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MP campaigns to prevent horrific bath water scalds
William Green Political Correspondent A CAMPAIGN to cut the number of people suffering horrific burns caused by scalding bath water by fitting temperature valves to taps is being launched by a Yorkshire MP.
Six hundred people – three-quarters of them children – suffer severe bath water scalds each year, with one youngster under five admitted to hospital every day and 15 pensioners dying annually after being injured in this way.
Wakefield MP Mary Creagh is launching her "Hot Water Burns Like Fire" campaign that calls for a change in the law to tackle the devastating problem in the wake of a constituent's daughter being badly burned.
The Labour MP will table legislation in the House of Commons tomorrow proposing thermostatic mixing valves are fitted in all new and refurbished homes to stop people being scalded by hot bath water. The valves would set the bath tapwater at a 48C maximum.
Currently, 60C is the minimum temperature at which many boilers store hot water to kill bacteria even though a child will get third degree burns in five seconds at that heat.
Such legislation comes into force in Scotland in May, with a similar law already passed in Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
Ms Creagh is acting in the wake of 10-year-old Holly Devonport, of Ryhill, near Wakefield, suffering 55 per cent scalds after accidentally falling into a hot bath at the age of five.
Her mother was running the water and went to an airing cupboard to get a fresh towel and nightdress for Holly, who was sitting on the edge of the bath in her school uniform when she slipped and fell in.
Holly needed a seven-hour operation and spent six weeks in hospital.
Her mother, Julie Dunphy, said: "People don't understand how dangerous hot water can be and what it can do to a child's skin."
Ms Creagh said: "We need to change the law to stop these horrific accidents from happening."
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 11 February 2012
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