Spike in home freak accidents during lockdown says the surgeons
According to a recent report published in Bangalore Mirror, there is a surge in freak accidents at home. Surgeons are getting 15-20 cases a month during the lockdown when compared to just 1-2 cases in the past. The report claims that there have been freak incidents in the kitchen involving burn injuries. Some incidents involved electrical shocks while people try to fix malfunctioning electrical equipment at home. Some of these incidents have resulted in 2nd-degree burns.
Why is there a sudden surge?
The sudden increase in the home freak incidents is due to frustration, excitement, lack of availability of labour, anxiety and stress.
Were our homes safer before the lockdown?
While the increase in freak incidents is worrying, our homes weren’t safe even before the lockdown. According to the NCRB report 2018, residential fires accounted for 56 per cent of all the fire accidents.
What are the causes of residential fires?
Cooking fires – Unattended cooking, pans catching fire, hot oil catching fires.
Electrical equipment – Overloading of sockets, using heavy equipment in extension cords, frayed wires.
Smoking in bedrooms
Candles/ diyas or incense sticks
Children playing with fire
LPG gas bursts – It is one of the major causes of deaths due to accidental fires in India. According to NCRB report 2018, as many as 2672 people, of which 1967 were women, were killed in cooking gas explosions.
Apart from this, our modern homes have a lot of highly combustible materials like upholstery, decorative material and also electrical gadgets.
In India, most of the home fire accidents are caused by cooking fires and electrical short-circuit.
Here are some useful resources that could help prevent fires:
How to deal with burn injuries
A complete guide to electrical fire safety
Image source: Flickr