Modern-day Kitchen Safety: Expectation & Reality! Checklist for safety

What is a Kitchen to you? Filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock believes that Happiness is a small house and a big kitchen! It is safe to say the kitchen is the house of our Indian households. We all want our family and friends to have fun and a good experience. With Knives, Electrical appliances, and LPG cylinders, safety can be a big concern. Some mishaps end up life hampering or life-threatening. It is said, better safe than sorry.

Let’s talk about two scenarios here – one, how our kitchens should, and the second to how our kitchens actually are! Let’s be the judge of how safe we are.

Slips

Our kitchen is a place prone to spills, water spillages to oil spillage is a common sight. Dealing with these situations immediately is very important.

Here is a situation, the kid in the kitchen spills water. What do you do?

Expectation

You immediately clean up the water with a mop stick, leave it to dry. To be on the safer side, even place an anti-skid mat on the area. If not, at least make sure to caution the people actively involved in the kitchen at that point. 

Reality

You leave the area without clearing the water. Let the water sit there and maybe air dry and get back to cooking. Someone steps on the water and slips. The items on the counter drop to the floor causing a bigger mess.

Electrical appliances

Electrical appliances like mixer-grinders, juicers, microwaves, choppers, etc are frequently used in the kitchen. A kitchen is also a place where water and liquids cannot be avoided.

Here is a situation to ponder on, you have just washed your hands and you want to heat a slice of pizza.

Expectation

You take a minute to wipe off the water from your hands, wait for it to dry up completely. After which you plug in the microwave and heat your pizza and enjoy your pizza in peace.

 Reality

You directly plug in the microwave with your dripping wet hands. The switch sparks and you suffer minor shock and burns.

 Regulator

We all know how hazardous LPG cylinders are. They pose a risk of major mishaps. Newspapers publish news of such incidents frequently.

Here is a possible situation; there is a minor cut in the gas hose pipe connecting to the cylinder.

Expectation

You have already installed an ISI-approved gas safety device. It is even better if you have installed a regulator with an automatic cut-off system in case of such gas leaks. Check out IGT Gas Safety Device.

Reality

You have installed a regulator that is not ISI-approved and is not equipped for such incidents. There is a gas leak, in case of a fire as such, it becomes a bigger accident.

Tongs

Kitchen and cooking involve fire. Roasting, grilling, and frying have the cook in direct contact with fire.  It is vital to take care not to make direct contact with the fire.

Think of this scenario, you are making tea and the milk has come to boil. You have to get it off the stove, what do you do?

 Expectation

You turn off the gas supply, get a tong and take the milk vessel off the stove carefully. Place the vessel on a fire-resistant surface.

Reality

You directly reach out for the vessel with bare hands and end up spilling hot milk everywhere.

You can analyze for yourself, how risky working around the kitchen can be. Have you been making the right choices when it comes to kitchen safety? It’s time to think. If not, it’s high time you adopt safety in your day-to-day kitchen activities. Safety should be a way of life!