Lack of first aid for burn victims

Workplace safety: Only 20 per cent of people who sustained burns while at work over a six-month period had first aid services…

Workplace safety: Only 20 per cent of people who sustained burns while at work over a six-month period had first aid services available to them at their workplace, according to a new study, writes Eithne Donnellan, Health Correspondent

However, workplaces which identify hazards likely to result in burns to staff are required, under health and safety regulations, to have at least one person trained in first aid. Researchers at Galway's University College Hospital said existing regulations pertaining to first aid in the workplace were "failing".

Its plastic surgery department saw 15 patients who sustained burns at work between January and June 2003 but only three of these had first aid facilities available to them. The burns occurred mainly in the catering and hospitality industries. Sixty-three patients with burns were seen over the period, ranging in age from six months to 89. Scald injuries were the most common.

The authors of the study, published in the latest edition of the Irish Medical Journal, said simple pre-hospital first aid measures such as wound cooling and removal of the source of injury could significantly improve the outcome for patients. Yet only 23 per cent of the 63 patients seen had received adequate first aid. "Patients had engaged in a variety of interventions including the application of aloe vera, tea tree oil, butter, mud, sand and even toothpaste."

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The researchers said a public information campaign on the treatment of burns was needed.