Standard Guide for Heated System Surface Conditions that Produce Contact Burn Injuries

Importancia y uso:

5.1 Most heated apparatus in industrial, commercial, and residential service are insulated, unless thermal insulation interferes with their function; for example, it is inappropriate to insulate the bottom surface of a flatiron. However, surface temperatures of insulated equipment and appliances are potentially high enough to cause burns from contact exposure under certain conditions.

5.2 This guide has been developed to standardize the determination of acceptable surface operating conditions for heated systems. Current practice for this determination is widely varied. The intent of this guide is to tie together the existing practices into a consensus standard based upon scientific understanding of the thermal physics involved. Flexibility is retained within this guide for the designer, regulator, or consumer to establish specific burn hazard criteria. Most generally, the regulated criterion will be the length of time of contact exposure.

5.3 It is beyond the scope of this guide to establish appropriate contact times and acceptable levels of injury for particular situations, or determine what surface temperature is “safe.” Clearly, quite different criteria are justified for cases as diverse as those involving infants and domestic appliances, and experienced adults and industrial equipment. In the first case, no more than first degree burns in 60 s might be desirable. In the second case, second degree burns in 5 s might be acceptable.

Note 2: An overview of the medical research leading to the development of this guide was presented at the ASTM Conference on Thermal Insulation, Materials and Systems on Dec. 7, 1984 (14).

5.4 This guide is meant to serve only as an estimation of the exposure to which an average individual might be subjected. Unusual conditions of exposure, physical health variations, or nonstandard ambients all serve to modify the results.

5.5 This guide is limited to contact exposure to heated surfaces only. It is noted that conditions of personal exposure to periods of high ambient temperature or high radiant fluxes potentially cause human injury with no direct contact.

5.6 This guide is not intended to cover hazards for cold temperature exposure, that is, refrigeration or cryogenic applications.

5.7 The procedure found in this guide has been described in the literature as applicable to all heated surfaces. For extremely high-temperature metallic surfaces (>70°C), damage occurs almost instantaneously upon contact.

Subcomité:

C16.30

Referida por:

F3540-21, C1057-22, C1484-10R18, C0930-19, F3547-24, C0680-23A, C1696-20

Volúmen:

04.06

Número ICS:

97.100.01 (Domestic, commercial and industrial heating appliances in general)

Palabras clave:

burns; epidermal injury; heat; injuries; skin contact temperatures; thermal insulation ;