CAUTION!! - Top 10 Household Items that Can Kill You

Article by gourabghatak

Life is a gift. We know accidents do happen on roads but what if I say it can happen in our homes too many of which may even take your life? In our daily schedule, we use various goods ranging from organic to electronic, from a match stick to a gas cylinder. We don’t pay much attention as to what is going in our house due to lack of time because of our fast lives. Various research works around the world have shown that there are more number of items in the common household than there is outside which have more probability of killing you. Also the danger is high because these things stealthily covert the fact that they are potentially lethal and one may not be able to conceive the impending disaster. It is not that just using these items will be lethal but avoiding to abide by the precautions while handling these may. Following is the list of the top 10 most lethal household goods which we use in our daily life but with least care. The list would enlist things from everyday life and the necessary precautions needed to handle them.

10. Places of possible water stagnation

Before discussing about the goods, this is a vital thing which we should be beware about. We often don’t just care about the stagnant water in the vents, coolers, washing machines or in small ditches in our houses. But let me tell you, this is fatal. Of course, the water won’t kill you but malaria does. The mosquitoes reproducing through these stagnant waters are sufficient enough to make you ill or even make you suffer severely of malaria, which can be lethal. Cleanliness should not be practiced as an element of our daily schedule rather it should be made a habit.

9. Weak hooks of ceiling fans

We all do have ceiling fans in our houses. The hooks of the fans need to be strong for they are holding a heavy object and a moving fan has enough inertia and gains weight when moving. Loose hooks may lead to the fan falling down and the circumstances don’t require to be explained in detail here. It can be heavily damaging and old people are much more prone to this kind of accident. This is not something very important but our household needs to be checked for this more often.

8. Pesticides or Insecticides

  This point has nothing to do with grown up adults but with kids. We may have plants and to protect them from insects we have some kind of pesticides at home and we all do have kids too at home or in our neighbor. The most curious stage of life is when we are growing up. We try to know things we see and the common thing we do to identify the things is by tasting it or smelling it. Kids do the same with things they haven’t seen before. Pesticide is not something we can digest rather it is a poison and can be lethal. Just one inference from this point is to keep poisonous goods away from minors.

7. Mosquito repellant coils

  We can often see the smoke emitting coils in the houses of different regions of India, which is believed to repel mosquitoes. No doubt, it does. But it also damages your health in a way you might not have thought about. The gas emitting from the tip of these coils contain Carbon Monoxide (CO) which acts as a slow poison. A person, if sleeps in a closed room at night with this coil burning, he is sure to die the next morning. The gas makes a person lethargic to even move and slowly affects the nervous system resulting into death. There is no other way to stop the mosquitoes biting you, but to be clean and make your environment clean.

6. TV antenna

The antennas on the roof of some buildings attract thunderbolts. Broadcasting buildings and TV channel offices have big metal antennae on their roofs to which lightings are likely get attracted to. What a lakh volts thunder can do is nothing we are not aware of. It is not that we stop fitting antennae on the roofs rather it is that we have proper grounding system for this kind of a situation. Grounding should be practiced in all buildings especially in tall ones. Cutting the building cost without doing grounding is not soemthing which can be deemed as an economically smart choice. For it’s only when you have life, you will make use of the money saved.

5. Naked electric wires

Electric wire is an obvious object in the urban homes. For connecting the appliances we often use an extending wire to the original one to increase the length but how often do we actually pay some attention to properly insulate the joints? Yes, insulating the joints with some tape is very important. Electricity travels very fast through one’s body and once it gets in contact with any such body, it gets attracted and pulling yourself away is difficult resulting in passing of 220 volts for some time, which may even cause death.

4. Insect killing sprays

The sprays which we use generally to kill the insects like cockroaches or mosquitoes are highly combustible along being poisonous. There has been an incident noted where a lady got burnt after she sprayed the poison in the kitchen with the stove ignited. If you rotate the bottle container then you would find the sign displaying that it is a combustible substance. Cockroaches are generally found in the kitchen. So now before spraying on the insect, do not forget to cross check the stove or any kind of flame on.

3. Objects of ignition

  Igniting goods like match sticks, lighters are very mere things which everyone can handle and use. Match sticks are the most accessible medium to generate a fire. A small tip of a match stick can be responsible for a building to burn in flames. Careless use can result to these dangerous accidents. Before lighting a stick it should always be ensured that there is no gas leakage in the surrounding or presence of any kind of highly combustible substance like Kerosene, petrol etc. Lastly keeping this petty thing out of the reach of minors.Follow precautions and keep safe.

2. Sparking switches

  Electric switches are used the most in a day. In the present day our life is controlled by the switches. Small and easy items to handle yet dangerous. We see sparks coming out of them sometimes while switching on and off. These sparks are not a matter of neglect. This can play the role of a small ignition resulting in a big fire. Loose connections in the switch boards result in sparks. This should be fixed as soon as detected. Hands should not be wet while operating electric appliances especially switches.

1.  Gas cylinders

Gas cylinders are almost a thing without which we can’t think of surviving today. Without them cooking is like next to impossible. Just as they are a part and parcel of our lives, they have certain dangerous aspects too. In fact, gas cylinders are the most lethal household which we use. We hear burning cases due to gas leakage quite often in the newspapers. A 15 kg of the mixture of Methane, Ethane, Butane and few other combustible gases is sufficient to burn a house into flames. The knob of the cylinder should always be closed after its use. While going out of the kitchen, it should be made a habit to check the stove for any possible leakage. We should always be cautious while lighting the stove. Spend some time to follow these precautions. Stay aware, stay safe.