THE HISTORY OF BLUE DYE & IT'S RELATIONSHIP TO BURN INVESTIGATIONS

    You may ask, “why blue dye”.  It is simple actually.  I was thinking of a way to re-create a liquid pattern to determine certain factors helpful in determining accidental vs. non accidental injuries.  By using blue dye, the stain left behind, simulates the area of the skin affected by the hot liquid.  This can help you visualize, among other things, flow direction, stability of water, splash vs. spill vs. pour, multiple applications or immersions, sparing and force used.   The blue dye is also very useful because the re creation can be photographed and or videotaped. 

   I had heard of detectives, doctors, social workers and other professionals trying to determine burn characteristics by using clear water.  This is difficult to visualize and omits several details in determining cause.  It was at this time pioneered the idea of using the blue dye for the stated reasons and more. 

  This technique has been extremely useful during experiential training.  During my training classes, I re-create injuries viewed by the students on screen.  The re-creations are done on volunteers from the student body. 

   In this way, the student becomes the teacher and I become the facilitator to their learning.  This technique has been so overwhelmingly received that several detective bureaus, hospitals, burn centers and social service agencies have reported back to me, they now have a bottle of blue dye in their department for re creations.  They have also reported back success stories, due to the simplicity and effectiveness of this procedure.  I know cases have been resolved in Leeds, England, Sydney Australia, Seattle Washington and many other cities and countries, too many to mention.  In each case, a representative from those jurisdictions was a student in my class. 

   I received phone calls from other agencies needing help with a suspicious burn injury case and they would ask if they could speak to “the blue dye guy”.  Thus, the reason I have been given, not selected, the name blue dye guy.  See the testimonials section to read for yourself how effective this technique is with the student body.  

Phylip J. Peltier