Petrol—something nasty in the woodshed? A review of gasoline-related burns in a British burns unit

Petrol (gasoline) is probably the fuel most easily available and widely in use today. Indeed, most households have a can lurking in the garden shed or basement for domestic use. Itʹs chemical properties make it a highly explosive as well as a combustible fluid, a fact that is sometimes poorly appreciated. We looked at the incidence of petrol-related burns seen in our unit over a 2-year period. Nearly 33 per cent of the adult male admissions were petrol-related and 16 per cent were in children under the age of 16 years. The commonest cause of injury was attempting to start or accelerate a bonfire (38 per cent) with only a small number of barbecue injuries (4 per cent). Petrol causes a significant number of burn injuries a year, and particularly worrying were the number of children injured. However, we feel there is a need for greater public education and perhaps stricter control of this substance.