Cooking Safety Tips
Watch What You Heat:
Stay in the kitchen when you are frying, grilling or broiling food.
If you are simmering, baking, roasting, or boiling food, check it regularly, remain in the home while food is cooking, and use a timer as a reminder.
Keep Things That Can Catch Fire Away from a Heat Source:
Keep oven mitts, wooden utensils, food packaging, towels, and curtains –away from your stovetop.
Keep the stovetop, burners, and oven clean. Clean up spilled food and grease from burners and stove top.
Wear short, close-fitting, or tightly rolled sleeve when cooking. Loose clothing can dangle onto stove burners and can catch fire it comes in contact with a gas flame or electric burner.
Keep Children and Pets Away from the Cooking Area:
Have a “kid-free zone” of at least 3 feet around the stove and areas where hot food or drink is prepared or carried.
Never hold a child while you are cooking, drinking a hot liquid, or carrying hot foods or liquids.
Keep pets off cooking surfaces and nearby countertops to prevent them from knocking things onto the burner.
Prevent Home Kitchen Fires by:
Staying Alert. You will not be alert if you are sleepy, have consumed alcohol, or have taken medicines or drugs that make you drowsy.
Heat cooking oil slowly to avoid burns from spattering grease.
Make sure you turn off the stove or oven when you are finished using it.
Never use the stove or oven to heat your home.
Double-check the kitchen before you go to bed or leave the house. Make sure all appliances are turned off.
Be Prepared for a Fire:
Keep an ABC multi-purpose dry chemical fire extinguisher nearby. Never use water to extinguish a grease fire. Water and grease are a dangerous combination and could cause hot greases to splatter.
If you are cooking and a fire starts, turn off the stove or burner and put a lid on the pan to stop it.
Never throw water on a grease fire.
Have a working smoke alarm. A working smoke alarm greatly reduces your chances of dying in a fire.
Prepare an escape plan and practice it twice a year. Have a common meeting place for everyone to gather. Make sure everyone in your family knows at least two (2) escape routes from their bedrooms.