RoSPA backs hair straightener burns awareness campaign
A growing number of people are being admitted to hospital with burns from hair straighteners, according to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA). The injuries include boys as young as three who are burned by hair straighteners after they have been turned off.In 2007, 36 babies and toddlers attended the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Yorkhill, Glasgow, with burns from hair straighteners. In the first seven months of 2009, 28 babies and toddlers attended for the same reason.
Hair straighteners can reach temperatures of up to 210C and take as long as 40 minutes to cool down. Horrific injuries can occur very quickly because children’s skin can be up to fifteen times thinner than adults’.
In the run-up to Christmas, when many people will receive hair straighteners as gifts and be using them for the first time, RoSPA is backing a campaign to distribute thermal bags which can be used to store the hair straighteners after use.
As part of the Straight Off, Straight In, Straight Away campaign, people are encouraged to switch off straighteners at the wall and unplug them, put them in a free promotional thermal bag and store them in a place out of reach of children - straight away. Although the scheme is Glasgow-based, its principles are applicable all over the UK.
Over the next few weeks, thermal bags will be given away at various places in Greater Glasgow and Clyde to people with children under the age of five. The campaign will also gather more information about the problem, and people who fill out the questionnaire which comes with the bags will have the chance to win vouchers.
Nikkie Butters, RoSPA Scotland’s home safety development officer, said the campaign’s message was relevant for parents in every part of the country.
“We all know that curious children love to get to grips with their surroundings by exploring and sometimes copying what they’ve seen mummy or big sister doing,” she said.
“Burns can happen so easily. Mums can forget straighteners remain hot for a long time, especially when they’re rushing about with other things to do.
“Turning straighteners off, storing them out of reach and doing it all straight away is a simple strategy to stop inquisitive children suffering. With hair straighteners likely to be a popular Christmas present, this campaign couldn’t have come at a better time.”
RoSPA is working with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s health improvement team on the Straight Off, Straight In, Straight Away campaign, which also involves A&E consultants and the burns unit of the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Yorkhill, in addition to the city’s James Watt College.
Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Service is also part of the campaign, which has a fire prevention element too - forgetting to unplug straighteners can lead to house fires.
In 2002, the last time home accident figures were collected across the UK, nearly 300 children under the age of five went to A & E after an accident involving curling tongs or straighteners. Accidents included children standing on hot tongs, or burning the palm of their hand by grabbing tongs left on a dressing table when an adult’s back was turned.
3 December 2009
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