Emergency and official guidance routes
United Kingdom — NHS hospital guidance: go to the nearest A&E immediately
Suspected ingestion is an emergency.
Use the official service for your country immediately. Do not wait for symptoms. This reference does not provide medical treatment advice.
Handling baseline
- Keep loose and packaged cells away from children.
- Never recharge a non-rechargeable battery.
- Observe polarity and avoid heat, fire and short circuits.
- Do not open or bypass a child-resistant compartment.
- Use an approved local collection or disposal route.
Act immediately
If a button or coin battery may have been swallowed or inserted, use the official route for the country you are in immediately and follow that service’s instructions. Do not wait for symptoms. Battery Codebook deliberately does not reproduce treatment steps because current professional advice must control.
Emergency contacts are not prevention guidance
For a possible ingestion or insertion, use the emergency route above. For safer purchasing, storage and compartment design, see the separate UK product-safety guidance . Prevention pages must not delay urgent care.
Prevent access and short circuits
Keep new and used cells secured and out of sight and reach of children. Replace cells on a clear surface, observe polarity and close the compartment exactly as designed. Never defeat a screw, dual-action catch or other child-resistant feature.
Keep loose cells away from keys, coins and other conductive objects. Do not crush, open, heat, burn or recharge a primary cell.
Disposal is local
Use your current local-authority or recognised product-stewardship collection route. Secure spent button cells until hand-off: a cell that no longer powers a device can still present an ingestion or short-circuit hazard.
Official routes checked 2 September 2026.
Last reviewed 2 September 2026.