Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1937-11-14

~ /nLED in the kitchenr That
may sound like the title of an
II oldtime melodrama, but to
y the health registrar and the in
swance statistician it is merely the COM "
monplaoe daily report of another victim
of carekssness in the home Such reports
come IN with disheartenng frequency.
It will come as shock to many to learn
that the kitchen is the most dangerous
room in the house Yet it is true More than 1OOOO 900
persons were seriously injured and more than 5000
were killed in the kitchen last year One serious injury
out of every ten occurs in the kitchen and that takes
into account all automobile and occupational as we'll as
home injuries
In Tompkinsville Staten Island, woman was burned
to death in her kitchen when her clothes caught fire
from coal range.
her clothing caught fire while she was polishing the top
of the kitchen stove with an inilammable fluid
In Brooklyn, NJ Y, woman, attempting to get at
something In chest above a wash tub, stood on the
tub lost her balance, and fell She suffered long dis
ability from severe injuries of the chest and leg
In Patchogue. L. L.. mother of four children was
asphyxated while preparing to heat bottle of milk
for her youngest child She had accidentally turned on
gas jet in the oven.
In Boston. Mass young woman suffered an acct
dental amputaton of the tip of finger while chopping
meat in her kitchen.
In New York City, 17-month- old boy, sitting in
his high chair in the kitchen. playing with broken
electric light plug dangling from wall socket He was
eectrocuted
In Washington, d. G., mother used sodium fuoride,
roach and rat poison. in her grdde cakes mistaking
for -four Her husband died and the rest of the family
were seriously i'll.
Women particularly should stop and ponder over
this list of serious accidents They the chief victims
The modern kitchen is loaded with hazards 1t is a
combination factory, bakery, laundry butcher shop
restaurant chemical laboratory and general household
workshop not to mention playground = all crowded
together into few cubic feet of space In industry
where similar hazards exist state officials and trained
employees look after accident problems and help to con-
troll them. But in the home this job family response
bilty and usually falls the shoulders of the
an of the house She should know where the chief dam
gers lie.
Burns are perhaps the most dreaded type of kitchen
accident They are extremely painful. and when not
fatal often result in long periods of disability and dis
figuring scars More than 1900 fatal burns and scalds
occur in the kitchen every year. This is the only type of
accidental injury in which the death rate for females
exceeds that for males!
Women of course, are about the kitchen more than
men, But in addition, there is special hazard in
womens clothing. Loose sleeves and flowing garments
all too often are set on fire by the burners on the
kitchen range The lesson is Be trim about the business
of cooking.
Hot water. too is responsible for many deaths Pots
and pans are upset. and their contents nfict fatal
burns Many lives would be saved if handles of pots and
pans were always kept turned to the back of the stove
Tu,r,o INT :ccc
where there are children More than three fomths of
all deaths from scads among children under five
They pull pots and pans from stoves or kitchen tables
or they fall into pans of hot liquids that have been left
near them.
There are still lot of people who have learned
that pouring kerosene into a coal range to speed up
balky fire amounts to attempted suicide 1t is better to
wait few minutes for breakfast than to spend the next
three months in the hospital
To-