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Hot drinks

Tea coffee scald

30 babies and toddlers go to hospital with a hot drink burn every day.

In addition to this shocking daily figure the SafeTea campaign highlights that 60% of all under 3 paediatric burn attendances to Accident & Emergency Departments are due to a hot drink burn. These figures are even more disturbing when the vast majority of these accidents are entirely preventable by simply keeping hot drinks out of reach. A burn injury is for life, the scars are physical as well as psychological, and can present life-long challenges for the individual and their families.

Prevention of hot drink burns is easy using simple SafeTea rules:

  • Keep hot drinks out of reach of young children Never carry a hot drink whilst carrying a baby
  • Never pass a hot drink over the heads of young children

Ways to keep hot drinks away from children:

  • Place hot drinks at the back of the kitchen surface
  • Don’t place a hot drink on a table cloth or cloth that hangs down so that a small child can reach and pull it down
  • Make a safe place… a SafeTea zone for hot drinks… in your home where you and members of the family and visitors can keep hot drinks from young children
  • Avoid drinking hot drinks around small children
  • Always remind visitors to your home to ‘Keep hot drinks out of reach of the young children’

Tea coffee scald

Survivor stories

Our inspiring burn survivors help us to highlight the shocking number of burns and scalds which are happening to children everyday. We thank them all for their wonderful support.

Impact

30

children a day are burned by hot drinks

7335

children were burned or scalded in 2022

26%

decline in fundraising

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SafeTea

SafeTea was a national campaign aiming to reduce hot drink burns to young children, and improve first aid to children who have been burned. The SafeTea Campaign was launched across the UK in 2019.
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Arthur’s Story…Burned by a Hot Drink

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A burn injury is for life

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