Kitchen Safety for Seniors

The kitchen is commonly regarded as the heart of the home. But unfortunately, it can also be a dangerous place. According to FEMA, people over the age of 65 have a chance of dying in a kitchen fire that is 2.5 times greater than that of the general population. Cooking accidents are one of the leading causes of fires in the home, accounting for thousands of preventable injuries and deaths each year. But just because your senior loved one has lost some mobility or mental capacity doesn’t mean they have to give up their love of cooking. The key is to provide a safe kitchen for them to use.

There are many reasons that the elderly are at higher risk of injury or death from cooking fires. For one, they may be less able to take the quick action required to properly deal with a fire emergency, perhaps due to physical, mental, or sensory impairments. Their medications may interfere with their ability to take action or make decisions. But there are many things you can do to make the environment as safe as possible for them.

Most kitchen fires occur because food is left unattended while cooking on the stove or in the oven. Never leave food cooking on the stove, and never leave the kitchen, even for a short time, when food is frying, grilling, or broiling. And don’t leave the house if food is simmering, baking, or roasting. Because people with Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia tend to turn on the stove, walk away, and then forget they turned on the stove, this is easier said than done. To address this, a variety of products and devices have been developed to make this easier. For example, an auto-shutoff system can be installed in a stove to automatically turn it off after a set period of time. For an even cheaper and easier solution, toaster ovens with the shut off function built in are readily available.

Many seniors lack the physical strength anymore to use heavy cookware, or manipulate and move pots and pans around by a single handle. Two-handled cooking vessels are a great solution, allowing them to use both hands to lift and move. Additionally, cookware should always be used with the handles facing in, to minimize the risk of knocking them off the cooktop and potentially causing a fire that way.

To maximize safety, make sure to never operate a kitchen without the proper safety equipment. Every room in the house, but especially the kitchen, should have working smoke detectors. Each alarm should be dusted and tested monthly, and the batteries changed every six months to a year. For seniors with sensory issues, consider an alarm service with constant monitoring, or one with strobing lights or some other sensory cue. Another critical piece of kitchen safety equipment is a fire extinguisher. For things like grease fires, where water just makes them worse, a fire extinguisher is the ideal solution. Buy one, and spend time with your loved one ensuring they learn how to use it.