Making Your Home Safer
In an ideal world, burglars would never gain entry to your home; therefore it is imperative that you do everything possible to ensure its protection.
One of the best ways to keep your home secure is to create the illusion that someone is home at all times – whether this means setting timers on lights or having someone collect mail when you’re away.
Keep Your Firearms Locked
Removing firearms from your home and keeping them locked up will make your family safer, especially if children live there.
Studies reveal that unsecure firearms are at the heart of unintentional shootings, school shootings and suicide. More than half of gun owners do not store their weapons as recommended by public health professionals, which may result in injuries or deaths.
If you have children, it is essential that they learn the importance of safe storage from an early age and practice it themselves. They should understand that any time they discover an unattended firearm they must immediately put it out of reach and report their discovery immediately to you.
Install Fire Extinguishers
Installing fire extinguishers at home is an invaluable way to prevent fire from getting out of hand, and should be installed in common spaces like kitchens and garages, even in rental homes.
Every extinguisher is classified by its fire fighting capabilities; for instance, class A extinguishers are capable of extinguishing fires involving typical materials like wood and paper.
Class B extinguishers can effectively contain fires involving gasoline and grease, while class C extinguishers are ideal for electrical fires.
Homefire protection should include fire extinguishers that you regularly test to ensure their proper function and mount them with hooks or metal brackets on walls for convenient access.
Make Sure You Have a Plan for Evacuating
Evacuations orders should always be followed when responding to natural disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes, and it is critical that either voluntary or mandatory evacuation orders be abided by in order to stay safe and be out of harm’s way as quickly as possible.
Create a home evacuation plan together, including a procedure document, map and checklist of items to bring with you. Store this copy in an emergency folder where it can be easily accessible during any major incident.
Once your plan is in place, practice it regularly with everyone living in your household – including the children – so everyone remembers how to evacuate in an actual emergency situation. Doing this may also help lower stress levels during such times.
Keep Your Pool Safe
Pools provide an enjoyable way to unwind with friends or family, but they can also be dangerous. Each year, 300 children under five drown in backyard pools while thousands more experience nonfatal injuries in them.
As there are steps you can take to make your home safer, one of the most essential is keeping your pool properly fenced and gated.
Install a 4-foot fence around the entire pool area. Make sure it does not contain footholds or handholds that could allow children to climb over.
Doors leading from your house to the pool should be equipped with door alarms that make a distinct noise when they slam shut, and smoke detectors.
Install a Security System
Security systems are networks of devices designed to help secure your home. They often consist of a control panel, door/window sensors, motion detectors and alarms with high decibel alarms.
Armed components create invisible zones around a property that cannot be breached without setting off an alarm. Once this zone has been breached, an audible alarm sounded and alarm monitoring company is informed.
Professionally monitored systems offer 24/7 surveillance with alerts sent directly to a team that responds immediately when break-ins occur, while self-monitored options tend to be DIY projects and provide lower upfront costs.
