Yes, I know, this is a bit of a "Public Service Announcement".

I am posting this, to plead with folk, to ditch their chip pans, and to get themselves an electric deep-fat-fryer, instead.

One of the customers of the charity that I work for, is curently in intensive care, in a very, very poorly condition.

She has suffered approximately 50% burns to one side of her body, and severe smoke inhalation. Frankly, it doesn't look good for the poor old lady.

She was injured in a chip-pan fire, in the kitchen at her home.

Please, folks, ditch your chip-pan:- chip pans have been the cause of too many fires in and around this area, and have claimed far too many lives...

Switch to an electrical deep-fat tryer, instead,which has a thermostat, and a safety cut out device, which will control the temperature of the fat/ oil. They are much safer than the old hob-top chip-pans.

Think, before you use a chip-pan:- opt for a deep fat fryer instead.

Please?

The next person in intensive care, could be you!

PT

Originally posted by Plain Talker
Yes, I know, this is a bit of a "Public Service Announcement".

I am posting this, to plead with folk, to ditch their chip pans, and to get themselves an electric deep-fat-fryer, instead.

One of the customers of the charity that I work for, is curently in intensive care, in a very, very poorly condition.

She has suffered approximately 50% burns to one side of her body, and severe smoke inhalation. Frankly, it doesn't look good for the poor old lady.

She was injured in a chip-pan fire, in the kitchen at her home.

Please, folks, ditch your chip-pan:- chip pans have been the cause of too many fires in and around this area, and have claimed far too many lives...

Switch to an electrical deep-fat tryer, instead,which has a thermostat, and a safety cut out device, which will control the temperature of the fat/ oil. They are much safer than the old hob-top chip-pans.

Think, before you use a chip-pan:- opt for a deep fat fryer instead.

Please?

The next person in intensive care, could be you!

PT

Too true PT! Even better, people could have salad; I've never heard of that bursting into flames!

K x

Every time someone has an accident with anything......chip pans....drills.....any electrical device....swimming in rivers.....DiY. equipment.....you name it....., then someone wants to "ban it".It doesn't matter if 99.9%of us want to keep it or enjoy whatever it is , the cry goes up "Ban It".
I do realise that every individual tragedy , whatever it is , can be distressing but we'd have to ban nearly everything to come up with a risk-free society.However , that's the way society is heading e.g.some poor old soul who's trying to get a bit of pain-relief from arthritis by taking mariujana can't do so legally 'cos it's banned because a few deadheads can't handle it.
People can't nip out for a drink at 4 a.m. if they wish as drinking at that time is banned , for all sorts of medical and social reasons.Why can't we be trusted to do what we wish and the police or other authorities do the job they're meant to do i.e. dealing with yobs and people who are too old or infirm to deal with life....chip pans , for example. Why do we all have to be banned?

I want all chip pans banned.


Stop wasting Firemen's time.

I've never had a chip pan catch fire, and I don't know any one that has. They only catch on fire if not attended to properly.What about sauce pans that boil dry.Should they be banned as well?

PT maybe you'd like to change the title to

DANGER! WARNING!..... Old People get rid of your chip pans, PLEASE!

or

DANGER! WARNING!..... Get rid of your old people, PLEASE!

I suppose we're just being reminded of an on-going problem and the strange thing is that it is an 'on-going problem' when there are alternatives. I suppose it's a bit like everyone should have a smoke alarm, everyone should wear their seat belt, everyone should get three quotes off tradespeople for a job etc, etc, etc, We all seem to go around thinking that accidents and misfortune only happen to OTHER people.

I think the point being that accidents happen to SOME people - not all. Old people and people not quite on the ball ie drunk have a higher chance of an accident but by all means not all of them will.

Just seemed to be a bit of a drastic statement to make by PT

Originally posted by Fareast
Every time someone has an accident with anything......chip pans....drills.....any electrical device....swimming in rivers.....DiY. equipment.....you name it....., then someone wants to "ban it".It doesn't matter if 99.9%of us want to keep it or enjoy whatever it is , the cry goes up "Ban It".

In this case, there is a perfectly valid, and much safer, alternative available. Not to mention easier to use.

Originally posted by Fareast
Why can't we be trusted to do what we wish and the police or other authorities do the job they're meant to do i.e. dealing with yobs and people who are too old or infirm to deal with life....chip pans , for example. Why do we all have to be banned?

While I don't agree with the knee-jerk banning of anything even remotely dangerous (e.g. playing tag in the playground), there is no call here for something to be banned. There is just a call for people to have sense! Unfortunately, it seems that if left to their own devices people self destruct. They set fire to their houses, cut off limbs with power tools, drown in rivers, trash cars.... the list goes on.

