The 6 Most Dangerous Appliances in Your House, by SixWise.com
Clothes dryers alone account for 15,500 fires yearly! Learn which six very common household appliances pose serious risks that many people are unaware of, and how to avoid the risks.
(PRWEB) February 22, 2005 -- At a time when homeland security ranks high on
many Americans' safety lists, it's ironic that a major cause of deaths in the
United States occurs right in our own homes: Deaths from unintentional injuries.
According to a series of new Home Safety Council-funded studies
conducted at the University of North Carolina Injury Prevention Research Center,
the most up-to-date statistics available, 18,048 people died due to
unintentional home injuries each year in the United States between 1992 and
1999. And in 1998, 12 million people were injured at home to the extent they
required medical attention.
Many of these injuries stem from falls,
fires, and poisonings (see "The 10 Most Common Poisons Among Kids" at http://www.sixwise.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=74)
but there is another source of danger in your home that you may not have
noticed: appliances. The following home appliances can indeed pose a risk to
your health if you don't take caution and use them safely.
1. Space
Heaters
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) estimates that
space heaters are the source of 21,800 home fires every year, and about 300
people die annually as a result of the related fires. Other concerns with space
heaters include natural gas leaks, carbon monoxide poisoning, burns and electric
shock.
To keep safe and still enjoy the added warmth that a space heater
can provide:
• Keep heaters at least three feet from walls, bedding,
clothing, pets and people
• Turn the heater off when you leave the room or
when you go to sleep for the night
• Don't leave a portable heater running
unattended
• Never dry socks or gloves on the heater
• Don't use extension
cords with electrical space heaters
2. Gas/Electric Stoves/Ovens
Both
gas and electric stoves/ovens can cause burns and fires. Be sure to keep
stovetops clear of food crumbs that could catch fire as well as other flammable
objects like dish towels-and never leave a stove unattended!
3. Clothes
Dryers
How often do you forget to clean the lint filter in your dryer? It's
an honest mistake, but one that could cause a fire. According to CPSC, about
15,500 fires, 10 deaths and 10 injuries are associated with clothes dryers each
year, so always remember to clean the lint screen as often as possible. Not only
is this safer, but it will also keep your dryer running more efficiently.
Other safe dryer tips include:
• Never leave the dryer running
when you're not at home
• Vent the dryer to the outdoors (not to a wall or
attic)
• Don't put synthetic fabrics, plastic, rubber or foam into a dryer
(they retain heat, which can cause a fire)
4. Dishwashers
Dishwashers
are ripe with hidden dangers that are especially dangerous to kids: scalding
water, sharp utensils and moving parts that tiny hands may try to grab. If you
have small children, make sure you don't leave them unattended with a running
dishwasher. And, as an adult, be careful when opening a dishwasher-the steam
that comes out can be extremely hot!
5. Electric Mixers
It goes
without saying that you shouldn't put your hands anywhere near a running mixer
blade, but this also goes for spoons and other kitchen utensils that you may be
tempted to use (they can easily be broken and the shards can hit you in the
face). Another danger? Cleaning the blades should be done with extreme
caution-they're extremely sharp!
6. Irons
Young kids can quickly be
burned by a hot iron-and one study found that 74 percent of such burns occurred
among children who were supervised! According to Michael Carius, M.D., chairman
of the emergency department at Norwalk Hospital in Connecticut:
"It's
usually the hands that get burned, because kids touch the irons, and kids often
don't let go when something is hot, so they end up with second-degree burns,
which blister. These warrant medical attention; they are potentially a source of
infection, which can lead to scarring and loss of function."
Always take
care to turn off the iron immediately when it's not in use, and remember that it
will still be hot, and therefore a potential danger, while it's
cooling.
For more home safety tips, don't miss SixWise.com's popular
safe-living article, "The Six Silent Killers in Your Home: How to Detect and
Eliminate Them" at http://www.sixwise.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=43.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/2/prweb210881.htm