Top 3 Most Common Accidents in the Kitchen

The kitchen can be a dangerous place if you are not aware of the potential hazards that you may face.

Please take a look below at the most common injuries that occur in the kitchen; hopefully, this information will help you avoid them in the future.

Knife Safety in the Kitchen

Knives are everywhere in the kitchen; in the sink, on the surfaces and in the cupboards and drawers – they are not easy to avoid. Knife cuts and lacerations are the most common accidents in the kitchen. Blunt knives are common culprits of causing you to slip whilst chopping food. You need to be aware of this when using them avoid hurting yourself or others. You must also be careful when reaching into the sink or washing up bowl; this can cause you to get a cut from a knife underneath the bubbles. Not only that, but blood from the cut may also contaminate the water so you should also consider that.

Cutting your hand when slicing a bagel.

One of the biggest causes of knife injuries in the kitchen is actually from cutting a bagel. This has become a common injury that it has its medical term, a BRI or (bagel-related-injury). To avoid such injuries, make sure you place it flat on a kitchen surface when cutting rather than cutting it in your hand.

First Aid Tip
Firstly, make sure the wound is cleaned as soon as possible to prevent any infection. Once you have dried the cleaned wound, dress it with a sterile bandage whilst putting pressure on the injured area. If the wound is bleeding badly; make sure you elevate it and seek medical attention.

Trips and Slips in the Kitchen

In the kitchen, there can be a lot of hustle and bustle, especially in the catering industry. This can lead to various food and liquid spills on the floor.

Slipping in spilt liquids

Unattended spillages can lead to slips and trips, which could then lead to escalated accidents. If someone falls onto knives, another person or something hot that can lead to further injuries. This highlights the importance of keeping cleaning supplies and a wet floor sign close by and dealing with a spillage immediately.

If you are at home, you may want to avoid letting children or pets in the kitchen whilst you are cooking? This eliminates possible trip hazards that can easily be missed as they out of your eye line.

First Aid Tip
Minor trips lead to the odd bruise here and there which can be treated easily with a cold compress to reduce the swelling. If a trip leads to any of the other injuries mentioned, take a look at how to treat them under the relevant heading.

Burns

There are so many elements in the kitchen that could lead to a scald or burn. Here is a list of possible causes of burns in the kitchen:

• Burns from a hot oven, grill, oven tray, surfaces or hob. Use an oven glove instead of a kitchen towel to help avoid these.
• Flames from flambéing, cooking with alcohol or cooking with hot oil.
• Burns from boiling water spits and splashes from a pan or pot. One way to avoid this is to make sure that panhandles on the stove are facing inwards so that they don’t get knocked over.
• Hot food burns.
• Kitchen fires – this may seem extreme but make sure you have a fire blanket or a fire extinguisher available for such occasions.

First Aid Tip
To stop the burning process, you need to first of all cool the wound; this can be done simply by running it under cold water for five minutes, or more if necessary. Then you need to cover the burn with a sterile non-stick bandage and secure it. Make sure you seek medical attention as soon as possible after you have treated the burn.

If you would like to learn more about attending to the injuries stated above, you may want to attend a First Aid course with 3B Training? If you would like to learn more about safety in the kitchen 3B Training now provide Highfield Food Safety training at Level 1 and Level 2.

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Please take a look at the range of courses that we offer to help you to advance in the food and catering industry here.