The reason we can't just be trusted to 'do what we wish' is because what we wish is generally quite dangerous and may take the emergency services away from someone in genuine distress. How can you possibly tell who is going to be trustworthy to not go off an do something utterly stupid? Presumably the ones who aren't out lobbying to be allowed to do stupid things if they want are the ones who can be trusted?

why would you want to use a chip-pan when deep fat fryers are SO much easier to work with? :D y'know, why put yourself at danger when you can pick one up for like £50... its not like its not a good investment unless you rarely eat chips... in which case just have oven chips :P

spiffy-monkey nearly gets the point dead right.

In this case there is a safer alternative, with that I agree, although if people are stupid enough not to take that alternative i'm not sure we should force them.

The health effects of both chip pans and deep fat fryers is probably a far greater burden on the nhs via the production of chips dripping in fat that by injurying people. Better to promote an alternative such as oven chips, or god forbid, a salad.

As to everything else that some would like banning, and whether we are responsible enough or not. At which point did I give up my free will and ask the government to nurse maid me? I don't remember signing up for that option. If I want to pursue a risky activity, then burden on society or not, surely that's everyones individual choice.

I'm puzzled by the "genuine distress" comment spiffymonkey. Is it not genuine if it's self inflicted? Does breaking a leg playing football hurt less than breaking it slipping on ice?

I would lobby for the freedom to do stupid things. I probably wouldn't do them myself, but I reserve the right to make my own choices, stupid or otherwise, where it won't directly hurt anyone else.

ps - I have neither a chip pan, deep fat fryer, nor even a bag of oven chips (although sometimes I have the latter).

I didn't think people still had chip pans in this day and age.

What, pray, is a 'chip pan'?

Some interesting arguments.

I can see both sides of the argument, i.e. "Ban all the chip pans in the world!!" and "Who cares?".

However, the dangers of chip pans have been highlighted many many many many many...erhum.....times. If people insit on using them then they onl have themselves to balme for the concequences. We cannot simply ban all the chip pans in the country otherwise we would take away free will. The same you could say apllies to drugs etc. Why ban them becuase they are dangerous? Off topic so ill stop that one there.

But chip pans are VERY dangerous, but if you stopped 100 people in the street and asked them how dangerous chip pans were id say everyone would be pretty clued up.

Some points about above comments.
The most vulnerable people are perhaps unable to fork out 50 pounds for a modern chip-pan-----especially as there are no doubt loads of other safe devices they have been advised to get.
What it boils down to , is this :---There are many people in this country who are vulnerable in one way or another. There are also quite a few who are sheer scum and a lot more who are merely anti-social , to some degree.
Whenever either of these groups comes unstuck or committs a crime , the immediate reaction is to either ban things for the rest of us or to make the majority suffer or be restricted in some way. Also , I reckon it's extremely boring for the majority to have to hear the warnings , advice and admonitions , bans and restrictions over and over again.
My point is , is that if the police concentrated on the Yobs and scum and if the Support agencies concentrated on helping the Vulnerables , then maybe they could stop pestering and advising the rest of us for a bit and we ' d have more freedom to get on with our lives.

As said, I'm surprised anyone still has one... I haven't seen one since the 80's. I think most chip pan fires are alcohol related aren't they? We could try banning alcohol? :D

I think oven chips need more promotion, they are much safer, and healthier.

The problem with oven chips Nick, is that they don't have that lovely lardy taste ........... mmmmmmm, lard.

Not sure why the debate on nanny state/ban everything dangerous has (ahem) flared up: if I've understood it correctly, Plain Talker's post is a plea for people to get rid of their old-style chip pan - for their own safety, on their own initiative. No point even trying to ban the sale of them anyway coz the completely foolhardy would just use a saucepan. Incidentally, my brother works as a risk assessor in the insurance industry (which can make him a very pessimistic sort of person to have around) and he won't have any kind of chip pan in the house - electric or otherwise!

Originally posted by Cyclone
In this case there is a safer alternative, with that I agree, although if people are stupid enough not to take that alternative i'm not sure we should force them.

I never said we should force anybody not to do things.


I'm puzzled by the "genuine distress" comment spiffymonkey. Is it not genuine if it's self inflicted? Does breaking a leg playing football hurt less than breaking it slipping on ice?


Both these would be classed as genuine accidents. Maybe 'genuine distress' is the wrong phrase, but I'm stuck for the right one. What I mean is; breaking a leg playing football is fair enough. An accident and it happens. Rope swinging over a river full of rocks and breaking your neck? You can't honestly say that the likelyhood of breaking your leg playing football is as high as a serious injury from a fall from a rope swing.

