This is the moment a student waiter was scalded by boiling rice that he accidentally dropped on his head after falling while running to serve an order in China.

Footage shows the student working in a hot pot restaurant in Chengdu, Sichuan province on August 29.

In the video, diners can be seen eating at the restaurant as a female student moves from the kitchen with a dish while the male student, who is later burned, moves past her.

After reaching the kitchen, he turns around and heads toward the rice maker machine, which is cooking boiling rice. However, he slips and grabs the machine to steady himself, causing the boiling rice to spill onto his head.

He was somewhat protected by a hairnet covering his head, but the boiling rice still splashed onto his ear and down his back.

As people rushed to clean up the rice and customers stared in surprise, the burnt student ran off camera, trying to remove the burning rice that had fallen down the back of his shirt.

He was later hospitalised with burns to the side of his head and back, but the condition was reportedly not serious.