Kitchen Electrical Safety Tips

kitchen-electrical-safety-tips

The kitchen is sort of like the beating heart of a house; it’s the center of activity and the pulse of a home. If you’ve ever hosted a party, you might have found that everyone ends up gathering in the kitchen, and it’s the place for a good morning coffee or a production line for Christmas baking.

Just like the heart, you want to keep the kitchen safe. But perhaps more than any other room in the house, there are a lot of hazards to consider. So from our BPM offices in Surrey, White Rock and Langley, we thought it would be a good idea to come up with a list of Kitchen Electrical Safety Tips to help keep you and yours safe.

First, it’s a good idea to watch what is plugged in and where. Most kitchens have multiple appliances and gadgets drawing power at once, some all day long, and some for single use. Some of those appliances like the fridge, oven and microwave draw a lot of energy to do what they’re supposed to do so it’s a good idea to make sure that your outlets are not going to become overloaded and short out. For example, if you need to make some toast while heating up that cold coffee in the microwave (you probably ran out of beans, right?), it’s a good idea to plug your toaster into an outlet that is free and not already powering your microwave.

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On that same note, it’s a good idea to watch where your cords are coming from and going to. In a bustling kitchen where space is at a premium, you might need to plug your blender in across from where you’d like it. So if you’ve got cords going this way and that, make extra sure that they don’t come in contact with a hot surface like the stove top. I’m sure we’ve all accidentally set a tea towel or wooden spoon on fire (I’m sure that’s not just me). You certainly don’t want the same thing to happen with electrical cords—it could easily result in an electrical fire.

Everybody likes a clean kitchen and not only is it a hygienic way to operate, it’s also the safest. With all the activity happening in kitchens, there is no shortage of crumbs and bits of food flying everywhere. Some of us are cleaner cooks and bakers than others but either way, it’s impossible to keep track of every little crumb and food morsel.

The problem with all the bits of food that accumulate behind the stove or at the bottom of the oven is that, over time, they can pose a safety hazard. If there are an increasing number of crumbs in the bottom of the oven, each time the oven is on, there is a chance of it lighting the accumulated crumbs on fire. The same is true for morsels of food that collect around or near an electrical outlet, especially behind the fridge or stove. To lower the risk of a fire, it’s a good idea to pull out the large appliances in your kitchen a couple of times each year to give them a good clean.

Keeping things clean and dry is a major kitchen electrical safety tip. With all the water that is splashed around the kitchen, from the sink to the kettle to washing dishes to wiping down the latest mess, it’s important to make sure that the water is not making its way near the electrical outlets. If water does come into contact with an electrical outlet, there is a chance that it will cause an electrical shock to you when you plug something in next, and can even ruin your appliances.

When you are in your kitchen, arguably the best room in the house, you want to keep in mind that the way to keep things safe is to keep things clean and to keep things simple. Try to clean even those hard to reach places occasionally and make sure that the amount of appliances per outlet are used sparingly and thoughtfully. That way your kitchen will remain the place to be for days to come.

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