Tuesday, June 02, 2020

Hand sanitizers on flights raise safety concern

Kochi: Concerns over the safety of aircraft and passengers have been raised in connection with the usage of alcohol-based hand sanitizers. Even as the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) permits air passengers to carry up to 350 ml of highly inflammable alcohol-based hand sanitizer in person or with hand baggage, it contradicts an International Air Transport Association (IATA) rule.
Hand sanitizers available in the market contain Ethanol or Isopropyl Alcohol up to 95% while the IATA rules allow substances with only up to 70% inside the flights. Airline safety experts and chemical engineers said that the frequent use of sanitizers inside the flight will increase the vapour concentration of inflammable alcohol posing a high risk. Organizations like the IATA Agents Association of India (IAAI) are citing the lack of appropriate regulatory control by government authorities concerning this and have called for immediate attention. They also asked the government to not permit the sanitizers, which are not manufactured as per standards.
"The addendum issued by BCAS on May 13 revised the quantity (100ml) of the sanitizer permitted by IATA to each passenger in early April to 350ml per passenger but did not mention anything about the quality standards. Airlines are also supplying sanitizers to each passenger. This means a large quantity of these highly inflammable sanitizers is onboard," said Biji Eapen, IAAI national president.
02/05/20 Anantha Narayanan K/Times of India

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