Hot Water
Twenty years of CPSC NEISS emergency-room records for this consumer product category, combined with demographic breakdowns, multi-year injury trends, and matching recall notices.
Transportation & Substances · CPSC Code 1934
Stable over 5 years
The verdict
Hot Water carry a danger score of 44/100 (moderate risk), driven by roughly 42,798 ER-treated injuries a year that are roughly flat over the last five years.
- 44/100
- danger score (moderate risk)
- 42,798
- ER visits per year (avg)
- 11.2%
- end in hospital admission
- 0-4
- most-injured age group
Every figure is rendered from the CPSC NEISS record for product code 1934 - last data year 2024.
PlainSafety danger score
How this 44/100 score is built
The score is computed from four CPSC-derived factors for hot water - no opinion, no editorializing:
- Injury volume42,798 ER visits/yr
- Severity (hospitalization rate)11.2%
- Fatality rate0.01%
- 5-year trend-4%
See the full methodology for the exact weighting of each factor.
What the CPSC Data Shows
Hot Water (CPSC product code 1934, in the Transportation & Substances category) generate an estimated 42,798 emergency-room visits every year in the United States, adding up to roughly 855,965 ER-treated injuries across the 20-year span from 2005 to 2024. PlainSafety derives a danger score of 44/100 for this category (moderate risk), combining raw injury volume, demographic reach, severity of outcome, and multi-year trend. The five-year trajectory shows that injury counts are roughly flat over the last five years, with the busiest year on record being 2024 (55,913 estimated ER visits) and the quietest 2021 (35,241 estimated visits).
The single most common ER diagnosis for hot water is burn, scald to the hand, accounting for approximately 131,814 visits across the 20-year NEISS window, followed by burn, scald to the foot (124,701 cases). The 0-4 age group absorbs the largest share of injuries, about 145,419 cases over the NEISS window, and males appear slightly more often than the opposite sex in that cohort. Severity outcomes from the NEISS disposition field show that 11.2% of ER visits involving this product end in hospital admission or transfer, and a small fraction (0.01%) result in fatality.
Beyond the hospital-sampled NEISS projections, this page also aggregates 0 consumer incident reports filed directly on SaferProducts.gov, plus 20 anonymized ER narratives - together forming a layered picture of how hot water fail in real households. Every figure on this page comes from CPSC-published data: NEISS projects national estimates from a probability sample of about 100 U.S. hospital emergency departments, while SaferProducts.gov collects voluntary reports from consumers, manufacturers, and clinicians. The danger score, trend indicators, and demographic breakdowns update automatically when CPSC releases a new yearly NEISS file, which is why this page is dated 2024-12-31. For regulatory context, consult CPSC recall notices and the SaferProducts.gov public database linked below.
Annual Injury Estimates (2005–2024)
Source: CPSC NEISS national estimates CPSC NEISS national estimates Injuries represent ER-treated cases only
Who Gets Injured?
| Age Group | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-4 | 79,695 | 65,684 | |
| 5-14 | 52,985 | 73,160 | |
| 15-24 | 38,159 | 74,429 | |
| 25-34 | 41,157 | 80,619 | |
| 35-44 | 35,501 | 66,947 | |
| 45-54 | 34,497 | 61,053 | |
| 55-64 | 31,899 | 43,188 | |
| 65-74 | 17,086 | 26,685 | |
| 75+ | 11,013 | 22,014 |
Most Common Injuries
| Body Part | Diagnosis | Est. Injuries |
|---|---|---|
| Hand | Burn, Scald | |
| Foot | Burn, Scald | |
| Upper Trunk | Burn, Scald | |
| Lower Arm | Burn, Scald | |
| Upper Leg | Burn, Scald | |
| Lower Trunk | Burn, Scald | |
| Face | Burn, Scald | |
| Lower Leg | Burn, Scald | |
| Finger | Burn, Scald | |
| Wrist | Burn, Scald | |
| Shoulder | Burn, Scald | |
| Upper Arm | Burn, Scald | |
| Ankle | Burn, Scald | |
| Neck | Burn, Scald | |
| Knee | Burn, Scald |
Severity Breakdown
ER Visit Narratives
Real anonymized emergency room reports from the CPSC NEISS database.
5YOF PRESENTS TO ED FOR BURN TO RT HAND. PT WAS HOLDING A HOT MUG OF TEA AND WENT OT SET IT DOWN ON TABLE ADN SPILLED ONTO DORSAL AND PALMAR SURFACES OF RT HAND. MOTHER IMMEDIATELY PUT HAND UNDER COLD RUNNIGN WATER AND PLACED COLD DAMP COMPRESS AND BROUGHT HER TO ED. DX: SUPERFICIAL BURN RT HAND. UNSPECIFIED SITE OF HAND.
