Work-related burns in South Wales 1995-96

The aim of this work was to evaluate the epidemiology of occupational burns referred to the Welsh Regional Burns Unit from Ist January 1995 to 31st De cember 1996. Three hundred and twenty-four patients were identified as havi ng sustained occupational burns and the case notes of 319 were available fo r review. Data on age, sex, occupation, aetiology, percentage and site of b urn, treatment, complications and length of hospital stay were recorded. Tw enty percent of all burns referred to our unit occurred in the workplace, t he majority of whom were male (male:female 11:1), with a mean age of 34 yea rs. Patients presented late to our unit in 35% of cases, with an average de lay of 5 days. Chemical burns predominated (23%), followed by flame (14%) a nd scald (14%). Small burns (less than or equal to 1% TBSA) were seen in 70 % of all patients. Five patients had burns involving > 15% TBSA. One hundre d and seventy-five patients were admitted, of whom 79 required surgery. The length of stay ranged from 1-110 days (mean 8.5), with an average follow-u p for all patients of 3.5 months. One patient died as a result of his burn injury. In conclusion, occupational burn injuries continue to account for a significant proportion of all burn injuries, affecting mainly young males in physical occupations. Despite Health and Safety guidance, chemical burns are the predominant cause and more needs to be done to educate those worki ng with chemicals to prevent injury. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd and ISBI . All rights reserved.