We have been warned about the dangers of hot water bottles. They can burn you.
A study, published to coincide with the official launch of a new research unit StAAR - a partnership between Anglia Ruskin University and the world-renowned St Andrew's Centre for Plastic Surgery and Burns based at Mid Essex Hospitals Trust – found that half of all injuries were the result of the hot water bottle bursting, spontaneously in two thirds of cases.
Quentin Frew, Visiting Clinical Fellow, said:
“What we have seen at the hospital is only the tip of the iceberg, as the majority of these cases go unreported. People try and manage the burns themselves, often because they are embarrassed about what they have done or the area they have burnt, such as their genitalia.Marks & Spencer confirmed to The Times that their online sales of hot water bottles have increased.
Anecdotally we have seen an increase in burns caused by hot water bottles in the last couple of years. It could be that more people are using them as a cost-effective way of keeping warm or it could be that people are buying cheaper hot water bottles over the internet from abroad. That's why we encourage people to look for the Kitemark safety standard when buying hot water bottles."
Warning noted, but I shall continue to depend on mine. I always rely on the old-fashioned uncovered kind – that way, as we were taught as children, you can spot any signs of the rubber beginning to perish & ditch the potentially treacherous thing.
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