017 and the NHS Trust took action against the US company in August, according to legal documents.
The HP ProBook 4510 laptop was left in a basement office when its battery cells were expelled from its casing and tore at around 2am, causing “extensive smoke damage” to the office and the X-ray lab above it, according to the claim.
Equipment that was damaged beyond repair included a £410,000 endoscopic X-ray machine, the trust said.
The High Court lawsuit states that “the fire caused extensive smoke damage to the basement office… and its contents and smoke from the fire also spread vertically and entered the X-ray room”.
It claims that the laptop was “not constructed in accordance with principles generally accepted as constituting good engineering practice”. It says the company breached electrical equipment regulations and produced the laptop negligently.
The trust is seeking damages related to the equipment, as well as interest payments and costs.
Many electronics manufacturers have faced trouble with lithium-ion batteries igniting. If the batteries become damaged they can trigger a phenomenon known as thermal runaway that leads to them overheating and possibly exploding.
HP recalled several models of laptop in 2018 and 2019 because of batteries’ propensity to overheat after a number of incidents, although the model in the hospital was not among them.
The electronics giant Samsung was thrown into crisis in 2016 when its Galaxy Note 7 phone was found to have faulty batteries, leading the company to suspend sales of the device and several airlines to ban it on flights.
Concerns over lithium-ion batteries have spread amid the rise of electric cars, leading to growing investment in technology such as solid-state batteries, which are seen as safer.
HP and the London North West Healthcare NHS Trust declined to comment on ongoing legal proceedings.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business...m-ion-battery/
An NHS trust is taking the IT giant HP to court after an exploding laptop caused hundreds of thousands of pounds of damage in a hospital X-ray lab.
The London North West Healthcare NHS Trust is seeking £687,314 in compensation for damaged equipment after the computer’s battery cells ruptured in the middle of the night, causing a six-hour fire that had to be extinguished by firefighters.
The incident occurred at Ealing Hospital in 2017 and the NHS Trust took action against the US company in August, according to legal documents.
The HP ProBook 4510 laptop was left in a basement office when its battery cells were expelled from its casing and tore at around 2am, causing “extensive smoke damage” to the office and the X-ray lab above it, according to the claim.
Equipment that was damaged beyond repair included a £410,000 endoscopic X-ray machine, the trust said.
The High Court lawsuit states that “the fire caused extensive smoke damage to the basement office… and its contents and smoke from the fire also spread vertically and entered the X-ray room”.
It claims that the laptop was “not constructed in accordance with principles generally accepted as constituting good engineering practice”. It says the company breached electrical equipment regulations and produced the laptop negligently.
The trust is seeking damages related to the equipment, as well as interest payments and costs.
Many electronics manufacturers have faced trouble with lithium-ion batteries igniting. If the batteries become damaged they can trigger a phenomenon known as thermal runaway that leads to them overheating and possibly exploding.
HP recalled several models of laptop in 2018 and 2019 because of batteries’ propensity to overheat after a number of incidents, although the model in the hospital was not among them.
The electronics giant Samsung was thrown into crisis in 2016 when its Galaxy Note 7 phone was found to have faulty batteries, leading the company to suspend sales of the device and several airlines to ban it on flights.
Concerns over lithium-ion batteries have spread amid the rise of electric cars, leading to growing investment in technology such as solid-state batteries, which are seen as safer.
HP and the London North West Healthcare NHS Trust declined to comment on ongoing legal proceedings.
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