Precautions at Home

Every day accidents are occurring at home because of some negligence on somebody’s part.
I am mentioning some real life accidents, which have occurred in the lives of persons near to me so that others may take necessary precaution.

1. Do not keep heated oil or any other liquid at a high level.
My elder son’s sister-in-law recently burnt her hand when she tried taking down some hot oil, which she had placed on a shelf above the kitchen table. Somehow the container slipped and her whole right hand from the elbow to her palms were so thoroughly burnt with blistering that it has taken her 3 weeks to recover.
Precautions: If you do burn at anytime and you have cold water nearby, pour cold water on the burn area immediately. It will draw away heat and reduce the affect of the burn.

2. Do not keep hot material, be it oil, milk or water or your frying pan or Tawa on the floor after you complete your heating if you have small children at home.
My younger son was then two years old. M wife was at her parents place. In those days cooking was done on the floor and not on stands. She had just heated the milk and brought it down from the stove when my son came rushing in and fell, his left hand, plump in the milk pot. His hand, right up to upper arm was burnt. Fortunately his uncle, who is a doctor, was there. He immediately applied Xylocaine Jelly on the burn. You will be surprised to note that hardly any blisters formed on the burn. Xylocaine jelly is a cooling agent and is used as local anesthesia while performing minor operations.

3. This occurred many years ago just after our marriage. One of my wife’s school friends was cooking on the floor. With a gas burner. She got up to get something from behind her. Her petticoat caught fire and she received severe burns and had to be hospitalized for one week.
If you are cooking at the floor level, you must be specially careful while moving around, especially if you are wearing loose clothes like sari, petticoat or frock.

4. The tongs, which we use to hold hot materials, should also be good. About 20 years ago, the tongs my wife was using to hold the hot milk slipped and the milk fell on her stomach. She received very severe burns which took a week to heal.

Well, by now you must be wondering my family is very prone to burn accidents.
But be careful, it could happen to you also.
I am just using my 60 odd years experience to just guide you to be cautious.
Next week, I shall tell you of some other pitfalls we fall into which endangers our lives.

Radheshyam