Take Care When Cooking

Gas is an efficient and popular way to cook. Find out how to safely enjoy the benefits of gas.

Everyone must be especially careful when cooking with oil or fat.
Leaving cooking unattended, even for a few moments, is one of the most common and preventable causes of home fires, with over 30 per cent of Victorian house fires starting in the kitchen or cooking area.

In the kitchen

Don't get distracted in the kitchen. If you have something on the stove and get called away, turn off the burners or take a wooden spoon with you to remind you that you've left your cooking. Never leave frying chips unattended – the oil may boil over and start a fire.

Gas cookers

It is important that your kitchen complies with certain safety standards. Gas cookers and hotplates must have adequate clearance from combustible surfaces, for example:

• Range-hoods must be at least 600mm above the cooking appliance
• Exhaust fans must be 750mm above the appliance
• Burners must have clearances of 200mm, unless the nearby wall or surface is suitably protected.