Keep Your Frying Pans and Stay Out of the Fire: Kitchen Safety is a Must

     Every year hundreds of people are injured in kitchen accidents, both at home and in the professional kitchen.  Almost all of those accidents were caused by rushing, being distracted or by not using safe kitchen practices and could have been avoided.  These types of accidents can vary greatly in severity.  Everything from a knicked finger to 3^rd degree burns can qualify as a “kitchen accident.”

    In your home kitchen, the best way to avoid kitchen accidents to slow down, make sure that you’re not cooking anything involved if you’ve been drinking or taking medication.  This can impair your judgment and your reaction times.  When cooking, take things in steps, don’t try to do everything at the same time. Having too many pots or pans on too many burners can create a dangerous environment. 

    Turn the handles of pots and pans away from an edge and make sure they’re not hanging over another burner.  This will prevent you from accidentally knocking into them.  Also, if you know that you can be forgetful or easily distracted, use a kitchen timer to prevent forgetting about anything cooking on the stove that could potentially burn or start a fire. Always make sure your smoke detectors are in working order and have fresh batteries.  In the event there is a fire, your smoke alarm is your first warning system.

    In the professional kitchen, accidents take on a completely different nature.  A chef who cooks for a living and has been trained to do so or has been doing so for many years is unlikely to make the same mistakes as a home cook. In fact, the most common injury in the professional kitchen, is the slip and fall.  Chefs often have to move very quickly as do their staff, especially during a busy service.  This, however, is no excuse to ease up on kitchen safety.

    A professional kitchen should have slip resistant mats on the floor to prevent accidental slipping.  Even though a chef has been trained with his/her tools, even a professional can slip and cut themselves. Precautions should always be taken when using sharp objects.  Extremely loose clothing should be avoided in the kitchen. This is why most kitchens require that their staff wear a uniform that includes a jacket that is comfortable, but not too loose, comfortable pants to protect the legs from any splash and slip resistant shoes, preferably with a reinforced toe.

    This kind of culinary apparel is common for most kitchens and comes in many different styles and sizes.

    To find your perfect culinary uniform, check out Fiumara Apparel.  We have the best in top quality culinary apparel and we pride ourselves in carrying a number of slip resistant, comfortable and stylish chef shoes.