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Report Shows Drop in Burn Injuries in Children

A new report on burn injuries has some encouraging news.  According to the report published in the October issue of the journal Pediatrics, the number of American children who suffered burn injuries because of hot water, electrical appliances and chemicals, has decreased significantly. That’s the good news. The bad news is that California burn injury lawyers keep coming across too many of these serious injury cases.

According to ABC News, the report took burn injury statistics between 1990 and 2006 into consideration. During these 17 years, more than 2 million children, adolescents and young adults received emergency treatment for burn injuries.  There were an average of approximately 121,000 burn injury cases every year.  According to researchers, the rate of burn injuries for children decreased by about 31 percent over the 17 year study period

Only 6 percent of burn injury cases that required emergency treatment ended up being hospitalized for extensive treatment. Most of the burn injuries occurred in children below the age of 6, and most injuries occurred inside the home. In fact, 92 percent of the burn injuries suffered by children occurred when they were in their house.

Sixty percent of the burn injuries were caused by fire and heat. Close to 25 percent were caused because of scalding. The remaining 15 percent were caused by electricity and chemical burns. About 36 percent of burn injuries or more than 1/3 involved injuries to the hands and fingers. About 21 percent of the injuries, which is about a fifth of all injuries, involved burns to the face and head.

The researchers in the study had some advice for parents to prevent burn injuries:

• Never allow children to play in or near the kitchen
• Never allow young children to operate the microwave, or other electrical appliances for that matter, on their own.
• Keep hot foods and beverages safely on the center of the table, and not near the edge.
• Never carry a child while holding hot foods and beverages.
• Never leave hairdryers, irons and curling irons around.
• Secure lighters, matches and gasoline safely.
• Store chemicals away and out of reach of little hands.
• Make sure electrical outlets are covered when they are not in use.
• Avoid consumer fireworks – these send hundreds of children to emergency rooms with burn injuries every year. Instead, take your children to watch public fireworks displays.
• Set the water heater thermostat to a maximum of 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Water faucets must have anti-scald devices to stop water from flowing if it becomes too hot.

The American Burn Association says that there are 1.1 million burn injuries in the country every year. Burn injuries can result from fires, auto accidents, and defective products. Burn injuries are commonly seen in the workplace, when workers are not allowed access to safety clothing, and safer work processes. Every year, hundreds of Americans suffer burns from defective products like kitchen and electrical appliances. Gas-powered grills are widely used in American homes, but in the past, many of these models have been recalled for their high risk of fires and burns. Burns can also occur from other defective products like ovens, stoves, toasters, microwaves, and heaters.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of burn injuries. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not acting as legal counsel for any party in the matters discussed in this posting.

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