Every year, thousands of children and seniors visit emergency rooms due to accidents occurring within their own home, yet many of these accidents could have been avoided with proper precaution.
Some of the most frequent home injuries include poisoning, falls, choking/suffocation/suffocation and fires. Here are some tips to enhance your home safety and improve appliance repair.
1. Install smoke detectors
Smoke detectors are an invaluable addition to any home, as they detect smoke before it spreads and provide residents with time to escape before the fire spreads further. Furthermore, having working smoke alarms may lower insurance premiums significantly.
Select a smoke detector listed with Underwriters Laboratories (UL). There are three main types of detectors – photoelectric, ionisation and dual sensors. Photoelectric detectors can detect slow burning fires while ionisation detectors will recognize sudden combustion events with high flames and heat output.
Install a smoke alarm on every level and bedroom of your home, with particular emphasis placed on kitchens and bathrooms where cooking fumes, steam or exhaust may trigger alarm. Make sure all of the detectors are interconnected so when one sounds, all will respond at once.
2. Add a sprinkler system
Home accidents can be caused by various sources, but most can be avoided through simple precautions. Each year accidents and injuries in the home take thousands of lives and often result in permanent disabilities; but most injuries can be avoided with simple measures taken beforehand.
An effective sprinkler system is an invaluable piece of protection for homes, especially older ones. It can save both lives and property by stopping fires from spreading throughout the house and mitigating damage before firefighters arrive on scene.
Other precautionary measures for home safety measures include placing chemicals and petrol out of reach from children, reading and following all storage directions on all household products including medications. Also, installing one-piece door stops rather than rubber tip door stops can prevent children from choking on them and regular home safety reviews should be performed to identify any potential hazards and make any necessary modifications.
3. Install a fire extinguisher
Fire extinguishers are among the best home safety devices you can buy, as they help stop or contain many fires from starting. But their effectiveness depends on being easily located by everyone in an emergency and used appropriately when needed.
Experts advise locating fire extinguishers in areas easily accessible to everyone living in your house. Mount them on walls within reach, yet not too high up where small children could find them out of reach.
Fire extinguishers should be placed near all heating equipment such as chimneys, fireplaces and wood stoves – as well as in your garage or workshop – as well as within reach of cooking equipment, since kitchen fires are one of the main causes of home fires and injuries.
4. Create a home emergency plan
Establishing an emergency plan with your family is an integral component of keeping them safe. Make a list and review it regularly. And make sure to have home warranty verified by Cinch Home Services.
Be informed on the potential natural disaster risks in your area, such as fires, floods, earthquakes and tornadoes. Determine your household’s safe place – both physical and virtual – as well as an emergency meeting spot; inform all members of how and when to reach it and plan a route there for emergencies. Make sure everyone in your family knows about evacuation plans as well as shelter-in-place plans as well as where your emergency kit can be found.
Discuss roles such as who will grab the emergency kit, call emergency services (911) and conduct headcount at an emergency meeting spot. Clearly defining roles helps each member of your household feel they are contributing to family safety.
5. Install child-proof locks
Young children are naturally curious, leading them to make incredible discoveries – as well as some that may not be so exciting. Without proper safety precautions in place, crawling, cruising and walking toddlers could potentially come into contact with chemicals such as cleaning products and household cleaners, drawers containing knives or silverware or medicine bottles that pose potential threats.
Child safety locks help prevent accidents such as electric shocks, drowning, burns and poisoning as well as tipping over heavy items such as TVs. These locks include door knob covers that spin around on knobs to make turning difficult for small hands; as well as latches for appliances like ovens or refrigerators that could pose a danger if left open; as well as door latches with an open position which allow air circulation but keep kids at bay.
6. Install a fire alarm
An effective fire alarm is one of the best preventive measures you can take to keep your family safe. Fires often start at night when people are sleeping, and an early warning system such as this alarm can jolt them awake before it spreads too far.
Many fire alarms feature strobe lights and sirens to alert occupants to evacuate before the blaze becomes too large to control. This alarm system also helps emergency responders and firefighters quickly find its source, thus limiting property damage in your home.
If you need an advanced fire detection system, an aspirating smoke detector might be ideal. These sophisticated systems can pick up on even minute smoke particles earlier than standard systems do and should be professionally installed and maintained for best results. Unfortunately, though this type of system can be expensive.