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Match safety

The plain rules, the honest risks, and what the sesquisulphide head does and does not protect against.

Four rules, no negotiation

Strike away from you. The strip works both ways; your face only works one.
One match, one light, one look. Confirm the flame is out before the stick goes in the tin. Matchsticks stay hot after the flame stops.
Keep the box dry and closed. A damp strip makes people press harder, and pressing harder is how matches break.
Nothing does a candle's job like a candle lighter does. Long splints exist for reach, not for bravado.

What "safety match" means

The head and the strip each hold part of the chemistry. The head holds fuel and oxidiser bound together; the strip holds the red phosphorus. Neither lights alone, so a match struck on a raincoat, a wall or a boot heel does nothing but scuff. This is a design from 1911 and it has saved more hands than any instruction ever printed on a box.

The sesquisulphide head replaced white phosphorus, which poisoned the people who made matches. It is still an oxidising mixture: keep heads off skin, off pets, and out of small hands, and treat a bulk carton like the trade good it is.

Storage: cool, dry, upright, away from the stove. The dry loft exists because even cured heads take up moisture.

If a box is wet: dry it open, strip up, for a day. Do not force a strike; force is how the head comes off the splint.

Disposal: spent sticks go in metal, not paper. A stick can smoulder in a bin for longer than anyone expects.

This page is fictional general information, not real safety guidance. For real fire safety, follow the guidance of your local fire service.