Keeping Your Kitchen Cabinets Safe
- miak237
- Oct 9, 2023
- 3 min read
One of the hot topics that we discuss in our classes, whether its during initial certification or the CEU classes is what are some ways we can keep out kitchens safe for our residents. In our RCFEs and ARFs there are certain kitchen items that may pose a potential hazard to our residents, so it is really important we keep drawers and cabinets locked up. I recently visited a 6-bed facility and the administrator had those child proof locks on every cabinet and drawer. I asked if she had considered using the magnetic locks that are not visible on the outside and said "oh you'll have to share that with me!" so this is the inspiration of this blog post.
So we've all seen cabinet locks like this:
... but so have our residents that may have used something similar in their own homes when their children were growing up. Remember, dementia is not loss of intellect, our residents are able to figure out how to take these off with a little effort. A newer type of lock is now available to us that is hidden from view.
These are installed on the inside of cabinets or drawers and use a magnet to open up, nothing visible on the outside means our residents are more likely to think the drawer is just stuck and they'll move on to the next one.
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Pros: Easy and quick to install, no holes necessary, minimal drilling (just a couple little tiny screws to secure in place,) and invisible on the outside.
Cons: requires you to have a magnet, think about where you will keep that. On the fridge? Do your residents see you take the magnet and open drawers? They may figure it out. As these are made of plastic, chances are they will break if pulled on really hard.
For items that need that extra layer of security and having a keyed lock is necessary, you could do something like this:
Pros: is definitely secure, and drawer or cabinet door will break before the lock does.
Cons: It does require drilling into the cabinets, and is way more labor intensive. As good as I am with a drill, thinking about installing these does give me a little anxiety. These require a key, where are you keeping it? What if your employee accidentally takes the key home and you don't get it back until next shift?
So of course I want to have yet another option for you! If you want that invisible look, something not too difficult to install and maintain, you might want to look into an RFID lock. I recently recommended this to a friend who has a teen that wanted to have some friends over and the dad was concerned about having their teen and friends get into the alcohol cabinet! So I did a little research and found RFID locks. These are invisible on the outside and require a special card or tag you can have on your key-chain to open. We tested these out, though admittedly I did not pull on the cabinets with all my strength, but I did make an effort. They stayed put!
Pros: no drilling all the way though, only minimal screws securing the locks, not visible on the outside, easy and quick installation.
Cons: Require a card or tag to open, where will you keep these? Require batteries.
Hopefully you have found this post useful and can take these recommendations into your facility. Let me know how they work out for you and what your favorite option is!
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