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Turkey Day is almost here, but there are a few statistics that might curb your appetite: Every hour an estimated five Americans are treated in hospital emergency rooms for burns, scalds and other injuries caused by contact with stoves.
Research conducted from 1990 to 2010 showed children were twice as likely as adults to get hurt when stoves aren’t properly installed and tip over. However, people over 60 were twice as likely as the kids to trip over a stove drawer and wind up in the emergency room. Muscular sprains and strains were the most common injury in people aged 40 to 59 using a stove.
More than half the injuries were caused by contact with a hot stovetop, followed by a hot stove door and the stove interior. (Microwaves, toaster ovens and barbecues were excluded from the study.)
Most folks – 94.4% – were treated and released from the hospital, probably in time for pumpkin pie.
Fortunately, most stove injuries can be prevented with “consumer education about proper installation, common-sense cooking attire and the use of child safety gates” according to the study, which appeared in this month’s American Journal of Emergency Medicine.
Maybe I’ll make turkey salad, instead…it’s safer.
