Accidents resulting in burn injuries can be tremendously painful and may leave behind permanent scars or even result in disfigurement. Excision, skin grafts, and physical therapy for burn patients can present long days and extensive pain and discomfort. Personal injury claims associated with burns often represent victims who have been burned as a result of another person’s negligence.
A burn is an injury or physical to the flesh, tissue, or skin caused by fire, electricity, or excessive friction. A burn can also be caused by chemicals (acid) or radiation. Based on the severity of tissue damage, burns are classified as first or second degree (also called partial-thickness burns), third degree (full-thickness burns), or fourth degree.
14 Burn Accident and Injury Statistics in the US
- Burn injuries are the #2 leading cause of all accidental deaths in the US, behind automobile accidents.
- Nearly 800 people die each year in fires started by cigarettes.
- Cigarettes are the leading cause of fire-related fatalities.
- Homes without any working smoke alarms are two times as likely to experience a fire.
- 2/3 of fatal residential fires involving children occur in homes without a working smoke alarm.
- The majority of chemical burns are occupational or occur within the workplace.
- Electrical cords and extension cords cause nearly 60% of electrical burn injuries (from electrocution) to children ages 12 and under.
- Estimated annual burn injury hospitalizations: 40,000 (30,000 at burn treatment centers)
- Most children ages 4 and younger who are hospitalized for burns suffer from:
- 65% – Scald Burns (Hot tap water, bathtub)
- 20% – Contact Burns (curling irons, clothing irons, stovetops, room/space heaters)
- 15%- Other (misc. open flame source)
- An average of nearly 600 children ages 14 and under die in residential fires each year, 65% of which are children ages 4 and under.
- Place of Burn Occurrence:
- 70% Home
- 9% Occupational
- 7% Street/highway/automobile
- 4% Recreation/sports
- <9% Other/Misc.
- The average medical cost of treating a patient with burns on 30% of the body (2nd-3rd degree) is approximately $200,000.
- Recovery from serious burns (therapy, follow-up, healing) ranges from six to 24 months.
- Average length of stay in a hospital burn unit if 1 day per 1% of body surface burned.
- Secondary infection is the leading cause of death from non-fatal burns.
Burn Prevention – Smoke Detector Statistics
- Over 70% of fire-related deaths in the home are caused by smoke and toxic gas inhalation, not from actual flames.
- Install and test smoke alarms regularly. Studies have proven that smoke alarms save lives. Recent surveys revealed that only 3 out of 4 homes had at least one working smoke detector.
- Installing just one functional smoke alarm in a home reduces the chance of a residential fire-related fatality by 50%.
Smoke Detector Guidelines
- Good: Install and maintain one smoke alarm in/near the kitchen in each home or apartment.
- Better: Install one smoke alarm on each floor of any multi-level home, and in one-story home with a basement.
- Best: Install one smoke alarm on each floor in addition to placing one smoke alarm in each bedroom within the home.
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