AbstractThis study provides basic data with respect to pain and burns produced on short‐term contact of bare skin with heated substances. The data may also be used to determine the thermal properties and thicknesses of fabrics or coatings required to prevent injury in such contacts. The maximum temperature any material might attain without causing injury on contact with bare skin was determined from measurements of pain threshold during contact with heated materials representing a wide spectrum of thermal properties form good conductors to good insulators. Pain threshold times were converted to blister times and the latter extrapolated to predict those temperatures at which blistering would result form ‘instantaneous’ (0.3 s) contact. The predicted temperatures were verified experimentally in contacts with four different materials. From these data, charts and equations were derived by which the maximum permissible temperature for safe contact could be determined for any material solely form a knowledge of its thermal conductivity, density and specific heat. Additionally, equations for transient heat flow in two‐layer systems yield the thickness of coatings, fabrics or other thermal barriers of known properties which would be required to protect the skin form pain or burn on contact with materials at excessive tempe