There is little or no government funding for raising awareness of burn and scald injuries to children.
We address these issues in partnership with:
Researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine have found that children in the poorest households face an unfair risk of being scalded by hot tap water. Describing the situation as a "hidden" problem, they have discovered that a simple measure to centrally regulate temperatures in blocks of flats at a safer level could prevent injuries.
Many people living in social housing do not have individual boilers in their flats but are supplied with hot water from a central boiler house with temperatures often set to heat water to more than 60°C in order to kill the bacteria that causes Legionnaires' Disease.
Each year in England about 400 children are treated in hospital for scalds by hot tap water. The thin skin of a child can suffer a full thickness burn in just one second when exposed to water at 60°C (for adults it takes 5 seconds).
In a trial funded by Camden Primary Care Trust, Dr Phil Edwards and colleagues tested the effects of a system introduced by the London Borough of Camden which regulated central boilers so water was kept at a high enough temperature to kill Legionella bacteria during the night, when people are less likely to run baths, and lowered to a safer level during the day. They randomly allocated 150 households on 22 estates to a programme which aimed to heat water to 65°C between midnight and 6am, and then to 50°C from 6am to midnight daily, or to a control programme aimed at keeping temperatures at the usual 65°C.
Over several months the researchers monitored temperatures of the water at the taps and recorded the residents' satisfaction with the hot water temperatures, while Camden carried out routine tests for Legionella.
The study found that the programme reduced the risk of scalds by capping the temperature at close to 60°C and made hot water levels more consistent with an average of 55.2°C. (The highest temperature recorded in one home in the control group was 81.4°C.)
Dr Edwards, Statistician at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine says "It is an injustice that children in poorer homes have to deal with dangerous hot tap water temperatures on a daily basis. Scalding can cause serious injury and yet this problem has remained largely ignored. We have shown that it is technically possible for council housing with central boilers to supply hot water in a way which reduces risk of scalding and still protects them from Legionella. Children from poorer families are already more likely to be injured as pedestrians and this study provides yet more evidence of how social inequality can affect the health of individuals and families. Not having control over hot water temperatures adds to the existing social inequality we see in our country."
The cost of fitting the thermostatic control system and monitoring equipment used in the study to a central boiler house is £4,000. Other studies have shown that fitting thermostatic mixer valves to water pipes within homes can also lower tap water temperatures. Dr Edwards said that further research was needed to compare the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the two approaches.
The findings have been published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.
The direct.gov.uk website contains valuable information and advice for children, parents, teachers, organisers and retailers. The site includes educational games and quizzes that teach children about sparkler safety, the importance of looking after pets during bonfire night and firework displays.
Click here for more information
There are also downloadable posters and schools resource packs for teachers.
Click here for more information
Following a long period of consultation we have welcomed the Government’s announcement that it has changed building regulations to ensure all baths in new bathrooms are equipped with a Thermostatic Mixing Valve (TMV). Mary Creagh MP has led a 3 year long ‘Hot Water Burns Like Fire’ campaign to reduce scalding injuries in the home. Plastic surgeons and accident prevention charities have all welcomed the change in the law as a significant step forward for home safety.
Each year six hundred people suffer severe bath water scalds, three quarters of whom are children. This means that every day a child under five is admitted to hospital with serious injuries resulting from scalding hot bath water.
Order your Hot Water Burns like Fire leaflets here
The shocking statistics show the importance of increasing awareness of the dangers of scalding to young children. Our Under 5’s Resource Pack has proved extremely successful and has helped many nurseries and children’s centres to highlight these dangers to parents and carers and to introduce a Cold Drinks Policy.
For more information contact us
“We are immensely grateful for your support of our scald and burns prevention campaign known as the “Cool Cubs Club”, set up by our physiotherapists. A tremendous amount has been done already to promote awareness to children and parents, but to have your support and recognition of their work means a great deal to them and is greatly appreciated by us all. Your donation will enable them to move forward with this campaign and help increase prevention awareness even further.”
Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust – Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford
We have already reached over 300,000 families through contacts with healthcare professionals, Surestart groups, community groups, schools, nurseries and playschools.
We are so pleased that the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine have undertaken this research and are keen to work with them to raise awareness. We need to find ways for organisations to achieve the correct balance between safe water temperatures and controlling bacteria. One person scalded by hot water from a tap is one too many!
