The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) Safety Centre aims to reduce unintentional injury through community consultation, information, advice and education. The RCH Safety Centre is Australia’s only internationally designated Affiliate Safe Community Support Centre by the World Health Organisation (WHO) Collaborating Centre on Community Safety Promotion.

Throughout the year, we see many children at the RCH with burn injuries. And during the winter months with the increased use of household heaters, fireplaces and even hot water bottles, we see an increase in these injuries.

Burn injuries are most common in children under two years of age and mainly occur with hand contact. “Glass-fronted heaters and fires often attract little hands, whether they are fuelled by wood, gas or electricity,” said Chayley Ashbolt from the RCH Safety Centre.

“Flame burns from open fires can be serious and result in permanent scarring, disability and the need for long-term treatment. Prevention is really important,” she said.

During the colder months, hot water bottles also provide warmth but they can also be dangerous. Injuries from hot water bottles can vary from minor and superficial burns to large and deep burns.

To avoid burn injuries, it’s important to make the home environment as safe as possible. Here are some points to keep in mind:

• We recommend that you do not use hot water bottles with children as their skin is too sensitive.
• If you do have, or are planning to purchase, a glass-fronted heater, a guard enclosing the heater will make for a much safer environment.
• A good test to determine if your heater requires a guard is to carefully try placing your hand on the heater’s surface; if you’re unable to leave your hand there for 10 seconds you should have a guard surrounding the heater, to prevent contact burns to young children.
• Guards should be about 700mm high. If the openings in the screen are 20mm or smaller, place the guard at least 150mm clear of any hot surface. If larger than 20mm, keep the guard at least 500mm clear of hot surfaces to prevent children reaching through.
• When shopping for a heater, look for these specific features:
  • Thermostat – maintains a desired average room temperature.
  • Fan – Allows for quick and more even heat distribution. The fan can be switched off, leaving the thermostat to maintain room temperature.
  • Stability – ensure the heater is stable enough to not tip over with tilted to an angle of 15 degrees.

“It is important that families are aware of the correct action to take if a child in their care suffers a burn or scald – the most important action being to immediately immerse the complete burn area under cold running water for 20 minutes.  No ice, no creams.  This action alone can reduce the severity of the burn,” said Chayley.

For information, fact sheets on this topic and a Home Safety Checklist, head to the RCH Safety Centre website at www.rch.org.au/safetycentre