NFPA Journal - November/December 2020 - 36

In Compliance
Life safety in new
and existing structures

Alcohol-based hand
rub, part I: life-safety
considerations 
By Kristin Bigda
hese days, it's hard to
walk through just about
any type of building-
hospitals, schools,
dentists' offices, shopping malls, airport terminals-without
encountering hand sanitizing stations.
Since the onset of the COVID-19
pandemic, public safety measures have
included a plethora of new requirements, including providing hand
sanitizer to occupants where handwashing may not be available or as an
extra safety measure, in order to

T

protect communities from the spread of
the virus. To meet health and safety
requirements, facilities are stocking up
on hand sanitizer products, and, in
many cases, are using and storing more
than they ever have before.
Some safety professionals might not
realize it, but NFPA 101®, Life Safety
Code®, as well as NFPA 1, Fire Code,
regulate the use of alcohol-based
hand rub (ABHR) in most occupancies. When the topic was added to
the 2006 edition of the Life Safety

tion source, they can ignite and cause
a fire. Improper storage of flammable liquids is also a concern. Facilities
today might be stockpiling ABHR solutions and storing them in locations
not protected or designed to accommodate hazardous materials in such
large quantities. Like other hazardous

materials, the codes limit the quantities of ABHR solutions both in use and
in storage and include restrictions on
where the dispensers containing the
liquid can be placed. The total quantities of flammable liquids in any
area should comply with the provisions of recognized codes, including
NFPA 1 and NFPA 30, Flammable and
Combustible Liquids Code.
In addition to limitations on the
volume of ABHR in storage and limitations on the quantities in use per
smoke or fire compartment, NFPA
101 also includes criteria specific to
protecting occupants from fire. The
capacity of each dispenser, for example, is restricted in order to limit the
amount of product in use. Most individual dispensers cannot exceed .53
gallons (2.0 L)-less if the dispenser is

located in a corridor or space open to a
corridor. That means a gallon container
of ABHR with a pump to dispense the
liquid, a common hand-sanitizer setup
at the moment, exceeds the maximum
capacity. It should also be noted that
educational occupancies do not permit
ABHR dispensers in corridors or
spaces open to corridors. While most
occupancies include a simple reference to the core set of provisions in the
code, educational occupancies utilize
their own list, which differs on this one
criterion limiting the location of ABHR
dispensers in corridors. This is also
likely a very common violation during
this time as schools are being asked to

GETT Y IMAGES

NFPA 101

Code, provisions for this equipment
were included only in the chapters for
health care and ambulatory health care
occupancies. One edition later, in 2009,
those requirements were expanded and
added to the chapters that addressed
educational and daycare occupancies.
For the 2018 edition, a set of provisions
that outlined the protection criteria
for alcohol-based hand sanitizers was
added to Chapter 8, mandating compliance for any occupancy chapter that
chose to reference it to safely permit
the use of ABHR dispensers.
The requirements in the Life Safety
Code currently address alcohol-based
hand rub sanitizing liquids and aerosols. Expansion of this provision to all
occupancies, if permitted by reference,
recognizes the need for a set of regulations for use in any building. The
prevalence of the ABHR dispensers has
grown substantially and the need for
these safety criteria is more evident
today than ever before.
But why, among other fundamental fire and life safety issues, do the
codes regulate a component as small as
an ABHR dispenser? Many commonly
found ABHR solutions are classified
as flammable liquids and can release
ignitable vapors at room temperature
and above. When exposed to an igni-

36 | NFPA JOURNAL * N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 0

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10/29/20 4:22 PM



NFPA Journal - November/December 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - November/December 2020

Contents
NFPA Journal - November/December 2020 - Cover1
NFPA Journal - November/December 2020 - Cover2
NFPA Journal - November/December 2020 - 1
NFPA Journal - November/December 2020 - 2
NFPA Journal - November/December 2020 - 3
NFPA Journal - November/December 2020 - Contents
NFPA Journal - November/December 2020 - 5
NFPA Journal - November/December 2020 - 6
NFPA Journal - November/December 2020 - 7
NFPA Journal - November/December 2020 - 8
NFPA Journal - November/December 2020 - 9
NFPA Journal - November/December 2020 - 10
NFPA Journal - November/December 2020 - 11
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