Safety Topics for Thanksgiving

Accidents

• Many accidents can occur while you are in the kitchen preparing Thanksgiving dinner. To avoid these accidents, dress properly. Wear low-heeled shoes with nonskid soles so you don't slip and fall on spills. Also, to avoid slipping accidents, wipe up spills as soon as they happen. Protect your toes from being crushed by dropped pans or other kitchen tools by wearing shoes with closed toes.
  
  Preparing a large Thanksgiving meal often requires extra bodies in the kitchen, which means a greater chance of colliding with another person who may be carrying something hot. Always be aware of your surroundings when walking through a kitchen doorway or around the stove. Let your presence be known when standing behind someone.
  
  

Burns and Scalds

• You can easily be burned or scalded when cooking. Take precautions against these injures. Prevent your clothes from catching fire by wearing form-fitting clothing, especially avoiding clothes with baggy sleeves. Turn all the handles of the pots and pans on the stove inward so no one can walk by the stove and accidentally knock over a pot, scalding themselves or someone nearby. To avoid fires and injuries related to fires, don't set any potholders, towels or food wrappers near the stove.
  
  

Cuts

• Cooking Thanksgiving dinner includes using knives, which can lead to accidental cuts. Before beginning dinner, make sure all your knives are sharp. You need to use more force when using a dull knife, which increases the chances of the blade's slipping and cutting you. When chopping vegetables, slice downward and away from your body while keeping your fingers away from the blade. Keep all knives away from counter edges where they might fall and injure someone. Don't try to multitask while cutting. If you're distracted, you're more likely to cut yourself.
  
  

Choking

• Choking can occur in the kitchen while tasting a dish or at the dinner table. If a loved one is choking and can't breathe or speak, call 911, then give him the Heimlich maneuver. The Heimlich maneuver consists of standing behind the choking person, wrapping your arms around him and thrusting your fist upward into the abdomen, just above his belly button. To avoid choking, chew your food thoroughly and don't talk and chew at the same time.