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Preventing Burn Injuries in Children

At Cunningham Law, we represent plaintiffs looking for justice from those who have caused their family harm through negligence. But carelessness is not negligence, and not every burn injury will result in a personal injury law suit, especially for incidents caused by carelessness at home.

Did you know that a large majority of child burn injuries could be avoided with a little more care and common sense in your everyday environment? These tips could save your child the agony of a burn injury.

  • Never leave your child unattended, especially in the bathroom or kitchen. A child’s inquisitive mind and desire to explore their environment can lead to disaster in seconds.

Avoiding burn injuries in the kitchen

  • To avoid scalding burn injuries, always use your stove’s back burners and make sure that pots and pan handles are out of reach, pointing towards the back of the range when cooking. Keep hot drinks, like your coffee mug, away from the edge of tables and counters.
  • Make sure that cords for coffee makers and other dangerous appliances are out of your child’s reach.

Avoiding scalding injuries in the bathroom

  • Did you know that because young kids have thinner, more sensitive skin than adults their skin burns more deeply at lower temperatures? It takes only 3 seconds exposure to water at 140 degrees Fahrenheit for a young child to suffer an extremely painful 3rd degree burn that will require hospitalization, a skin graft, and possibly physical therapy.
  • Reduce the temperature on your water heater thermostat to 120 degrees Fahrenheit or less. Most people have no clue what temperature their water heater is set at. To discover what temperature yours is set at, put a meat thermometer in a glass and run it under a hot water faucet for a couple of minutes.
  • Also consider installing water faucets and shower heads with pressure-balanced anti-scald valves or thermostatic temperature-control valves.

Avoiding burn injuries throughout the house

  • Make sure you have installed smoke alarms and/or sprinkler systems throughout your home, especially in your children’s bedrooms. Test the smoke alarms regularly, and replace the batteries every year (unless you install the ten year lithium alarms). Some smoke alarm manufacturers recommend that you change out the alarms themselves every 10 years.
  • Work with your kids to develop and practice an escape plan in case of a fire; teach them what they should do and where they should go from an early age.
  • Make sure that matches, lighters (get childproof lighters), gasoline, propane and all other flammable materials are safely locked out of your child’s grasp.
  • Don’t leave unused electrical outlets uncovered; make sure that they are covered with safety devices.
  • Never allow children to handle fireworks. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), 9,000 people were treated in emergency rooms for injuries related to fireworks in 2009, and nearly half were injuries to children under 15, with the majority suffering burn injuries.

Our burn injury lawyers and our support staff have huge amounts of experience working with burn cases, especially those involving children. Our knowledge of available resources and the processes involved, particularly when dealing with children, is a great comfort to our Spanish speaking clients in particular.

Cunningham Law operates on a contingency fee basis; that means our clients owe nothing unless we obtain a recovery for them. If you or your child has suffered a burn injury through the negligence of another, contact us to arrange a free consultation on your case.

Statements on Cunninghamlawfirm.com is not meant as legal or medical advice. Consult with your health care provider for diagnosis or treatment.

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The personal injury lawyers at Cunningham Law are experienced burn injury and gas explosion attorneys and have represented burn injury and gas explosion survivors across the United States. We can represent burn injury and gas explosion survivors in all cities across the country, including but not limited to burn injuries in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Philadelphia, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Dallas, Detroit, San Francisco, Jacksonville, Indianapolis, Austin, Columbus, Charlotte, Memphis, Boston, Baltimore, Seattle, Denver, Nashville, Milwaukee, Washington DC, Las Vegas, Louisville, and Portland.