'Very chaotic time': Doctor's warning about most common holiday cooking injuries

A doctor is warning people to be vigilant in the kitchen to avoid suffering the shocking injuries which are more common at this time of year.

President at ANZBA (Australian and New Zealand Burn Association) Jeremy Rawlins said people rushing and attempting to cook dishes they normally wouldn’t can result in horrific burns that could even lead to somebody requiring surgery.

“People take on too much and don’t give themselves the time to do it,” Dr Rawlins told Yahoo News.

“Obviously people also have family and friends around so it can be very chaotic in the kitchen.”

Surprising cause for common kitchen injury

When you think about burns caused by cooking you may think the most common injury is caused by the oven or a hot tray.

But Dr Rawlins said hot oil was the main culprit.

“People who cook big hams and roasts – they have a lot of oil in big pans – and because of the chaos plus a couple of wines, they try to carry the large pans with the oil to the countertop,” he said.

“A common thing is people are scalded with hot oil on their hands because they are sloshing it around the pan, being a little bit careless.

“Oil in particular gets very hot, it’s certainly more than your standard cup of tea and it doesn’t take long before it burns the skin.”

Dr Rawlins said when things went seriously wrong, oil could even catch alight.

“That’s a much bigger issue and we do occasionally see that,” he said.

“The oil does not only burn the patient but if they’re charging around trying to put the fire out it can cause much bigger burns.”

Avoid barbecue bungles

Those preparing a cook-up to celebrate New Year’s are also urged to be responsible around the barbecue.

“You see this more in men than women – men trying to get the barbecue going by extraordinary means,” Dr Rawlins said.

“People put petrol on the barbecues and metho in an attempt to try and get it going quickly.

“People still try to get the barbecue going by using lighter fluid.”

Dr Rawlins said people were often careless when changing barbecue gas canisters and dangerous practices could even cause explosions.

“Because of the festive season and an increase in using barbecues over the holiday period, we see more of those injuries in the summer months,” he said.

Tips for staying safe while cooking

“First and foremost make time to do the cooking by doing some preparation,” Dr Rawlins said.

“Don’t be rushed into preparing complex or fancy food you’re not used to preparing on a weekly basis.”

Dr Rawlins also recommends getting the kids out of the kitchen in order to give the cook enough space and ensuring the right tools are being used when preparing a dish.

“Make sure you’ve got the safety stuff in place. When you’re carrying hot pans use appropriate gloves and holders and equip yourself with tools to minimise spills and splashes,” he said.

Dr Rawlins also warns people to drink in moderation while cooking.

“It’s like anything, you wouldn’t drive a car, you wouldn’t look after complex problems under the heavy influence of alcohol,” he said.

“Virtually 100 per cent of injuries related to cooking involve people who have been drinking. It reduces your coordination.

“Moderate what you drink and get the barbecuing over and done with before you lay into the beer and wine.”

What to do if you get a cooking burn

Dr Rawlins said treating burns was the most important thing as the severity of the injury would depend on how well it was managed after the incident.

“Immediately stop what you are doing and get the burn under cool running water for 20 minutes,” he said.

“Researchers have looked at the outcomes when people do good first aid and bad first aid. If you do really good first aid you reduce the requirements for surgery by 50 per cent.

“It’s so simple.”

Dr Rawlins said if the patient does not try to rapidly cool down the skin it tends to keen on burning, making the injury deeper.

“People who have really good first aid present with more superficial injuries,” he said.

While sticking your burn under running water immediately is recommended, Dr Rawlins said it would still be useful up to three hours after the burn.

What not to do if you burn yourself

Dr Rawlins said never to use warm water to treat a burn or attempt to ice it with a frozen bag of peas or put your hand in a bowl of ice.

“That actually makes it worse. Ice causes rapid constriction to the blood vessels that are trying to deliver blood to the tissues,” he said.

While sticking your hand in a bowl of cold water rather than under running water is better than doing nothing, Dr Rawlins said it still wasn’t the best treatment.

“The water warms up when you do that,” he said.

“It’s better than nothing but the gold standard is running cool water.

“If you’re unfortunate to have a horrific injury on the body, get into the shower and stand under cold water for 20 minutes.”