Alcohol gel looks like the low-cost option, but it does not work against the virus that closes classrooms, and it brings a flammable, ingestible hazard into a building full of children.
Illness is the single largest cause of pupil absence, around 3.5% of all possible sessions, with overall absence at 7.1% in 2023 and 2024. Lost sessions and staff illness drive supply-cover spend that reached roughly 1.2 billion pounds across schools in 2022 and 2023. Infection-driven absence is a real and recurring line in your budget.
The product meant to prevent it has a gap. Norovirus, which most often closes classrooms, is not killed by alcohol gel: the virus is non-enveloped, so alcohol cannot get at it, and the official advice is soap and water. The everyday tool does not stop the everyday outbreak.
And it is a child-safety hazard in its own right. UK enquiries to the National Poisons Information Service about hand sanitiser rose from 155 to 398 over a single year, coroners' analysis warns that ingestion can be fatal and that children need enhanced protection, and alcohol gel is classified Highly Flammable. For young children and SEND pupils who may mouth or swallow it, an alcohol product on an open wall sits awkwardly against your COSHH and safeguarding duties.
You get all three: protection that covers the virus alcohol misses, an alcohol-free formulation with no flammable or ingestible hazard, and a cost that stands up across every site.
It is independently tested to and passes the recognised European hygiene standards, including the standards covering the non-enveloped viruses such as norovirus that alcohol gels miss, so it addresses the outbreak threat that actually closes classrooms rather than leaving the gap open.
And because there is no alcohol, there is no flammable-vapour or ingestion-toxicity hazard, the exact risks that make alcohol gel a poor fit for young children and SEND pupils. It takes a Highly Flammable substance out of the COSHH assessment and the fire-risk register, and it is gentle enough for repeated daily use. Set against the cost of infection-driven absence and supply cover, a product that actually addresses the outbreak threat is defensible across the estate. It complements soap and water where hands are visibly soiled, in line with UKHSA education guidance, and one accountable partner specifies and standardises it for every site.
Broad-spectrum protection, independently tested to and passing the standards for the non-enveloped viruses such as norovirus that alcohol gel does not kill and that close classrooms.
Alcohol-free and non-flammable, so it removes the evidenced child-ingestion and Highly Flammable hazards of alcohol gel from a building full of children.
Taking a Highly Flammable, ingestible substance out of the estate eases the COSHH assessments and fire-risk register your health-and-safety lead has to maintain.
A defensible safeguarding choice for nurseries, early years and SEND pupils who may mouth or swallow what is on the wall, with no alcohol-ingestion hazard.
One hand-hygiene option you can standardise and audit across every site, simple for a MAT to roll out and procure against.
Kind to skin for repeated hand hygiene through the school day, for pupils and staff alike.
The absence cost and the child-safety hazard are documented. The alternative is independently tested and proven to standard.
The UK environmental and safety duties that commonly reach education. Open any one for what it requires, the deadlines, what is at stake, and how to evidence control. Every entry is sourced.
On the shelf price, yes. Against the cost of infection-driven absence, supply cover, and a flammable, ingestible product in a building full of children, the comparison looks different.
And it does what the cheap default cannot. It is independently tested to and passes the recognised European standards, including for the non-enveloped viruses such as norovirus that alcohol gel misses, the pathogen that most often closes classrooms. It is alcohol-free, with no flammable-vapour or ingestion hazard for children. Set the cost against the absence it is meant to prevent, and the comparison changes. We start with a trial at one site or trust and prove the fit in your own environment.
It is independently tested to and passes the recognised European hygiene standards, including the standards covering the non-enveloped viruses such as norovirus that alcohol gels miss, the pathogen that most often closes classrooms.
On shelf price, yes. But it does not kill norovirus, the bug that most often closes classrooms, so it does little for the absence you are paying supply cover to cover. It is also classified Highly Flammable and an evidenced child-ingestion hazard. The cheaper product carries hidden cost and risk.
It is designed with this in mind. Being alcohol-free, it removes the flammable-vapour and ingestion-toxicity hazards of alcohol gel for children who may mouth or swallow what is on the wall, which makes it a defensible safeguarding choice for early years and SEND settings.
Yes. It is a single hand-hygiene option you can standardise, audit and procure against across every site, which makes it straightforward for a MAT to roll out.
No. UKHSA education guidance is clear that soap and water is used when hands are visibly dirty and during outbreaks. This complements that standard for everyday hand hygiene, where a flammable, ingestible alcohol product is the wrong fit.
Tell us what infection-driven absence and your current hand product are costing you. We will set up a trial at one site and prove the fit in your own environment.
Tell us the cost, the risk or the obligation you are facing. A senior member of our team will respond, in confidence, with how we would help.
