Keeping kids kitchen-safe
The kitchen is the heart of many homes, but it is a very dangerous room for children.
- Avoid letting children play in the kitchen at all, so they do not see it as a place to congregate.
- Lock all poisonous substances out of reach and out of sight of your child
- Keep kettles and appliances (including their cords) far back on working surfaces
- Store the blades of food processors and similar devices separately and out of reach
- Store plastic bags out of reach.
- Watch out for dangerous items stored in your fridge (e.g. alcohol, medicine)
- Use the back plates on a stove whenever possible, but always turn pan handles away from the front of the stove.
- Ensure the stove is secured to the wall or floor. Young children have been known to open the oven door and climb on it, tipping the entire stove over, resulting in severe burns as well as other injuries. Modern stoves are required to be sold with a securing bracket. Appliance stores can sell you a bracket for an existing stove. But of course even if the stove doesn’t tip, opening the oven door is a path to danger, so keep children well away.