Is hand sanitisers flammable?

New Delhi, Apr 05: The Indian Army on Saturday advised against using alcohol-based hand sanitisers while observing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for candlelight vigil on 5th April, Sunday at 9 pm for 9 minutes.

The Army said to be carefull and to use soap for hand washing and not to use alcohol-based hand sanitisers prior to lighting.

During the coronavirus outbreak citizens have been advised to clean their hands after every alternative time. It has been said that washing hands with soap or sanitisers is one of the precautions people can take while being in their home or workplaces.

So can sanitisers really catch fire?

Alcohol-based hand sanitisers typically contain between 60 and 95 percent alcohol. So it can be said there are chances of flammability.

According to experts' advice it is safe to wait at least a minute for the sanitiser to dry on your hands and then wave your hands to remove any vapors that may be floating around. Hand sanitiser vapors can be flammable which produce a translucent blue flame.

In many instances, several people have suffered burns on their hands after they caught fire because of applying hand sanitiser.

The use of sanitisers is best recommended when soap and water are not available for hand washing or when repeated hand washing compromises the natural skin barrier.

But experts say that soap and water is always a better option than to using sanitisers.

In order to make sure that the sanitiser does not catch fire, you need to make sure that your hands are dry after using hand sanitiser.

Only then you can continue with your work, or lighting on Sunday showing solidarity against the virus outbreak and the chances of catching fire are zero.