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Our thanks to RoSPA for bringing this story to our attention and for the use ogf the materiaL below, to find out more about the organisation visit their website.  www.rospa.com

An amendment to the Building Regulations means that as of April 6, 2010, all new-build homes across England and Wales will have devices fitted to baths to limit the temperature of the water to 48°C. That temperature is still more than hot enough for domestic use, but it removes the potential for the most serious scald injuries to happen. Northern Ireland will also adopt the amendment, but at a slightly later date. The move comes three years after such devices - called thermostatic mixing valves (TMVs) - became a requirement in new homes in Scotland.

TMVs blend hot water (which is heated before use to a temperature of 60°C or above in order to kill legionella bacteria) with cold water to ensure water comes out of the tap at a safe temperature.

Action on hot water safety was needed in light of accident figures which showed that nearly 600 people were suffering a severe scald injury in the UK each year. Three-quarters of the victims were under the age of five-years-old.

Older people were shown to be at particular risk of dying as a result of hot tap-water scalds, with an average of 15 pensioners dying each year as a result of such accidents.

Tom Mullarkey, RoSPA chief executive, said: "We have heard of cases in which young children have fallen into hot baths or in which they have been left alone in the bath and have turned on the hot tap, unable to turn it off again. Sometimes their parents had left them alone for just a matter of minutes, perhaps to get clean clothes or a towel. We also know that older people have been severely scalded when they have got into a bath that has been too hot and have been unable to climb out quickly.

"It can take a matter of seconds for a serious scald injury to be sustained, but the suffering can endure for many, many years. Some children require numerous skin grafts as they grow, and the lifetime costs of treating a scald have been put at £250,000."

In 2003, the fitting of TMVs was among 10 recommendations in RoSPA's pioneering policy document, called "Can the home ever be safe?"

In 2004, the campaign received a boost when the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister announced it was to consult on bringing water temperature safety within the scope of the Building Regulations. It was hoped new rules on bath taps would be implemented by 2006.

However, although an amendment was introduced in Scotland in 2006, the rest of the UK didn't follow suit.