Have small children or elderly parents in the home? Want to make your home a little safer from criminals?
Keeping your home safe and secure, is a top concern for all of us. Doing regular home checks to ensure safety in the home, is essential. However, it can be hard to know where to start. We’ve put together a quick home safety checklist, including child safety and home security tips so that you can regularly ensure your home and family are safe and sound.
General Home Safety Checklist
1: Check your hot water heater is set at no more than 49º C or install anti-scald faucets to prevent scalding accidents.
2: Change your smoke detector batteries. Smoke detector batteries should be replaced bi-yearly and tested regularly to ensure efficient fire warning and safety.
3: Make sure all your cleaning materials are stored away and out of reach from young children and far from food that it could contaminate.
4: Do you have a list of all emergency services contact numbers on your refrigerator or near your home phone in case of emergency?
5: If your windows are not latched with restrictors such as LockLatch, install them today to prevent falling accidents.
6: Organise a gas-appliance check up, this should be done at least once a year!
7: Prevent accidents and injury in the home by keeping garden paths clear of cracked or loose packing stones.
Electrical Home Safety Checklist
Every home safety check should involve an extra look at electrical appliances and outlets. Electrical accidents are extremely dangerous and doing quick periodic checks is a good preventative.
8: Regularly check for frayed wires and feel all outlets to make sure they are not overheating.
9: Are your outlets overloaded? Plugging too many electrical appliances into one outlet is a big fire hazard.
10: When last did you have your electric blanket checked? Have yours checked once every three years by a professional to ensure it’s safe.
Home Child Safety Checklist
It’s estimated that over half a million of children’s injuries a year in the UK can be traced back to child safety in the home. Doing a quick once over every month will help ensure that your home is child safe. Here are five quick checks that you can do now:
14: Check that kitchen cupboard locks and seals are not starting to wear to ensure they are not easy for young children to open.
15: Are your empty electric outlets covered with safety plugs?
16: Push unused appliances and kitchen gadgets on counters back towards the wall and unplug them when not in use.
17: Do you have stairs? Install a child-safety gate or barrier.
18: Install door latches, such as LockLatch, to keep all doors to balconies and gardens latched and inaccessible.
Home Security Checklist
Doing regular home security checks increases security at home. It’s easy to let the little, yet important things fall through the cracks. For more Security Tips, read our 7 Home Security Tips blog, in the meantime here are three you can do now.
11: Cut back trees, bushes and shrubs around doors and windows.
12: Is your name on your mailbox. Switch name tags out with address numbers instead to increase safety from fraud.
13: Test your alarm systems regularly to ensure they’re always in working order.
We hope these home safety checks help make you and your family feel more safe and secure in the home! Have some security and safety tips or a home safety checklist of your own? Share them with us by commenting below or emailing us at [email protected]
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