Molten metal burns.

Molten metal burns are a frequent industrial injury among workers in foundries. The injury is typically small but very deep. Usually the depth and seriousness of these injuries is not recognized immediately by emergency department or industrial clinic physicians. In caring for 16 patients with molten metal burns we found that the burns were full thickness and averaged 2.7 percent of the total body surface (0.5 percent to 23 percent). The average hospital stay was 17 days, and ranged from 7 to 68 days. These small but serious burn injuries can result in tremendous loss of work days for both patients and employers, as well as tremendous expense to industrial insurance carriers. Almost all of the expenses for medical care before admission to hospital as well as a third of employee compensation benefits could be eliminated if definitive treatment was immediately available to these patients.