Following a fatality where a woman was scalded to death in 2012 at a hotel in Edinburgh, it has become essential to remind hotels and other establishments of the health & safety precautions that must be put in place regarding water temperatures.
Mrs Uthaman was severely scalded at the Premier Inn in Newcraighall when she was on holiday in 2012. Following this she then had to undertake six weeks of intensive care, and later died of multiple organ failure. The hotel has just recently been condemned to pay a six figure sum of compensation for this incident.
To avoid another tragedy like this happening again, establishments need to ensure that engineering controls are provided to certify that water hotter than 44°C isn’t discharged from outlets that might be accessible to vulnerable people and where there is potential for whole-body immersion. This is following the Health and Safety (HSE) regulatory guidance.
Engineering controls can include:
- Thermostatic mixing values (TMVs)
- Temperature-restricted, instant water heater
These should be installed and located as close as possible to the outlet to ensure that only safe water temperatures are dispensed from the outlets.
Measures also apply for hot surfaces such as radiators
If you need help assessing your installations our Environmental Health Practitioners can advise and support you with compliance for your business. They can provide risk assessments to identify what needs to be done and prevent this type of incident to occur.
Find here further information on this topic, or contact us for advice at 020 7244 1900 or email at enquiries@foodalert.com
The information contained in this article has been created for marketing purposes and is not official guidance and should not be used as a substitute for official food safety, health & safety nor fire safety advice.
Food Alert take no responsibility if the information in the article is used to form part of a safety management system or used to form part of any legal or regulatory compliance for your business. For official guidance and to engage with Food Alert services please do call our team on 020 7244 1900 or email enquiries@foodalert.com