AN EVALUATION OF A PROGRAM TO REDUCE HOME HOT TAP WATER TEMPERATURES

Children are more likely to be hospitalised because of bums from hot l iquids than from contact with fire and flames. Many of these hot liqui d bums are from contact with hot tap water, usually in the home. Hot t ap water bums to young children can be prevented completely by lowerin g the delivery temperature of the hot tap water. This study reports on the evaluation of a program designed to lower the temperature of home hot tap water in Dunedin, New Zealand. In conjunction with a national media campaign, the program provided an educational intervention to h ouseholds with young children. Before and after measures were made and comparison groups were used to determine the effect of the interventi on on tap water temperatures. Mean tap water temperature was 64.2-degr ees-C at baseline and 61.2-degrees-C at follow-up. The proportion of h ouseholds with water temperatures above 70-degrees-C decreased by 50 p er cent between baseline and follow-up while the proportion below 60-d egrees-C increased from 33 per cent to 47 per cent. The group receivin g the intervention did not differ significantly from the comparison gr oups. There were significant decreases in tap water temperature across all groups, but the majority of households still had temperatures abo ve 55-degrees-C at the end of the study.