The kitchen is the place in the house where homemakers often spend the maximum amount of time. Hence, accidents in the kitchen are common and we often hear about somebody or the other sustaining injuries in a kitchen accident. In some cases, the accidents are the extreme sort and claim lives as well. With some common sense, it is easy to prevent many of the kitchen hazards and to ensure safety and avoid accidents.

The most common form of kitchen hazards is the kitchen fires. Since the kitchens have lots of appliances that are hot throughout the day and the cooking and other activities in the kitchen involve fire, it is common for kitchen fires to ignite and cause accidents. There are different kinds of fires that can happen in the kitchen and they are dry fires, oven fires and grease fires.

Dry fires happen when all the water in the vessel that is used for cooking spills over outside and causes the food to burn. This is a relatively harmless type of kitchen accident and can result in minor injuries without any major accident. Similarly, the oven fires also happen when the food inside the oven catches fire, and this is usually contained and confined to the area that is being cooked and the fire can be doused easily. On the other hand, the grease fires are the most dangerous of the lot.

The grease fires happen when the grease inside the oven or pot catches fire and this can spread throughout the kitchen. These fires are dangerous as grease is a highly inflammable substance and is prone to catch fire easily. These kinds of accidents are common in many kitchens where the vessels and the oven are kept side by side. Considering the fact that kitchens nowadays are cramped and do not have enough room to be airy and spacious, the grease fires can result in the kitchen appliances catching fire.

Apart from these, open knives and other cutting appliances can cause cuts and wounds if not handled properly. These often result in minor cuts and injuries to the person who has accidentally cut himself or herself while cooking. Most of the common burns and injuries sustained in the kitchen can be treated with first aid equipment that is available in the kitchen and can be used to treat the victim without recourse to medical help from experts.

However, in case children and toddlers are present in the house, it is better to keep them away from the kitchen. If you have to cook while the children are present in the house, better to call a baby sitter and make sure that the child is protected and taken care of. Otherwise, you can erect a play pen that is safe for the children to play in while you go about your work in the kitchen. Finally, prevention is better than cure and hence, it is better to avoid accidents in the kitchen by following simple tips rather than get injured and go for expensive treatment, not to mention the trauma that you have to undergo.

Mark Perry

Copyrighted material; do not reprint without permission.

 

View all articles by Mark Perry