Kitchen Safety

I’ve written in the past about kitchen fire safety technology because the topic is so important. There is more than one technology that can help prevent stovetop fires from occurring, but this month I’d like to focus on a relatively new development by a company I’ve written about before.

Technology Principles

Pioneering Technology produces the Safe T Element, a cooking element for electric coil top stovetops that shows tremendous promise at eliminating fires from the most common scenario that produces them: unattended cooking. The principle behind the technology is to have high-end heat regulating controls that won’t allow the device to get hot enough to ignite cooking oil or other foods. It combines this feature with a cast-iron plate that helps spread the heat more than the typical coil heating element we’re familiar with. It then regulates the heating cycle to keep it at the temperature just below the ignition level by turning the power on and off via the temperature control device.

It is a simple concept but the result of years of development. The fire service has become aware of these devices over time and in certain places embraced the technology by promoting or even requiring it in certain occupancies that pose a higher level of risk. For example, the devices would be desirable in housing structures where people are in close proximity to one another and what happens in one housing unit could affect another. Another type of occupancy of focus has been homes where the aging population resides and the risk of getting more forgetful grows.

The objective in my area has been to allow people to age in their homes as long as possible to reduce the expense of moving them into assisted-living centers. That trend has resulted in changes to the home environment including smoke alarms for the deaf or hard of hearing; nonskid rugs to avoid trip hazards; bed railings to minimize ground level falls; and lighting on stairways to reduce the risk of falls. Add to that technology that could prevent stovetop fires and you can see the combination of environmental changes that can improve quality of life while reducing risks from a multitude of sources.

Cost and Time Investment

In the past, the challenge with Pioneering Technology’s Safe T Element was the expense and time involved in having someone install the units. The appliance industry has yet to embrace this product, and to my knowledge there are no ranges that come with this type of equipment already installed. So the use of the product requires a retrofit of existing appliances and someone qualified who can perform the installation. Given the level of hazard stovetop fires pose, I don’t think the price tag is out of reach; this is especially true for families that want to keep aging relatives in their home as long as possible or for public or student housing that can realize the benefit the product has in terms of reduced energy consumption. That factor alone could reduce the cost of installation over time.

Recently, the company has started to offer a self-contained unit that can be installed by simply removing the old coil-top element and plugging in a new unit that has the same features as the Safe T Element: a cast-iron plate and high-end heat regulating controls. It has a listing from Intertek, a nationally recognized testing laboratory.

Pioneering Technology is promoting this product in a way that may be more attractive to the general public because it is not just focused on safety. Called the Smart Burner, it is marketed as easier to clean than coil-top stoves, energy saving, and spreading the heat over the cooking surface more evenly. Those features may ultimately be more attractive to consumers than the fire prevention features.

This technology was tested some time ago in an independent study project conducted by Eastern Kentucky University. The report itself can be found on the Vision 20/20 Web site, and it provides evidence that the Safe T Element’s technology produced zero fires while other kitchen stovetops did produce fires.

The study demonstrated that technology does in fact exist that will help us (the community risk reduction community) achieve our overall goals of reducing the risk of fire in the United States, and it opens the door for even more prevention efforts.

Benefiting the Community

I’ve disclosed in the past that a friend of mine works for Pioneering, but I receive no benefit from the company. Like all other technologies I’ve written about, I hope Pioneering does well, because if companies that make fire sprinklers, smoke alarms, and kitchen fire safety devices make money, then their success provides built-in marketing that will promote the products’ purchase and use.

I’ve also written that I was unaware of the appliance industry having any interest in this type of technology, but that appears to be changing with recent proposals from the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturer’s submission to Underwriters Laboratories (UL) for testing criteria of stovetops that include high-end heat regulating controls. It is important for the fire service to be involved in and monitor these efforts, and this is something the UL process allows.

But the final piece to consider here is this: If one technology exists, then others may follow. There are already a number of manufacturers getting into this area that produce motion sensing devices or devices that monitor the heat and smoke levels of stovetops that can cut the power to a stovetop when unsafe conditions exist.

In Japan, where gas-type stovetops are more the norm, a thermo-couple device that makes contact with the pan and monitors heat levels and shuts off the gas to prevent stovetop fires is required by law. I don’t know as much about that product, but at one point the National Institute of Standards and Technology had some of these devices for testing in its laboratories.

We will always need public education efforts to help remind people that they should not leave their stovetop cooking unattended, but it is great that we also are beginning to see technologies that can make a difference in this area, especially for audiences for which education may not work.