Let's just get something straight. I'm not advocating the banning of anything. I'm not in the nanny-state brigade. What I dislike is the attitude of some people that it is their god given right to be stupid and put themselves in danger, yet expect everyone else to rally round and help them when the inevitable happens.

As to why this debate has flared up, it always does whenever someone suggests that maybe we should stop doing something just because it's dangerous. People (as a species) do not like to be told not to do something, and some are actually more likely to do it because of that. Most people who are advocating the decision to use a chip pan if you want will never use one. As I said in my first post, there is no call here to ban anything. It's just a request for common sense.

Originally posted by Unregistered
I want all chip pans banned.


Stop wasting Firemen's time.

spiffy - you didn't, but it was said.

Originally posted by xafier
why would you want to use a chip-pan when deep fat fryers are SO much easier to work with? :D
Yeah, but they're a bugger to clean. My wife chucked ours out because of the minging state it got into, so now when I want samosas or tempura I fry it in the saucepan.

I still reckon salad is healthier, cleaner and doesn't spontaneously combust!

K x

Originally posted by Plain Talker
Yes, I know, this is a bit of a "Public Service Announcement".

I am posting this, to plead with folk, to ditch their chip pans, and to get themselves an electric deep-fat-fryer, instead.

One of the customers of the charity that I work for, is curently in intensive care, in a very, very poorly condition.

She has suffered approximately 50% burns to one side of her body, and severe smoke inhalation. Frankly, it doesn't look good for the poor old lady.

She was injured in a chip-pan fire, in the kitchen at her home.

Please, folks, ditch your chip-pan:- chip pans have been the cause of too many fires in and around this area, and have claimed far too many lives...

Switch to an electrical deep-fat tryer, instead,which has a thermostat, and a safety cut out device, which will control the temperature of the fat/ oil. They are much safer than the old hob-top chip-pans.

Think, before you use a chip-pan:- opt for a deep fat fryer instead.

Please?

The next person in intensive care, could be you!

PT

I ha d a similar thing with my wok. Started heating some oil, someone phoned me and before I knew it flames were shoointg out of the wok. Luckily I was able to lob a damp cloth on it (and very luckily I knew not to throw water on it...) which finished it off, but it was a close run thing - black smoke everywhere. It took several days to get all the fumes out of the house. Not pleasant. Now of course I am ultra paranoid and wont leave anything on the hobs if I have to go to the phone etc. So its not just chip pans you need to be careful with.

I agree you cant ban anything, but if you can do something more safely then you should.

Originally posted by Kristian
I still reckon salad is healthier, cleaner and doesn't spontaneously combust!

K x

And I'm sure that tastes SO much nicer than chips... :loopy:

Originally posted by nightrider
(and very luckily I knew not to throw water on it...)
When I was at university, we were lucky enough to get a demonstration from the fire brigade on the correct and incorrect use of fire extinguishers. This included "what happens if you use a water extinguisher on an oil fire". Wow, some fireworks!

A lot of people probably get hurt playing football and rugby ; kids get hurt sledging and snowballing ; some people get killed or injured ice-skating ---on thin ice ! ; mountaineers and rock climbers keep needing to get rescued or kill themselves ; parachutists , bungee-jumpers . hang-gliders---say no more ; rally drivers and race car drivers , swimmers and deep-sea divers , boozers and smokers and drug takers------all having their own type of fun and occasionally coming unstuck.
Yes , we could have an ultra-safe society but the problem then would be that everyone would be so ffffflipping bored that the suicide rates would shoot up. Perhaps they could ban suicides ---or at least give long lectures about how bad it is for your health.
We are constantly bombarded with the "don't do this " and "don't do that " or it'll get stopped Brigade : someone earlier had a good point ----constantly telling people what's safe or good for them , often inclines them towards the opposite , especially teenagers! For years now the government have warned teenagers about unsafe sex , drugs , alcohol....etc.... ad nauseum....and it has not had the slightest effect.

Originally posted by Fareast
A lot of people probably get hurt playing football and rugby ; kids get hurt sledging and snowballing ; some people get killed or injured ice-skating ---on thin ice ! ; mountaineers and rock climbers keep needing to get rescued or kill themselves ; parachutists , bungee-jumpers . hang-gliders---say no more ; rally drivers and race car drivers , swimmers and deep-sea divers , boozers and smokers and drug takers------all having their own type of fun and occasionally coming unstuck.
.

