Do You Know How to Avoid These Common Appliance Safety Hazards?

Many of the products that make life easier and more convenient in your home can also be a source of injury and the reason for a visit to the emergency room. At Mr. Appliance, we take pride in responding quickly when household appliances are acting up. We're just as passionate about wanting to help homeowners like you avoid appliance-related dangers that could make your home and the people in it less safe.

Appliance-Related Fires

It's cooking equipment – like stovetops and ranges – that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) specifically cites as the leading cause of home fires and related injuries in the United States. Avoid starting a fire by:

• Never leaving stoves unattended.
• Using a timer as a reminder that you have something cooking or baking.
• Not wearing loose clothing around appliances with open flames.
• Keeping pets away from cooking surfaces.

Contact Burns

Some stovetops are designed to heat up so quickly and efficiently that you may not even realize how hot a burner really is until it's too late. Avoid painful contact burns by:

Using oven mitts (not wet towels or other oven mitt substitutes).
Replacing old or warn oven mitts.
Pulling out the oven rack to test food instead of reaching in for it.
Stirring simmering food with wooden kitchen utensils, not metal ones.

Food Poisoning

Fever, diarrhea, upset stomach, cramps, and vomiting are among the common symptoms associated with food poisoning. However, such symptoms may not develop until hours after eating contaminated food. For this reason, it's best to be proactive about cooking food based on FDA suggestions. Also, don't leave food out for too long before you cook it.

Cuts

It's actually bagel-related cuts that result in approximately 2,000 trips to emergency rooms each year in the United States. The dense texture of this common morning treat is what leads to more finger slices and cuts than what happens with cheese, potatoes, or pumpkins. Not paying attention when using electric knives to carve turkeys, roasts, and other foods can also result in some serious injuries. No matter what it is you’re cutting, slicing, or dicing, reduce your risk of experiencing a serious cut by:

• Not holding food too close to sharp knife edges as you cut it.
• Cutting away from yourself.
• Using a non-slip cutting board.
• Not leaving knives in soapy water where they might be overlooked.

Got an appliance question or concern? Give Mr. Rooter of Huntington a call!