Common Burn Injuries Caused by Backyard Grilling

Backyard grilling should be a fun and enjoyable experience that brings you and your family closer together. Unfortunately, grilling also has a high risk of potential burns, a problem that could impact you or others at your event. As a result, it is crucial to understand these different types of burns and what recourse you may have if you burn others or get burned by others.

Hand Burns Caused by Improper Tool Handling

When you're grilling, it is vital to wear safety gear to ensure that you don't get burned. Otherwise, you might handle hot tools that could burn your hands. You may also experience burns on your hands if the fire flares up on the grill or if you work too close to its surface. This problem rarely affects other people unless they take over grilling for you as a favor. In this situation, you might end up with people getting burned on the hands and getting angry at you for not taking the proper safety steps, even if they caused their burns after you were careful.

Grease Burns Triggered by Poor Food Management

Grilling meat produces a large amount of grease that could be damaging to the touch. For example, grease could fall on the skin and stick there, causing a deep burn that is quite painful. This burn problem is one of the more troubling because it may occur without warning. As a result, it is crucial to minimize this risk by handling grease properly. Clean out the grease trap, carefully drain your meat before grilling, and try to stand a decent distance back from the grill while cooking. And make sure others don't get too close to the grill to decrease your danger.

Body-Wide Burns Caused by a Tipping Grill

In some situations, your grill might not be adequately balanced and could easily tip over. This situation is terrifying because it could land on you or others and cause many types of burns that will be quite hard to manage. Just a few of the most common types that may occur include:

Burns across the chest and arms when the grill lands
Lacerations and burns up and down the legs and feet
Deep burns caused by the grill resting too long on a person's body
Severe back burns if it lands on the backside of an individual

Avoid this problem by checking your grill for balance issues. Pay attention to the legs of the grill and carefully adjust them to keep it balanced and smooth. And also make sure that you don't let people near the grill who may act out such as drunken friends or children who aren't being careful.

Multiple-People Burns Caused by Explosions

On rare occasions, your grill could experience potential explosions if the gas isn't correctly handled. This problem could cause widespread damage to the area, impacting you, people in the area, and much more. And this is likely the most common cause of severe and dangerous burns. Avoid this problem by always paying attention to your gas feed, adjusting it as necessary to avoid too much gas, and repair any leaks or other troubles that you might notice on your tanks and grill. Doing so should help to minimize the dangers of severe burns and keep your party safe.

The Severity of These Potential Burns

Any of these events could cause burns of varying different degrees. These burns are rated based on the amount of damage they do to the body and what treatments may be necessary to manage them. For example, suppose you've experienced grill burns or caused them in another. In that case, it is crucial to understand these different levels to get an idea of what kind of legal situation may develop for you:

First-Degree Burns: These minor surface-level burns may not be likely in many grilling situations but could occur if you touch the grill and move your hand quickly. You may not even get blisters.
Second-Degree Burns: These more severe injuries affect the outer layer of your skin and may occur if a hot tool is held in your hand for too long. Expect swollen and shiny skin with this burn.
Third-Degree Burns: If you are exposed to fire or extreme temperatures via your grill, you could burn two total skin layers. Burns will be yellow, white, brown, or black. In addition, nerve endings could be damaged.
Four-Degree Burns: These will destroy all the layers of your skin and damage muscles, tendons, and even bones. You could die from the complications of this type of burn.

The legal recourse for first- and second-degree burns are usually relatively minor. You probably don't have a lawsuit if you experience these burns because they are minor and easy to treat. However, once you get to third- and fourth-degree grill burns, you may need legal help to pay for your treatment and your emotional and physical suffering. And if you caused any of these burns, expect a potential lawsuit.

Get Legal Help Today

If you experience burns caused by a grill, and you need compensation, you should contact a legal team right away. Professionals like The Stoddard Firm specialize in this type of lawsuit and will do what they can to help you win. However, understand that this fight will be challenging and do what you can to minimize complications by finding a team you believe will fight for your needs.