Kitchen stove risks: Tipovers and cooking fires

Earlier this month, some consumer groups drew attention to a little-known hazard in our kitchens — range tipovers. A message about “killer stoves," delivered by Public Citizen, U.S. PIRG and the Consumer Federation of America in a press release, stated that freestanding gas and electric ranges found in millions of American homes can tip over when weight is applied to an open oven door. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has collected reports of death and injury, mostly from scalding due to hot foods and liquids spilling from the stovetop and from crushing weight when the range falls over on top of the victim. 

Only a handful of incidents have been documented each year, but the risk can be easily eliminated. Underwriters Laboratories tried to address the tipover hazard in 1991 when they revised their safety standard covering electric ranges to require that they be supplied with anti-tip safety brackets. All the ranges tested by Consumer Reports come supplied with these brackets. The CPSC is not aware of a single injury or fatality caused by a tipping range that has had the brackets installed correctly. 

According to Public Citizen and the other groups, retailers who sell ranges rarely install the safety brackets. They cited a 1996 internal memo from Sears, the nation’s largest appliance retailer, which claims that safety brackets are installed in only an estimated 5 percent of the ranges sold. Perhaps that’s why the number of tipover incidents with ranges hasn’t changed much since UL’s standard was published. 

If you've purchased a range since 1991 and are concerned about the possibility of a tipover, make sure that the restraint that came with it has been installed. (These are usually brackets, screwed to the floor, that “capture” one of the range’s leveling legs.) If not, installation is relatively easy for someone with average DIY skills. If you lost your safety bracket or have an older range, ask the manufacturer for a tip restraint (third-party anti-tip kits are also available for around $10, though you should only use one of these if your manufacturer is unable to provide a custom restraint). And the best advice of all, don’t allow your kids or anyone else for that matter, to put their weight on an open oven door. 

We think the issue of tipping ranges can be addressed with the right brackets and screws. Unfortunately, the very serious risk of range cooking fires is not so easily fixed. In an average year, there are an estimated 47,000 stovetop fires resulting in 80 deaths and 2,440 injuries. Many fires result from unattended cooking, a behavior for which there is no simple technology fix. The CPSC once put priority on a program to reduce the number of cooking fires and developed experimental technology that could prevent stovetop fires from unattended cooking. But stiff opposition from appliance manufactures killed the effort. To read about one technology that we tested that could be effective at reducing cooking fires, click here. 

Tipovers — of wardrobes, televisions and other common household objects — is an issue we've covered here before. Click here for tips on how to prevent furniture from tipping over.

Comments

[Andrea LaPrad]

We have a GE electric range, which is seven years old. My concern is when I set my oven to clean, the entire oven and surrounding areas are extremely hot. These surfaces are so hot, you cannot leave the stove unattended if a child is in the home.
I have not read any articles addressing this safety issue or concerns relating to this problem.
It is a law in most states that hot water heaters be set at 120 degrees, yet it's okay to clean an oven that causes the outside of the range to reach well over 300 degrees.
Your feedback would be greatly appreciated

[Thomas Priddy]

Successfull stove tipping safety MUST be installed at the factory. Re: patent US 7,017,232 B1 LOAD LIMITING HINGE.

STOVE TIPPING BRACKETS HAVE FAILED BECAUSE THE MANUFACTURER PLACES THE RESPONSIBILITY OF SAFETY ON THE RETAILER, INSTALLER, APARTMENT OWNER AND HOME OWNER. Brackets are expensive to install and installation is technically demanding.

Load Limiting Hinges are INEXPENSIVE and cause the oven door to drop to the floor before the range can tip.

Tom Priddy
512 261-4333

[Tom H]

Thanks for this post. This actually happened to a friend. He escaped serious injury, but it was a close call.