The kitchen is the heart of the home, but it is also a common site of home injuries. Preparing and serving food can put you at risk of cuts, falls, and burns in your Hollywood home. In addition, the appliances we use everyday can pose a serious hazard. If they are manufactured negligently, they can overheat and cause fires or other damage.
Preventing Kitchen Injuries
You can make your Hollywood kitchen safer with these tips:
- Install a CO alarm and smoke detector in your kitchen and make sure they are working correctly
- Wipe up spills promptly
- Use a kitchen thermometer to serve food at the right temperature to avoid food-borne illness
- Stabilize your cutting board before cutting anything
- Keep flammable materials away from the stove
- Never leave cooking or baking foods unattended
- Keep a fire extinguisher in your kitchen and check it occasionally to make sure it still works correctly and you know how to use it
- Make sure all your kitchen appliances use grounded outlets
- Reduce your risk of injury by keeping knives sharp and by developing your knife skills
- Check to make sure your kitchen appliances and gadgets have not ended up on recall lists
- Use silicone gloves with good padding when handling hot pots and pans
- Regularly check your kitchen appliances for wear and tear, especially near outlets and electrical wiring
- Buy quality appliances and kitchen items and keep the receipt in case you ever need to make a claim against the manufacturer
- Keep all paperwork from any work you have done to your kitchen, in case the work is faulty and you need to file a claim against the contractor
- Install cabinet hinges that make your cabinets close automatically to prevent bumping into them as you cook
- Clean your oven regularly to reduce the risk of oven fires
- Keep a first-aid kit in your kitchen so you can deal with injuries fast
Do I Have a Personal Injury Claim?
If you spilled hot water on yourself in your kitchen or have accidentally cut yourself, you may not have a claim. However, if your injury was caused by someone’s negligence, you may have a claim. For example, if a contractor who renovated your kitchen did not complete the wiring to code and this has caused a fire, you may be able to hold the contractor liable. If a faulty refrigerator caused sparks that burned you, you may launch a lawsuit against the manufacturer.
It is not always simple to tell whether negligence has caused your injury, so if you have been injured contact Flaxman Law Group at 1-866-352-9626 (1-866-FLAXMAN) for a free accident consultation with a Hollywood personal injury attorney. We can take a look at your case and tell you whether you have a claim and what your next steps might be.