Injuries from spills of hot coffee or tea are known as ‘scald injuries.’ Webster’s Dictionary defines scald as “to burn with or as if with hot liquid or steam.”
“Burns are classified as first-, second-, or third-degree, depending on how deep and severely they penetrate the skin’s surface.
- First-degree (superficial) burns – first-degree burns affect only the epidermis, or outer layer of the skin. The burn site is red, painful, and dry, but does not produce blisters. A mild sunburn is an example. Long-term tissue damage is rare, and usually involves an increase or decrease in the skin’s color.
- Second-degree (partial thickness) burns – Second-degree burns involve the epidermis and part of the dermis layer of skin. The burn site appears red, blistered, and may be swollen and painful.
- Third-degree (full thickness) burns – Third-degree burns destroy the epidermis and dermis. Third-degree burns may also damage the underlying bones, muscles, and tendons. When this happens, and the bones, muscles, and tendons are burned, this may be referred to as a fourth-degree burn. The burn site appears white or charred. There is no feeling in the area because the nerve endings are destroyed.”
The American Burn Association states that it “only takes 3 seconds of exposure to 140°F/60°C water to cause a burn that is serious enough to require surgery.”
Considering you will never get a cup of hot coffee below 140 degrees (and, in majority the of instances it will be much hotter than 140 degrees) in a drive-thru, you can see how this may lead to problems.
Ordering a coffee through a drive-thru lane presents multiple opportunities for calamity.
People spill their coffee when it’s handed to them at the window, moving through the drive-thru line, and even when they are leaving – especially when there’s a dip in the driveway; they even spill their coffee a block away.
It usually never starts as a big spill – a small amount of the scalding hot liquid seeps out and touches your skin so you instinctively jerk. When this happens, guess what happens next? You spill a lot more of the scalding hot liquid on yourself.
If you are seated in your car, it’s most likely going to land on your torso, crotch and/or legs. Because you are “stuck” in the car, wearing clothes that are holding the heat on your skin, you will not be able to get those clothes off fast enough to prevent a significant burn. Because it only takes three seconds of exposure to cause serious burns – possibly enough to require surgery – it just isn’t possible to beat that clock.
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