Ignition of alcohol-based hand sanitizers in oxygen-enriched environments in healthcare facilities can lead to serious fires, according to a hazard report published in the October 2006 issue of ECRI’s Health Devices.

The hazard report discussed a reported event in which a nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit was rubbing sanitizer into her hands as she approached an oxygen/air proportioner to change a setting. An investigation into the event concluded that the nurse’s movements created a static electric charge that discharged to the grounded proportioner when she reached for the device’s control knob.

Because the three requisite components of a fire were in place—an ignition source (i.e., the electrostatic discharge), a fuel (i.e., the hand sanitizer), and oxygen (i.e., present in the room air and in the oxygen-enriched environment surrounding the proportioner)—a fire ignited the sanitizer on the nurse’s hand and on the control knob. The nurse’s hand was burned; however, nearby clinicians were able to disconnect the device and extinguish the flames before additional injuries occurred or the fire spread. In the presence of normal oxygen concentration in the room air, the electrostatic discharge may have only ignited the sanitizer on the nurse’s hand, but because of the oxygen-enriched environment surrounding the control knob, the knob also caught fire.

Suggestions from the hazard report for users of alcohol-based hand sanitizer include the following:

• Alerting users to this potential problem.
• Directing users to ensure that sanitizer fully evaporates from their hands before they touch devices, bed linens, or patients.

Source: ECRI. Fire risk from alcohol-based hand sanitizers worsens in oxygen-enriched environments. Health Devices 2006 Oct;35(10):390.