Causes and Types of Burn Injuries

Causes of Burn Injuries in Riverside

The most common and preventable causes of burn injuries in Riverside are:

Motor Vehicle Accidents

Millions of motor vehicle accidents happen each year, with many resulting in serious injuries, including burns. Burn injuries can occur if a crashed vehicle catches fire or when flammable liquids leak from vehicles and ignite or explode. 

Workplace Accidents

Any worker can suffer a severe burn on the job, for instance, when employers fail to maintain a safe working environment. Construction workers are particularly at risk since they regularly work with open flames, high-voltage electricity, equipment that runs hot, and flammable or caustic chemicals. 

Building Fires

A fire department responded to a fire on average every 24 seconds in the U.S. in 2019. These fires are often caused by cooking, defective wiring, electrical issues, smoking, and unattended indoor and outdoor fires. Property owners have a responsibility to comply with fire safety codes, including having working fire safety features, such as smoke detectors, sprinklers, fire extinguishers, etc.

Chemical Exposure

Toxic chemicals are used every day in medicine, agriculture, industry, manufacturing, construction, and at home. Harmful exposure to toxic chemicals may be purely accidental, but too often, the exposure occurs due to deliberate or negligent industry practices. 

Scalding Water 

Water causes a scalding burn when it reaches a temperature of 120 degrees or above, and at 140 degrees, it only takes five seconds to cause a third-degree burn. The longer the exposure, the more severe the burn. 

Hot Surfaces

Serious injuries can happen when touching a surface that you are not expecting to be hot. Business owners and employers have a duty to label any surfaces that may pose a danger to people in the area.

Degrees of Burn Injury

First-degree burns – This is a burn that is only limited to the epidermis. The effects are relatively minor, such as moistening or redness of the burned surface. Minor scalding burns or typical sunburns fall into this group, and the burns usually heal within a short amount of time.

Second-degree burns – These types of burns can vary in intensity, listed as either deep or superficial. Second degree burns destroy the epidermis layer and affect the dermis, or second layer of skin. A superficial second-degree burn can permanently alter the skin color and pigmentation of the burned area, while deep second-degree burns can require painful skin grafts.

Third-degree burns – These types of burns destroy both the epidermis and dermis layer of skin, causing damage to all the tissue underneath. As a result of this burn, the skin becomes leathery in appearance and texture. The color of the skin can vary widely. There can be no pain involved in third degree burns due to the fact that the nerve endings in the injured skin have been completely destroyed. These burns are very disfiguring, and skin grafts are a necessary requirement.

Fourth-degree burns – This is a burn that goes deeper than the subcutaneous (fat) level and destroys muscle and bone. These types of burns can be fatal and almost always require amputation.

Scarring and Disfigurement

Disfigurement can be defined as a permanent physical alteration that impacts an individual’s appearance. Disfiguring scars are visible to others, on arms, legs, face, or neck, permanently altering appearance. Disfiguring burn scars have a terrible impact upon a person’s self-esteem and confidence. Both children and adults can suffer extreme emotional anguish due to an altered appearance.

One of the difficulties surrounding scarring and disfigurement is that it is highly problematic and, in most cases, incurable. Scar tissue becomes easily infected and amputated limbs can result in a host of problems including phantom pains, slow wound healing, pneumonia and heart complications. Cosmetic procedures, in some cases, will improve scar appearance, but in many cases, it is impossible to restore a natural appearance after a serious burn.

When scarring and disfigurement affect appearance, it has a heavy emotional impact. It is important that the final value of the compensation take into account psychological and physiological trauma. This may include social embarrassment, depression, alienation and grief.