But I bet in all those sports whenever someone comes up with a safer way to do it, the participants migrate to the newer safer method. This is certainly true in mountaineering e.g. modern ropes do not break as easily as they did in the 30's/40's. Though of course people do more risky routes nowadays so perhaps it all cancels out!

So you can be safer without being a killjoy (and certainly with chip pans you wouldnt come up with a more dangerous way do fry chips to compensate for the extra saftey of the new pans!)..

Hmm, "extreme chip frying"... it's a thought though.

Originally posted by DanSumption
Hmm, "extreme chip frying"... it's a thought though.

well it could be like extreme ironing! Except more dangerous, because you could set yourself on fire too.

Yes , I agree , they could perhaps come up with a safer , cheap chip-pan-----but this topic started off by asking us All to get rid of our chip-pans.
That's what I've been trying to point out----we All tend to get lectured and/or banned whenever anything goes wrong ----and usually only the deadheads and villains carry on regardless.
After the Dunblane shooting a few years ago , there was a real outcry and the government responded by tightening up the gun laws. Thousands of respectable , responsible people handed in guns , got rid of them .....etc.....
Meanwhile the criminal fraternity carried on cheerfuly shooting each other and anyone who got in the way. Gun crime rises year by year. Whilst the gunmen are shooting it out , I can well imagine the police busy checking up on farmers who own guns or going over old files to check who didn't hand their guns in.
This all stems from over-reaction to tragedies , whether it's chip - pans , smoking or smoking guns .

We have always had a chip pan and in twenty years, we have only had 4 chip pan fires, so whats the problem here?
:confused:

Originally posted by viking
We have always had a chip pan and in twenty years, we have only had 4 chip pan fires, so whats the problem here?
:confused:

You weren't trying to fry lettuce again were you viking? ;)

K x

Well, an update follows:-

sorry to reawaken this thread.... but....


to all the posters, both the hostile and sympathetic....

I'd just like you all to know, that the lady in question has died of her injuries.

a serious subject ? Much? Yeah, actually..... I'd say so!

PT

So sorry to hear the lady in question has lost her fight for life!!

What a tragic loss of a life as a result of the need for chips....I know many posts have been indifferant on this subject but I agree with you PT - deep fat fryers are inexpensive and much safer to use.....oven chips are another modern alternative......no need for chip pans whatsoever!!

Personally I think chip pans smell too!!!

Get Rid!!!

Plain Talker talks plain sense. She did not suggest a ban on chip pans. She asked us all to consider the possible risks of a chip pan fire. Sadly, the consequences of a chip pan fire for this lady she knew have proved fatal.

I once had to visit a family where a chip pan fire was caused by an inattentive teenager (called away to the phone ringing, and then simply forgot the chips were cooking in the pan). Fortunately, not one of the four kids in the house at the time was hurt or injured. Oh yes - forgot to mention the reason for my visit......it was to find them emergency accommodation, as the house was too badly damaged in the ensuing fire for anyone to remain there. I chucked out my chip pan the moment I got home. Never had one since.

gonna keep an eye on the classified section now.... see how many chip pans are gonna appear after this appeal

Originally posted by Shiesh
What a tragic loss of a life as a result of the need for chips....

I'm sorry to hear that this lady died, but Shiesh did you mean that to sound like it did? :o

K x

I have a deep fat fryer. Thought it was safe until the damned thing boiled over. Ended up covering everything in red hot fat which, although it did not catch fire, could have made a nasty mess of someones arm.

Never had a chip pan boil over or catch fire - though my ex partner some twenty years ago managed it.

Perhaps I am just jinxed.

Dragon

Of course, banning the sale of chip pans is pointless. All what would happen is that an ordinary pan and some kind of scoop would be used in its place. However, the theory behind the proposal is sound.

One Sunday afternoon 15 years or so ago, during my wasteland years, the fire brigade bashed in my back door because of a smoking chip pan. I'd been boozing, put my homemade chip pan on, then promptly fallen asleep on the sofa. A neighbour spotted smoke seeping through the kitchen windows and phoned 999. Lucky me. The fireguys got there before the pan ignited but the smoke damage was unbelievable. Black soot all over the ceilings and walls and the cooker enamel almost molten. And of course the damage to the door caused by the fireguys' forced entry. Injury wise, I was coughing up black phlegm for a fortnight, but thanks to my neighbour and the fireguys I lived.

My advice is get yourself a thermostatically controlled electric deep fat fryer and follow its instructions to the letter. And remember, a drunk in charge of a chip pan is a recipe for disaster.

I got burnt by a chip pan falling on me when i was 13, went all over my legs, they look alright now though, just a few scars, but after that we got an electrical one, they're great yes :) cook chips crispier too yum yum:D