Tips on how to Keep your Kitchen Safe
The kitchen is where we spend most of our time when we are in the house. Whether we are preparing food, serving food or even dining there, especially breakfast. There is no doubt that it is one of the busiest rooms in the house. Unfortunately the kitchen can also be one of the most hazardous rooms as well. Here are a few steps you can take to keep your kitchen safe for you and your family.
1. Have a Safe Floor Plan
Design your kitchen according to the floor of traffic. Design your kitchen in such a manner that there is little to no traffic in the cooking area where the stove is.Place things you need for cooking near the stove to avoid carrying hot things and spillages. Lave your entrance/exist clear of any kind of obstructions. Leave room for opening cabinet doors. For example, don’t have a cabinet door opening towards the entrance or exit.
2. Proper Lighting
Your kitchen should have good lighting at all-time whether natural light or artificial light, preferably LED light which is so efficient to ensure the light in your kitchen is excellent.Proper lighting helps you see things clearly and prevent many accidents especially when using sharp objects or even just moving around the kitchen. You can also supplement the lighting with a specific task light that focuses on a specific workstation like the stove area you can see clearly when you are cooking. All lights used in the kitchen should be glare-free for safety reasons.
3. Cleanliness
Keep your kitchen free of unnecessary clutter clean as you work. Clean your kitchen floors with soap and warm water to remove the grease off the floor to prevent slipping. Ensure your kitchen floors are always dry. Take out the trash and check expiry dates of food stuff as often as possible. Do regular deep cleaning for your kitchen every so often especially on the countertops and the stove and oven to prevent grease fires.
4. Install Non-slip Flooring
For your kitchen choose floors that are slip resistant. Kitchen floors are prone to wetness and grease spilling on that and makes them very slippery and it can be very dangerous. Look for floors that are non-slip such as matte-finished wood, soft textured vinyl or soft glazed ceramic tiles. If your kitchen already has normal tile you can use rugs that have non-skid material on the back especially in places where they are prone to wetness like the sink area and next to the stove because of splashes when you are cooking.
5. Step up Your Fire Safety
Start with a designated area for storing your fire safety equipment that is accessible by everyone in the house. Get fire safety equipment like a good user friendly fire extinguisher and fire blanket in case of crease fires. Place all everything that can catch fire easily like cookbooks, kitchen towels away from the fire.do not leave pot on the stove unattended. If your grease is too hot take it off the stove carefully. If you pot every catch, cover it with a fire blanket to stop the fire. Never try to throw water on it will only make the fire worse.
Install a good smoke detector in the kitchen. They are very important, they will help prevent a lot of fires. Another thing is to train everyone how to handle fire emergencies and how to use the fire safety.equipments.Conduct fire drills every now and then with your family to keep you prepared in case of anything.
6. Electrical Safety
Electricity is one of the most hazardous things in a kitchen yet so necessary. You have to take caution when dealing with electricity in the kitchen. It can cause fires and electric shocks that can be fatal.to be safe all electrically switches and plugs away from water sources. Most switchgear companies like elecspare.com install the switch gear in the kitchen due to the heavy use of electricity and the high possibility of fire more than other rooms in the house. If the switch gearbox is in the kitchen ensure that it is clear of any hindrance and it can be seen clearly. Avoid touching electric switches with a wet hand to keep yourself from getting shocked. Avoid overloading sockets. And switch off all electric appliances when they are not being used.
7. Child Proof Your Kitchen
Do away with Sharp corners on the kitchen countertop and kitchen islands; they can be dangerous especially to kids. Because of the kids’ height and to be very honest kids are always running I don’t why. They can run into those sharp corners of the countertops and injure themselves.
Keep all sharp utensils, medicine, chemicals and anything else that can be harmful to kids out of reach preferably in a locked cabinet. Put stuff that kids need e.g snacks somewhere that is easily accessible that they don’t need to pull or climb up to reach for safety of the kids. The microwave should be put at a height that they do not need to pull food out. You can’t keep kids out of the kitchen and train them on how to use appliances in the kitchen to avoid accidents.
Conclusions
For all these things to work, you need to involve the entire family and everyone who lives in that house. Explain to them the importance of safety in the kitchen. Keep up with the condition of your appliances. Check your codes and appliances for damages and repair as soon as you discover them.
