By Brad Keyes / Special to Healthcare Facilities Today

Healthcare Facilities Today is happy to announce that Brad Keyes, CHSP, will be writing a weekly Q&A column for our website. Visit healthcarefacilitiestoday every Wednesday for Brad's column. Better yet visit us every weekday for news, insights and advice for healthcare facilities professionals.

Q: Our hospital bulk stores alcohol based hand-rub (ABHR) sanitizer containers of 1000 ML (33.8 fl. oz.) per container & 750 ML (25 fl. oz.) per container in its housekeeping department for future placement on the units. The 1000 ML containers have 62% ethyl alcohol, which the 750 ML containers have 70% ethyl alcohol. The 1000 ML containers come 8 to a box and we have 25 boxes on pallets, while the 750 ML containers come 6 to a box and we can have up to 180 boxes on pallets at one time in the warehouse/storeroom, which is quite large and is open to the deck above. This room is located in the basement of a high rise that has an ED on the floor above, ORs on the 2nd floor and inpatient sleeping floors above that. The room and whole building have both smoke detectors and sprinklers and was constructed in 2011. Half of the room where the sanitizer is bulk stored is surrounded by a 2-hour fire/smoke barrier, while the other half has 1-hour fire resistive construction. My questions are this: Is the storage of this much ABHR sanitizer acceptable? If not, what would be required? We do have a room off this one that is totally surrounded by a 2-hour fire/smoke barrier. If the room in question is not acceptable, would this room be okay?

A: The storage of what you described is over 33,000 fluid ounces which is more than 263 gallons of flammable Class IC liquids. Hand sanitizer solution is considered a Class IC flammable liquid according to NFPA 30-2012, Flammable and Combustible Liquids Code. This is also based on the Safety Data Sheets of most brand-name hand sanitizers which state the flash point is 73 degrees F, and some of them have a boiling point of 176 degrees F. According to NFPA 30, this makes it a Class IC flammable liquid. 

According to NFPA 30, you are permitted to store 263 gallons in one location (actually, you can store up to 2750 gallons of Class IC flammable liquids in one location, but there are limitations:

• The maximum height of the pile (i.e. pallets) is 5 feet

• The storage of the liquids cannot obstruct access to egress in the room. A fire in the liquid storage cannot prevent egress from the room.    

• Storage cannot be in a basement    

• An inside storage room with a total floor area less than 150 square feet is required to be protected with fire-resistant construction of 1-hour (walls, ceiling floors)   

• An inside storage room with a total floor area more than 150 square feet but less than 500 square feet is required to be protected with fire-resistant construction of 2-hours (walls, ceiling floors)   

• Inside storage rooms with a total floor area 500 square feet or more are not permitted. 

• Containment or drainage protection is required. 

So…based on your comments I would say you need to move the stored items out of the basement and into a room that is less than 150 square feet and is 1-hour fire rated protected, and you need to provide containment or drainage protection.

To be honest… most hospitals that I visit do not store this much of the hand sanitizer liquids in their facility. They store much less, and keep them in flammable cabinets which would not require 1-hour fire rated rooms. I know why your people want so much as it comes cheaper in bulk…. But the cost to properly store this stuff far outweighs the savings of buying in bulk.  

Brad Keyes, CHSP, is the owner of KEYES Life Safety Compliance, and his expertise is in the management of the Life Safety Program, including the Environment of Care and Emergency Management programs