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| Prevent Home Cooking Fires |
November 24 is the start of National Home Fire Safety Week in Canada. And, of course, it’s Thanksgiving in the US. So this is the perfect time to talk about preventing cooking fires.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, Thanksgiving is the leading day for cooking fires, with fire departments responding to three times as many cooking fires as an average day. And the leading contributing factor in cooking equipment fires is unattended cooking.
Share with your workers these cooking safety tips to prevent burns, scalds and fires:
- Never wear loose clothing or baggy sleeves while cooking.
- Do not reach across fryers, stoves and other hot surfaces and materials.
- Keep anything that can catch fire away from your stovetop, including food packaging, towels, oven mitts, etc.
- Use potholders when handling pots.
- Use caution around steam and boiling water. Protect your face and arms when lifting pot lids. When removing the cover from a boiling pot, expose the far side of the pot first, to release steam.
- Never leave oil under heat unattended.
- Never overfill a fryer with oil or food.
- Cool oil before moving it.
- Turn pan handles aside so they don't get bumped or snag on clothing, but keep them clear of other burners.
- Before microwaving food, vent the container by lifting the edge of the cover.
- Use caution when opening covered containers that have been in the microwave, and open them away from your face.
- Be alert! If you’re sleepy or have consumed alcohol, don’t use the stove or stovetop.
- Stay in the kitchen while you are frying, grilling or broiling food. Turn off the stove if you have to leave the kitchen, for even a short period of time.
- Stay home while food is baking, roasting or boiling. And use a timer to remind yourself that you’re cooking.
- Keep a lid nearby to smother small grease fires. Smother the fire by sliding the lid over the pan, turn off the stovetop and leave the pan covered until it’s completely cooled.
If you do have a cooking fire, the NFPA advises you to just get out! And close the door behind you when you leave, to help contain the fire. Call 911 or the local emergency number AFTER you leave.
Home fires claim hundreds of lives every year. Share this article with your workers on how they can protect their families.
Need access to additional resources on this topic? Try SafetySmart today and get immediate access to safety talks, presentations and more. Sign up for a free 14-day trial now. |
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| It may ‘seat’ nine, including its bucket baby seat, but it’s unlike any passenger van or SUV we’ve seen. Imagining the carnage that could occur if this grossly overloaded motorbike crashed makes it difficult to look at this photo. (Naval Safety Center) |
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| Parkinson’s Disease Linked to Industrial Solvent Exposure |
An international study suggests that workers who are exposed to trichloroethylene (TCE), an industrial solvent, may have six times the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease as workers who are not exposed to TCE.
Researchers in the US, Canada, Germany and Argentina looked at 99 sets of American twins, in which one twin had developed Parkinson’s disease—a degenerative central nervous system disorder characterized by shaking, rigidity, slowness of movement and difficulty walking— and the other had not.
The twins were interviewed to determine their work histories and calculate their potential exposure to six solvents.
The people who were exposed to TCE, perchloroethylene (PERC) and carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) were found to be at significant risk for developing the disease, while workers exposed to three other solvents—toluene, xylene and n-hexane, were not found to be at statistically increased risk for being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
“Our findings, as well as prior case reports, suggest a time lag of up to 40 years between TCE exposure and onset of Parkinson’s, providing a critical window of opportunity to potentially slow the disease before clinical symptoms appear,” says study co-author Dr. Samuel Goldman of The Parkinson’s Institute in Sunnyvale, CA.
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Related story: Africa’s Mining Industry Spreading Tuberculosis
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