If cooking is an interesting occupation at certain stages of the disease, there are other stages or certain periods when it is better for the patient to avoid, if not cooking, Cooker Repair Services in West Midlands at least using the stove himself because of the risks he takes or makes those around him run.
The signs that should alert and encourage the taking of precautionary measures are the risk of fire that the patient’s behavior poses. Forgetting food on the stove, forgetting pots or pans with food (and/or oil) on a lit hob. Use of flammable containers (boxes or bottles or plastic bags) on a lit hob. Forgetting to close the tap of a gas burner after use. Rags or towels or tea towels or papers (newspapers, letters, paper towels, etc. placed on the hotplates or burners. Oil or fat spilled on the burners or hotplates in large quantities.
It is then necessary to prevent the use of the stove. Which can pose significant problems if the patient use to cook. It will then be necessary to act tactfully and wisely to limit the problems posed according. The patient and the equipment used. To this end, it will be necessary to plan other activities to distract the person from his desire. To use the stove and reduce reactions that are difficult to manage. It will also be possible to provide the patient with snacks. Small snacks (salad, cakes, fruit, hot drink in an unbreakable thermostatic bottle, etc.) on the stove or nearby so that the patient can eat when he wants without having to cook.
To limit and prohibit access to the stove, various measures are possible:
- Remove the buttons that control the plates and place them safely, Cooker Repair Services in West Midlands.
- A “broken down” sign can be placed on the stove. This measure may prove to be insufficient with sick handymen. Who will find a way to circumvent the absence of buttons with pliers for example. Pots and pans should also be subtract which will limit the ability to use the stove.
- Put in place button covers that need to be remove to be able to light the plates and which turn empty when they are use.
- This type of knob must be use with care: adults can tear them off relatively easily, or even, with certain models of stoves, manage to force them to turn the knobs and start the gas or the hob.
Use lids with plates or burners that hide them from the eyes of patients.
- These plates are suitable for patients for whom what they cannot see does not exist. It is an additional psychological measure to be used with the measures. Which actually prevent the use of the cooker (removal of the knobs for example). Non-flammable (not burning) lids should be used to avoid the risk of fire or toxic fumes.
- Shut off the gas supply (for gas, see above): often gas cookers are fitted with a valve which allows the gas supply to be shut off.
- It may be useful to temporarily shut off the gas supply to prevent the patient from misusing the stove. Provide that the tap is not inaccessible to the carer and is not too easily accessible to the patient. Sick However, such a measure requires significant safety precautions. It is imperative to ensure that the tap is perfectly seal and that inadvertently opening a stove or oven burner will not lead to a gas leak in the kitchen. Is also important to install a gas detector in the kitchen.
- It may be necessary to permanently shut off the gas supply. This particularly concerns people who are left alone for long periods of time or who live alone. Depending on the risks taken by the patient (forgetting open gas. Flammable products in the immediate vicinity of the burners, burnt pots or pans, etc.). Cooker Repair Services in West Midlands it is time to act and provide alternative solutions (electric stove, electric oven. Microwave oven if the patient already knows how to use them, otherwise it will be very difficult to teach him) or even a meal delivery system. At this stage, it is necessary to consider finding a permanent care solution for the patient who can no longer stay alone in safety.
Block the power supply to the plates.
- Some cookers are fitt with a centralize lockout which prevents the use of the oven and/or hotplates. It is useful to lock this condemnation, without relying on this measure alone. Which may be insufficient with an enterprising patient.
- Switch off the electrical supply to the cooker (open the fuse holder or the branch circuit breaker) especially at night or during periods of wandering.
- This requires that the power supply be easy to access, or well identified (label on the correct fuse holder or the correct circuit breaker). It is also necessary that the power supply does not concern other important appliances in the house (refrigerator, light, etc.). It is worth remembering to turn off all the oven control knobs or plates. Finally, Cooker Repair Services in West Midlands it is often relevant to put a label indicating that “the cooker is broken”.
- Cut off the electrical supply to the cooker by having an electrician install a specific switch that can be easily control in a discreet place (adjacent room or closet).
- It will be necessary to ensure, in the early stages of putting this switch into service. That someone can intervene to deal with the patient’s incomprehension and, possibly. Offer him other activities than those including the use of the stove.
In conclusion, the period of limitation or prohibition of access to the stove. Is likely to be a delicate period if the patient had the habit or the pleasure of using. It will be necessary to be particularly vigilant during these moments. Not to leave the patient alone with the cooker the first times, to propose explanations (breakdown, adjustment, risk, bad contact…). Cooker Repair Services in West Midlands to find alternative solutions for cooking (cold meals, microwaves, snacks and snacks, meal deliveries, etc). Offering other rewarding and pleasant activities and distractions to the patient.
