16.08.2018
Five Ways to Keep your Kitchen Safe
Your kitchen is most likely the central hub of your home. While it can host dinners, evening board games, and late-night pep talks, it is also the one spot in your home with an elevated risk of fire, electrical shocks, and other potentially serious hazards.
This is why implementing the best safety practices for your kitchen is very important for the wellbeing of you and your family.
1. Keep Your Oven Clean
It is very important to make sure to clean your stove top and inside the oven, the exhaust hood and any duct work around the stove. Grease fires are one of the most dangerous, and common forms of kitchen disasters.
2. Make Sure Your Appliances Sit Away from the Sink
All too often, safety is unknowingly sacrificed for ambience. You may be inclined to place your microwave or coffee maker on the counter next to the sink, but be sure it is out of range of splashes and spills. Electric shock can be serious.
3. Keep Cords Away from Hot Surfaces
Another potentially bad situation, is leaving cords too close to the stove or appliances that get very hot. The rubber casing around electrical cords can melt around these hot surfaces, exposing wires coursing with electricity. Again, another shock hazard.
4. Keep pot handles turned in
One of the biggest concerns when it comes to kitchen safety, is scalding as it can lead to 3rd degree burns in seconds. One way to ensure this doesn’t cause a serious safety hazard in your kitchen, is to keep pot handles turned in to prevent little ones from grabbing pot of boiling water from the stove top.
5. Always Keep Fire Protection Tools On-Hand
This is very important. In the case that a fire should break out, you should always keep a fire-resistant blanket easily accessible to throw over a person or a large area engulfed by flames. A fire blanket will prevent oxygen from feeding the flames. Equally important is to never use water or water based fire extinguishers, as water will simply spread the grease and the fire.
Home is where the heart is. While your kitchen may be the glue that keeps your home together, following these tips will help to ensure it remains a safe, as well as a happy place.
