Electrical Safety First recently worked alongside the Government’s ‘Fire Kills’ campaign to raise awareness of fires in dirty, messy homes in the UK.
Supported by the Fire and Rescue Service in Scotland, Wales and England, a media promotion was launched to highlight the issue and make people aware of the dangers.
The campaign came about due to figures which revealed that more than half of all accidental fires in homes begin with kitchen appliances and, in 2012, 21,036 fires in homes out of 37,061 were caused by kitchen appliances. The build up of dirt, dust, and grime is often overlooked, even though it is these very things which are responsible for thousands of serious burns and broken electrical kitchen appliances across the UK.
Electrical Safety First’s research for this campaign revealed that four million people have had, what they are calling, a ‘grime fire’. These kinds of fires are unnecessary and avoidable through cleaning kitchen equipment and mess more regularly. Electrical Safety First say that thorough cleaning of equipment and mess is getting overlooked due to people’s busy lifestyles leaving less time for things like cleaning.
Emmma Apter, Head of Communications at Electrical Safety First and TV personality Aggie MacKenzie carried out a series of radio interviews to highlight the issue and said that dirt build ups can happen without realising it especially with electrical appliances. People should look closely and clean their appliances as often as they are able to. Even simple things like objects lying around can block ventilation or ignite and begin a fire.
Dangers consist of excess fat in cooking appliances, clutter stored by heat sources, or dust, dirt and crumbs blocking ventilation areas of an appliance causing it to overheat.
However, despite the dangers, one third of people can’t remember when they last cleaned behind their fridge or in their oven, one in seven say they often block vents with objects and one in ten leave flammable objects near heat sources.
Of those surveyed, it was families who said they find it most difficult to keep the house clean, especially those with children under five years old.
To help the public understand the risks of misusing electrical appliances, Electrical Safety First have come up with a list of things to do to keep on top of cleaning of electrical appliances; these include things like cleaning the oven and grill regularly, checking plug sockets are not overloaded, defrosting fridges and freezers regularly and not storing objects on top of microwaves.
Written by Sara Thomson
