Key Points

Fire

• Flammable
• Incompatible with alkaline earth and alkali metals, crotonaldehyde, phosgene, strong acids, amines, ammonia, caustics, and strong oxidizers. Reacts with metallic aluminium at high temperatures
• Emits acrid smoke and fumes when heated to decomposition
• In the event of a fire involving isopropanol, use alcohol resistant foam but, if not available, fine water spray can be used and normal fire kit with breathing apparatus

Health

• Toxic by ingestion, inhalation and skin contact
• CHIP: highly flammable and irritant
• Ingestion can cause burning sensation in mouth and throat, nausea, vomiting, dysarthria, acetone on the breath and abdominal pain. CNS effects include ataxia, headache, dizziness, drowsiness, stupor, hallucinations, areflexia, muscle weakness. In severe cases convulsions, respiratory depression and coma can occur.
• Accidental inhalation may cause mild irritation to the eyes, nose and throat. Prolonged inhalation may result in systemic features.
• Dermal contact may cause paraesthesia and erythema. Prolonged skin contact may also result in systemic features.
• Ocular exposure may cause irritation to the eyes causing an immediate stinging and burning sensation with lacrimation.

Environment

• Avoid release into the environment
• Inform Environment Agency of substantial incidents

All sections are available to download in PDF format.

• Incident Management (PDF, 108 KB)
  Isopropanol - Incident Management
  Added/updated: 24 May 2011