BEWARE OF THE DANGERS OF ALCOHOL HAND SANITIZER

Alcohol based hand sanitizers can be hazardous to your health. There have been numerous reported incidents of people being injured by alcohol-based hand sanitizer (ABHS).

The New York Daily News reported that in May of this year, just north of Washington DC, a Maryland driver started a fire in their car when they used alcohol-based hand sanitizer while smoking in the car. The car was a total loss.

Check out the link to the story: https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-car-catches-fire-driver-hand-sanitizer-while-smoking-cigarette-maryland-20210514-wf4m23wabbd7plewqxygp5qnhu-story.html

A woman in Texas was badly burned in September of 2020 when she caught fire after using hand alcohol-based hand sanitizer and then lighting a candle.  This is according to news stories which you can find here:  https://www.today.com/health/hand-sanitizer-fire-safety-experts-share-warning-t191542  and also here: https://www.health.com/condition/infectious-diseases/coronavirus/texas-mom-hand-sanitizer-fire-burns

The last link we will share is one regarding a test that was done in Ireland by the Dublin Fire Brigade. 

It shows that ABHS can actually burn “invisibly”. This story as reported in the Irish Post, shows a video of ABHS spilled on a piece of carpet and ignited. 

The carpet is filmed with a standard camera as well as an infrared camera. The fire is only visible when viewed with the infrared. Link here: https://www.irishpost.com/news/dublin-fire-brigade-warn-of-invisible-fires-caused-by-common-hand-sanitiser-193600

The reason for this blog post is not to scare you or deter you from using hand sanitizer. It is simply to urge you to use caution. ABHS contain a relatively high concentration of alcohol, and alcohol is flammable. 

It won't just burst into flames – but it certainly can catch fire if exposed to an ignition source. 

Please be careful if you choose, or are required, to use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.  Don’t go near any ignition source until you are sure that all the alcohol has evaporated from your hands (or any that you may have accidentally gotten onto your clothes).

We recommend finding and using a good quality non-alcohol hand sanitizer.