@eEridani - Thanks for those articles, very helpful.
I agree that wasn't a very bright thing to post on a company website and any of those gases could be very dangerous, but in order to establish the level of risk, you'd need to know the exposure levels based on the quantities of those gases in the air you're exposed to. From the info you've posted that looks to be pretty high risk that I'm not sure is reflected in real life experience (unless my Maths are out - happy to be corrected!).
Firstly, the available information from a SDS (MSDS) is generally aimed at describing occupational exposures, so larger quantities of the chemical. For the HF alone (I haven't looked up the others yet) the Peak exposure limits (should not be exceeded during any part of the work time) that I've seen is around 3ppm (parts per million), equivalent to 2.6mg/
m3. Bear in mind this is for pure HF, but the article you posted does provide details of how it has measured so let's take it that they are on a par.
From the article you posted, HF release was measured for battery chemistries that are not usually encountered in our hobby - the closes equivalent being the Laptop pack, or "G" in Table 1. That battery was listed as being 5600MaH, at a rating of 124Wh, so running at around 22.2 volts (6s)
For a rating of 124Wh, it reportedly yielded 15mg/Wh of HF. Thats' a total amount of HF for that battery of 1860mg.
The SDS Peak exposure value of 2.6mg/
m3 means you would need at least 715 cubic metres of air to dilute the HF down to a tolerable exposure level. That's a very large room or a very good airflow through an average size room. Even if we go for a 50Wh battery, e.g. say a 6s 2200MaH, you're still looking at ~360
m3 of air needed. That isn't just about the room size but also depends on the amount of time taken to move the air, so how quickly air in the room can be changed. A smaller roomm would need faster air exchange to achieve the same level of dispersion.
That's worst case - in reality, a battery may not give off as much HF as that, hopefully it will be in a large room with good ventilation, so ventilation is very clearly the key here.
Respiratory protection needed - if you're looking for a mask that would protect you (either full face or wearing separate tight fitting
goggles to protect your eyes) it would need to include an organic vapour cartridge.
Real life experience would tend to indicate that there may not be quite as much HF present as that study indicates or that air exchange is happening faster... that may be because of the way the amounts were measured, compared to the exposure points encountered by users - that will depend on factors such as whether the gas sinks or rises, how quickly it disperses, etc. In any case, it is a really good indicator that great care needs to be exercised when dealing with a burnt LiPo.
Key Indications of exposure are watering eyes and irritation of airways which are apparent prior to reaching peak exposure levels so anyone experiencing that needs to immediately get clear and work out a better approach.
The thing that surprises me is how willing people are to handle burned battery residue, with no gloves, getting it on their clothing, etc. If I was dealing with a burnt battery I would want to be wearing disposable gloves, not touch anything else and wash my hands thoroughly after glove removal prior to touching my face, or doing anything else really.