60YOM WITH BURN TO HIS LEFT FOOT FROM HOT WATER. PATIENT HAS DIABETIC NEUROPATHY SO HE DIDN'T FEEL THE BURN.DX: SINGLE SECOND DEGREE SCALD BURN LEFT FOOT.
12MOM PRESENT SOT ED W/ ANTERIOR ABDOMEN, RT DISTAL ARM, RT THUMB, LEFT DISTAL ARM, LEFT FOOT AND UPPER THIGH BURN. AROUND 4 THIS AFTERNOON PER PARENTS A POT OF TEA FELL ON PT. PT WAS WEARING CLOTHES AT TIME. QUICKLY REMOVED CLOTHES PUT COLD WATER ON SKIN. NO LOC OR DIFF BREATHING. DX: PARTIAL THICKNESS BURNS OF MULTIPLE SITES
52YOM PRESENTS TO ED FOR BURN OVER BILATERAL FEET. PT REPORTEDLY GOT INTO HOT BATHTUB YESTERDAY AND BURNED FEET. W/ NEXT FEW HOURS STARTED TO HAVE BILSTERS FORMED. CARE GIVER BROUGHT PT TO ED. DX: BURN (BILATERAL DORSAL FEET)
28YOF PRESENTS WITH SCALP PAIN. STATES WAS DIPPING HER BRAIDS/HAIR IN BOILING WATER WHEN SHE ACCIDENTALLY SPILLED WATER OR SCALP AND RIGHT EAR. DX: ERYTHEMA DUE TO BURN (FIRST DEGREE)
14 YOF WAS COOKING PASTA LAST NIGHT AND SPILLED BOILING WATER ON HER RIGHT HAND AND THIGH DX BURNS
33YOF PATIENT WAS CARRYING A BUCKET OF HOT WATER IN HER HOUSE WHEN SHE TRIPPED AND SPILLED HOT WATER OVER HER LEFT AND RIGHT ARM. DX: BURN
3 YOF WAS AT HOME AND PULLED A POT OF BOIING WATER OFF THE STOVE AND ONTO HERSELF, + BURNS TO CHEST, ABDOMEN, FLANK, UPPER BACK, SHOULDER. DX: SCALD BURNS TO TORSO
65YOF WITH BURN TO FOOT AFTER SPILLED BOILING WATER ON FOOT. DX: SUPERFICAL PARTIAL THICKNESS BURN OF FOOT
67YOF PT MAKING TEA & WAS BURNED BY STEAM TO RT HAND DX: PARTIAL THICKNESS BURN OF BACK OF HAND
27YOF WAS COOKING WITH HOT WATER WHEN IT SPALSHED ONTO BREAST AND ABDOMEN. DX: BURNS TO BREAST, ABDOMEN
35YOM WAS USING BOILING WATER AND ACCIDENTAL POURED IT ONTO HIS LEFT HAND. DX FIRST DEGREE BURN TO LEFT HAND
Product Recalls
Search for active and past recalls related to hot water on the CPSC website.
Frequently Asked Questions
How dangerous are hot water?
Based on 20 years of CPSC data, hot water have a danger score of 44/100 (moderate risk). An estimated 42,798 ER-treated injuries occur annually in the U.S. related to this product category.
What are the most common injuries from hot water?
The most common injury is burn, scald to the hand, accounting for approximately 131,814 injuries over 20 years.
Are injuries from hot water increasing or decreasing?
Stable over 5 years.
Who is most at risk for hot water injuries?
The 0-4 age group accounts for the most injuries, with approximately 145,419 cases recorded over 20 years. Males are more frequently injured in this age group.
What happens when someone is injured by hot water?
Of all ER visits involving hot water, approximately 11.2% result in hospital admission. The majority of patients (88.8%) are treated and released from the emergency department.
How can I report a safety problem with hot water?
You can file a consumer incident report at SaferProducts.gov, the official CPSC reporting portal. Reports help the CPSC identify emerging hazards and trigger investigations or recalls. You can also call the CPSC hotline at 1-800-638-2772.
Related Products in Transportation & Substances
Safety Guides
What this means for you
Treat the 44/100 score as relative risk between products, not your personal odds of injury.
- See where this category ranks against every other tracked product. Full rankings
- Injuries cluster in the 0-4 age group, take extra care if that describes your household.
- Check for active recalls on this product before you assume it is safe. CPSC recalls
NEISS estimates ER-treated injuries from a national probability sample of hospitals; they do not capture injuries treated elsewhere or not treated at all.
Data: CPSC National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) 2005–2024 and SaferProducts.gov consumer incident reports. Injury estimates are based on a nationally representative probability sample of U.S. hospital emergency departments. This page is for informational purposes only and is not affiliated with the CPSC.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, scored, and verified.
