Kitchens are generally dubbed “the heart of the home” due to people gathering there frequently. However, the kitchen is also full of safety hazards and kitchen appliance injury is unfortunately common. Potential injuries can come from cooking fires, knife cuts, cookware injuries, microwave oven burns, and kitchen appliances such as food processor injuries and blender injuries.

Two out of every five reported home fires occur due to cooking equipment. One out of every three cooking equipment home fires involve unattended cooking equipment and half are ignited by fat, grease, oil, or other substances. However, these fires are easy to prevent by monitoring cooking equipment, practicing fire safety, and keeping a fire extinguisher on hand at all times.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, knife cuts affected more than 350,000 people in 2012. Many knife accidents occur due to dull edges, which require more pressure to effectively cut food. These injuries can be prevented by keeping knives sharp, using a cutting board, and practicing safe knife techniques. Safe knife techniques include keeping your fingers tucked out of the knife’s way, cutting away from yourself, keeping the knife point down, and drying your hands before using the knife. Additionally, knifes should be stored safety in a place that children cannot reach and accidentally hurt themselves.

Shattered cookware accounted for 37,000 injuries in the Consumer Product Safety Commission report. Hot handles can burn, and glass cookware can shatter. Similarly, hot items coming out of the microwave can cause burns.

Kitchen Appliance Injury Reports

However, the most severe risk may be kitchen appliance injury. Almost 40,000 people were injured by range tip overs alone, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. If children are unsupervised and climb on an open door or handle, they can cause the range to tip over. Children are particularly susceptible to kitchen appliance injury because they tend to climb shelves, doors, and anything else they can to reach what they need or want.

Kitchen appliance injury can be avoided by installing anti-tip bracket onto kitchen appliances.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, kitchen appliance injury leads to over 800,000 visits to the emergency room per year. Other kitchen appliance injury can be caused by small appliances such as food processors and blenders. These items are very useful in cooking but their sharp moving components can slice fingers and hands. Consumers should always avoid putting their hands inside these appliances to avoid kitchen appliance injury. Caution should also be exercised when washing the components by hand – most components are dishwasher safe.

It is important to take safety precautions to avoid kitchen appliance injury. However, if a product is defectively designed or manufactured and presents a safety hazard, the company who produced in may be responsible for any resulting injuries.

If you or a loved one experienced a kitchen appliance injury due to a design or manufacturing defect, you may be eligible to file a kitchen appliance injury lawsuit. A kitchen appliance injury lawsuit could recover compensation for medical expenses, pain and suffering, wrongful death, and more.