Alcohol Antiseptic 80% Topical Solution Hand Sanitizer

While the COVID-19 pandemic is changing how the Food & Beverage industry approaches cleaning and sanitizing, your key priorities of safe food and employee health remain constant. With the goal of increasing customer accessibility to hand sanitizer, Ecolab is temporarily producing a hand sanitizer formulated in accordance with World Health Organization (WHO) requirements: Alcohol Antiseptic 80% Topical Solution hand sanitizer. This offering provides customers a way to continue to deliver on their goals of clean water, safe food, and abundant energy while considering employee health needs.

Learn more about available sizes and ancillary products.

Download

Hand Hygiene Recommendations:

Washing your hands often and correctly with soap and water for at least 20 seconds as the first line of defense for hand hygiene

The World Health Organization (WHO)¹ and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)² both recommend washing your hands often and correctly with soap and water for at least 20 seconds as the first line of defense for hand hygiene.

If soap and water are not readily available, use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.

Key Considerations:

Viscosity: The high alcohol content ensures the hand sanitizer complies with CDC guidance, containing ethanol at higher than 60%, giving the product a thin, water-like consistency (not a gel, non-foaming).
Safety: This product is highly flammable. Safety is Ecolab’s number one priority and special precautions should be taken when handling and storing the product. See NFPA 30 safety information below for details.
Labeling: Secondary containers must be properly labeled.
Product Use: Follow the label instructions
Redistribution: Alcohol Antiseptic 80% Topical Solution hand sanitizer is not to be redistributed or resold

A Foundation of Safety:

Safety is Ecolab’s number one priority and drives decisions about everything we do.

According to the guidelines set forth by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA®), an 80% ethanol content and flashpoint lower than 100ºF (38ºC) deems the WHO hand sanitizer formulation flammable so special precautions need to be followed when storing and transferring large volumes of the hand sanitizer.

Prior to identifying a steel drum as the safest container from which Ecolab customers can store, transfer, and dispense the WHO hand sanitizer formulation, Ecolab Packaging Engineers, Research & Development Teams, and Safety Group consulted the NFPA® 30 Flammable and Combustible Liquids Code. Additionally, the NFPA® 30 provides safeguards to reduce the hazards associated with the storage, handling, and use of flammable and combustible liquids. These guidelines are enforceable under OSHA and many state and local regulations.

Download Our Safety Overview

NFPA® 30

Flammable and Combustible Liquids Code

Flammable and combustible liquids in volumes between 5.3 gal (20 L) and 119 gal (450L) are to be stored in steel drums.
Storing in other container types such as rigid plastic or composite is not permitted due to the potential for static electricity.

Safely Transferring WHO Hand Sanitizer

In addition to packaging guidelines set forth by officials; when dispensing, handling, and transferring large volumes of flammable or combustible liquids, precautions must be taken to prevent static electricity and ensure compliance. The NFPA® 30 states that all metal equipment where potential exists for an ignitable mixture must be bonded and grounded^2.

¹https://www.who.int/gpsc/clean_hands_protection/en/

²https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/prevention.html