Hand Sanitizer Safety: Fire Safety, Car Safety + More
by Erin Fabio on Oct 09, 2020
It’s our goal to keep you up to date and informed about everything in the hand sanitizer world - and right now there is a lot of news from hand sanitizer safety to ingredients. We’ve even created an always up-to-date blog post about the most recent FDA guidelines on hand sanitizer dangers, hand sanitizer recalls and recommendations.
Per hand sanitizer FDA and CDC guidelines, effective hand sanitizers must have 65% ethyl alcohol to kill germs. This high concentration of alcohol has powerful disinfecting properties but also poses a risk as a source of ignition. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are classified as Class I Flammable Liquid Substances, which means they have a flash point of less than 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Like all alcohol-based products, users need to exercise caution around heat sources, a topic we’ve recently seen covered in the news.
Here are some tips for keeping you and your family fire-safe while using hand sanitizer:
- Make sure your hands are completely dry before you light a match. You want to let the hand sanitizer do it’s germ killing thing, and then you want it to evaporate off of your hands before lighting a match.
- Keep your hand sanitizer away from any open flame, including gas stoves, fire places, fire pits, candles, and incense. Smart storage is essential to hand sanitizer safety. We recommend dry, cool and high cabinets out of reach of kiddo’s hands.
- If you spill your hand sanitizer, clean it up with water. First, remove any nearby heat sources (candles, matches, etc.), then use water to clean it up.
- Avoid storing hand sanitizer in your car. Specifically a hot car. There are 2 reasons for this: 1. It may cause a fire hazard, and 2. Your hand sanitizer may become less effective as the alcohol may evaporate. Hand sanitizer should not be stored above 105°F which means most of the time it's fine to store in your car, but during summer months or in warmer regions, it should come inside when you do.
When stored properly and used as directed, OLIKA Hydrating Hand Sanitizer is a safe and effective way to rid your hands of germs & bacteria, while keeping them silky smooth - and that’s our goal, luvs!
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