Staying out of hot water.

A simple precaution that can make a big difference in protecting your children from accidents at home is to turn down the hot water. Emergency rooms in the United States see 80 children each day with scald burns, and about 4,000 victims are younger than age 5.

According to Angela Mickalide, director of the Safe Kids' Campaign, scalding of children is as serious as it is common. Burns from hot tap water generally are the most severe scalds.

Check the hot water heater to make sure your water is no hotter than 120 [degrees]F. If water is at 140 [degrees]F, as little as three seconds of exposure can cause a third-degree burn.

Then, when running water, turn the cold water on first, then add the hot. When you turn off the water, turn off the hot first. This way, when you add more water, the cold comes out first. Also, many tap water scalds are associated with twin-handle faucets, so you might consider changing to a single-handle one that gives a better mix of hot and cold water.

Listen to Got a Minute for Your Health? on many local radio stations.

Jan W. Kuzma, Ph.D., is president of Sentinel Research Services and former director of research at the School of Public Health, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, California.