Ramadan Safety Advice
This year the festival lasts from 1st August to 30th August and Muslims all over the world are expected to fast during daylight hours, not eating or drinking for potentially up to 14 hours per day.
Stay safe by making sure you have working smoke alarms and a family fire escape plan. If there is a fire, a smoke alarm will immediately warn you, giving you and everyone in your home time to escape to safety.
Many families prepare substantial meals called suhoor, just before sunrise and another, known as the iftar, directly after sunset. Therefore a lot of this food preparation takes place before sun rise and after sun set, which means kitchen safety is really important, particularly as over half the house fires in the UK are caused by cooking accidents.
Before Ramadan begins we advise that you take the opportunity to ensure that your smoke alarms work and you have shared your households escape plan with your family.
Top Kitchen Safety Tips:
- Leave pans off the heat if you have to leave the room.
- If a saucepan does catch fire you should never throw water onto it or try to tackle it yourself. Instead turn off the heat and call 999.
- Keep electric leads, tea towels and cloths away from the cooker.
- Keep the oven, hob and grill clean. A build up of fat can easily catch fire.
- Take extra care when cooking with oil, as it sets alight easily. If the oil starts to smoke - it's too hot! Turn it off and leave it to cool.
- Do not use lighters or matches to light gas cookers. Spark devices are safer.
- When you've finished cooking make sure the cooker or oven is turned off.
- Never leave cooking unattended - even to answer the ‘phone or the door - serious fires can start when you are distracted - even for a few seconds.
- When cooking deep-fried food, dry it before you put it in the hot oil.
- Never fill the pan more than one-third full of oil.
Top Fire Safety Tips:
- Your first line of defence should be a smoke alarm. If there is a fire, a smoke alarm will immediately warn you, giving you and everyone in your home time to escape to safety.
- Fit smoke alarms on the ceiling on each floor level in your home - the best places are top of the staircase, stair landing and between living and sleeping areas (do not fit them in the kitchen).
- Do not remove the batteries - if your smoke alarm keeps going off it might be too close to the kitchen.
- Test your smoke alarms once a week to make sure the batteries are working.
- Make sure you make an escape plan in the event of a fire, so everyone in the house knows what to do.
