Cooking is the leading cause of reported home fires and burn injuries. However, the number of fire cooking burns are far less than non-fire cooking burns. Non-fire cooking burns are contact burns with dry and wet heat. Dry heat, for example, is a hot stove or hot cookware. Wet heat for example, is hot cooking liquids, hot food and steam which can cause scalding.
HOT WATER BURNS LIKE FIRE
Hot water can burn skin at far less than its boiling point of 100°C. Human exposure to hot water at 60°C (the temperature of many home geysers) can lead to a serious burn within three seconds. At 50°C (the recommended temperature for a geyser), a serious burn takes about 10 minutes. A tall skinny cappuccino from your local coffee shop is usually served between 65°-76°C.
Most children ages 4 and under are hospitalised for scald burns from hot water, tea, coffee, and steam (65%) or contact burns (20%). Hot tap water burns cause more deaths and hospitalisations than burns from any other hot liquids. All contact burns in children are preventable. The following advice can help reduce the likelihood of your child having a serious accident.
PRACTICE SAFE HABITS IN THE HOME
- It’s best to keep your toddler out of the kitchen, well away from kettles, saucepans and hot oven doors – you could put a safety gate across the doorway to stop them getting in.
- Use a kettle with a short or curly cord to stop it hanging over the edge of the work surface, where it could be grabbed
- When cooking, use the rings at the back of the cooker and turn saucepan handles towards the back so your child can’t grab them.
- Although tableware is not itself used for cooking, it often holds very hot food, soups or drinks, and may itself be very hot.
- Have a “kid-free zone” of at least 3 feet (1 meter) around the stove and areas where hot food or drink is prepared or carried.
- Never hold a child while you are cooking, drinking a hot liquid, or carrying hot foods or liquids.
- Keep hot foods and liquids well away from young children – a hot drink can still scald 20 minutes after it was made.
- Put hot drinks down before you hold your baby.
- After warming a bottle of milk, shake the bottle well and test the temperature of the milk by placing a few drops on the inside of your wrist before feeding – it should feel lukewarm, not hot.
- Do not let your child drink a hot drink through a straw.
HOW TO TREAT A BURN
Burnshield is a Sterile Hydrogel used for the initial, emergency treatment of burns. It provides a physical protection against infection and minuses trauma and skin damage. It is non-toxic and safe for use of children. Burnshield treats all types of burns:
- Fire
- Thermal
- Scalding
- Radiation
- Electrical
- Chemical
- Sunburn
BURNSHIELD FEATURES:
- Sterile
- Water Based
- Non-toxic, Non-irritant
- Safe for use on Children
- Safe for use on Facial Burns
- Non- Adherent
- Minimises trauma and skin damage
- Assists moist wound healing
- Cools and Soothes the burn
For more Burnshield FAQ’s click here
Burnshield can be purchased at leading pharmacies such as: Clicks, Dis-chem, Mopani
resource: https://supremealarm.com/, https://healthcare.utah.edu/, https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/, https://www.nhs.uk/
