Staying safe in your kitchen
Many accidental house fires start in the kitchen, often caused by electricity due to incorrect use or damaged electrical cooking appliances.
The mixture of water, hot surfaces, trailing cables, and electrical appliances using lots of power makes the kitchen a potentially dangerous place if you aren’t careful.
If large appliances such as fridges, dishwashers and washing machines are installed under worktops, getting to sockets may be difficult.
Ideally, these appliances should be controlled by a switch placed above the worktop so you can reach it easily.
When getting a kitchen installed
Make sure socket-outlets and switches are fitted at a safe distance from the sink.
Where possible, this should be at least 30cm horizontally.
ALWAYS
- Make sure leads and appliances are in good condition before using them.
- Unplug a toaster before trying to get trapped toast out of it (and not with metal cutlery as this might cause injury or death by electric shock).
- Keep your oven and grill clean as built-up fat and grease is a major cause of fire.
- Defrost your fridge and freezer at least once a year.
- Have smoke and heat detectors and test them regularly so know they work.
AVOID
- Touching switches or any electrical equipment with wet hands.
- Leaving electrical appliances on and unattended.
- Wrapping cables around an appliance when it is still hot.
- Cleaning or repairing an electrical appliance when it is plugged in.
- Overloading socket-outlets by plugging in too many electrical appliances.
- Storing objects inside or on top of appliances such as microwaves as it can block ventilation and can cause fire or overheating.
In our product safety section
Stay safe with electrical products
Check plugs and sockets
Don't ignore burn marks, ‘arcing’ (buzzing or crackling) sounds, fuses blowing, circuit-breakers tripping, or if it feels hot to touch.
Unplug and contact the retailer, manufacturer, or a qualified repair technician.
Protect with an RCD
An RCD (residual current device) in your consumer unit (fusebox) protects you from electric shocks if a product is faulty.
If you don’t have RCD protection, use an RCD plug on the socket where the product is plugged in.
Fit smoke and heat alarms
Ensure there is at least one smoke or heat alarm per floor in your property. Fit enough alarms to cover all areas where a fire could start.
Test alarms at least once a month. Replace them every ten years or when the replace by date is reached.
Selected FAQs
Answers to commonly-asked questions we receive about electrical safety.
There should be a minimum of one smoke alarm per floor with a heat detector in the kitchen. You should fit enough alarms to cover all areas where a fire could start. Make sure they are tested regularly - ideally every week.
It depends on its condition rather than its age, if it has been tested and is in good condition and everything is working effectively there is no requirement to rewire. However, you may wish to consider adding RCDs to enhance the safety of the installation.
A qualified electrician will say if your home needs rewiring and what can be achieved within a specific budget.
You can find an electrician local to you here.
For privately rented properties, your landlord or letting agent should have given you a copy of an EICR carried out on your rental property, but also kept one for themselves, so you should be able to ask them for a duplicate.
For owner occupied properties, there may be a label in the fuse box / consumer unit that states when the last inspection and test was done.
If there isn't one present we would suggest arranging one with a registered electrician.
You can find an electrician local to you here.
We recommend you don't bring home electrical products purchased from outside the UK.
However, an EU conversion plug could make some appliances safe for use in the UK:
- Check if the type of conversion plug is suitable for use with the EU plug.
- Follow manufacturer's instructions when fitting a conversion plug.
- Remember, travel adaptors are not a suitable or safe alternative.
- If the plug is not suitable for conversion, replace the appliance with a UK product.
If you have purchased an electrical product that you believe to be unsafe, you should contact the manufacturer to let them know of your concerns.
If they do not deal with this to your satisfaction, you should report the product to your local Trading Standards Office and they will be able to investigate further.
We recommend that you register all of your electrical appliances so that, in the event of a problem, the manufacturer can contact you to let you know about it. You can find out more here.
Electrical products are recalled more regularly than you might think, but the response rate to a recall is often worryingly low. This means there are potentially millions of recalled electrical items still in UK homes.
Sign up for emails
Whether you are a member of the public or an electrical professional, we will keep you in the know with the latest electrical safety news and information.