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edit this page Direct contact hazards of cookstoves: Burns, cuts and scalds
Cooking with biomass often results in significant injuries in the forms of burns, cuts, and scalds. Though much research has been conducted in the fields of air pollution and respiratory infection, there has been little work done that investigates methods to reduce injuries from direct contact with stoves. As these direct contact injuries can be severe and life threatening, there is a need to produce safer household stoves. To address this need, guidelines have been developed to pinpoint hazardous areas and provide options for producing safer stoves. With easy-to-use and standardized procedures, these guidelines provide designers and manufacturers with effective methods for evaluating stove safety. Even non-technical persons can evaluate stove safety and improve stoves by using the guidelines.
[top] [end]Developing the safety principles Forty-seven stove models from around the world were examined during the development of the stove safety principles. From this analysis several hazards were found to present dangers to stove users. These hazards can result in personal injuries such burns, cuts, and scalds; and also in loss of property due to house fires. The hazards and their severities were used to create ten guidelines corresponding to the many potential areas of harm. With each guideline comes four levels of safety that pinpoint and rate hazardous areas for inspection by designers. Further, the ratings can be used to demonstrate stove safety improvement as designers make modifications and retest their stoves. In this manner the guidelines give standardized methods for testing and improving the safety of stoves.
Burns are the most common form of injury. They vary in severity and can occur through contact with hot surfaces or flames. Less severe burns, such as redness and minor blistering, are prevalent with stoves that have excessively hot exterior surfaces near the combustion chamber or chimney.
Three of the safety guidelines describe the temperature ranges likely to give rise to burns. In addition, these guidelines take into consideration the way some structural materials (metals) produce burns more quickly than others (clay, mud). Furthermore, stoves nearer to the ground have more stringent guidelines because they present a greater risk of injury for children (Figure 1). To test for the hazard of hot surfaces, thermocouples or thermal sensitive paints are used to evaluate temperatures.  Figure 1: Burn to hand from falling on to fire (photo: Don O’Neal) |
More severe burns are the consequence of contact with open flames. As women in the South are traditionally responsible for cooking; they are often the victims of accidents when skirts and hair catch on fire from open flames (Figure 2). These injuries are characterized by charred skin or muscle tissue and can result in loss of limb or eye function. Minimizing open flames is central in preventing injury (Figure 3).Testing is done by inspecting the amount of open flames surrounding the cookpot or coming out of the fuel loading area. Greater risk comes with greater amounts of open flames. These ratings are strict since even small flames can produce serious injuries.
Scalds present a safety hazard to both cookstove users and children in the vicinity of a stove. Boiling liquids are easily spilled with stoves that are lightweight and close to the ground, as is often the case with hand-made stoves. These characteristics present the greatest hazard to children playing in small kitchens. However, even taller models have the potential to cause scald injuries if the main construction of the stove is far from the ground so that it overturns easily. Safety testing within a laboratory for scald injuries includes tipping a test stove slightly away from upright and finding the angle at which the stove will tip over on its own accord. Stoves with most of their weight higher from the ground will tip sooner and thus present greater risk.  Figure 2 :Third degree burns from skirt fire (photo: Don O’Neal) |
Scalds also occur when pots are being moved from a stove. As pots are moved they can collide with small protrusions, such as handles on the stove or a sunken cooking surface, and result in a pot being overturned. The size of this risk is calculated using the height of vertical protrusions near the cookstove surface.
[top] [end]House fires and their prevention Though not itself an injury, a house fire is highly undesirable. One concern involves when a stove is overturned and burning fuel is spilled onto the ground or surrounding materials that can catch fire. Additional concerns arise with stoves that do not enclose the combustion chamber and leave the burning fuel exposed. A problem arises when cooking with non-dried wood that can ‘crackle’ and send small pieces of fuel flying. This flying fuel can in turn set other things on fire, including clothes. To rate the safety of the stove against this hazard, the size of the opening through which fuel can be seen (and could thus fly out) is measured. Further risks for property loss arise when poorly insulated stoves are put close to the walls of a home. Intense heat from stove surfaces can ignite surrounding combustible materials just as open flames do. If stoves are placed near a wall, the temperatures of this wall are taken and measured against acceptable levels to prevent house fires.  Figure 3:Open flames are dangerous, and can lead to severe burns and cause house fires (photo: Don O’Neal) |
Cuts and abrasions (scratches) are the least severe injuries but can still cause much discomfort and can lead to infected wounds. Often hand-made metal stoves have sharp edges and points resulting in harm to stove users or children playing near a stove. Evaluation of this risk is done by counting the number of hazardous points and sharp edges present on a stove. Rubbing a cloth along the surfaces of a stove and inspecting areas where the cloth becomes caught or ensnared easily finds these.
The development and implementation of the safety guidelines has taken place over the past three years. Continued development of the procedures is done with help of stove researchers at the Aprovecho Research Center, at Trees, Water & People in the United States, and in the field by workers at the Asociación Hondureña Para El Desarrollo (translated as ‘The Honduran Association for Development’). Additional discussions take place each year among over 100 stove specialists at the international conference of Engineers in Technical and Humanitarian Opportunities of Service (ETHOS). Through their assistance these guidelines have become an instrumental and effective resource for rating cookstove hazards and increasing safety. Further use and development of these guidelines is occurring in Latin America, West Africa, China, and the Philippines, leading to thousands of safer stoves. To discuss how to implement safer stoves in your community, please contact Nathan Johnson (atlas@iastate.edu) or download the tests with full explanations at www.vrac.iastate.edu/~atlas/safety.htm You may also request guidance or copies of the tests via mail by writing to Nathan Johnson, 1620 Howe Hall, Iowa State University, Ames IA 50011, USA.
[top] [end]Download the original article  Direct contact hazards of cookstoves: Burns, cuts, and scalds by Nathan G. Johnson and Mark Bryden (248 KB)
[top] [end]Contents: Boiling Point 52 - Health, safety and household energy  . |
Theme editorial: Household energy for life - Update on the health and climate impacts of household solid fuels - Spreading innovative biomass stove technologies through China and beyond - Pollution factors affecting health and safety in rural Zimbabwe - Protecting children from indoor air pollution exposure through outdoor cooking in rural South Africa - Direct contact hazards of cookstoves - Burns, cuts, and scalds - Introducing alcohol stoves to refugee communities - GTZ News BP52 - Household energy, indoor air pollution and health at the 14th session - The effect of ventilation on carbon monoxide and particulate levels in a test kitchen - Methanol stoves for indoor air pollution reduction in Delta State Nigeria - Solar cooking and health - Fuel briquettes from wastes - Charcoal making from agricultural residues - What's happening in household energy BP52? – Energy News From Practical Action BP52
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