Make Your Home Safe
Make Your Home Safe
Home sweet home in New York can be a dangerous place. The following are some tips from home safety experts to help ensure that your home and family are as safe as they can be.
Fire
New York Residential fires pose a very real threat, yet can be mitigated with
some simple steps. Remember that most fires begin with an electrical or heat
source: appliances or electrical outlets, fireplaces, furnaces, hot-water
heaters, and stoves.
Electrical sources are among the leading causes of New York house fires and yet
can be made safe easily. All electrical outlets should be the three-prong,
grounded type. Those in the bathroom, kitchen, and outdoors should be on a
ground-fault interrupter circuit. Label all circuit breakers by the area they
serve and be sure your home offers adequate power and sufficient outlets to run
all appliances. Use safe coverplates on all switches and outlets and, if there
are small children in the home, install covers on outlets.
Keep appliance and extension cords in good working order and unplug small
appliances when not in use. Maintain the areas around furnaces, hot-water
heaters, and stoves, and keep them clear of combustible materials. Fireplaces
should be cleaned annually by a qualified chimney sweep. Be sure the hot-water
heater has a pressure- and temperature-release valve.
To help keep you and your family safe in case of fire:
Develop a fire escape plan that all members of the family understand.
Install quality fire and smoke detectors at least one per
floor.
Know how to shut off electrical, water, and gas supply sources.
Maintain at least one fire extinguisher (2 ˝ pounds) in a convenient
location.
Keep heavy objects away from escape
exits, windows and doors.
Have available fire-escape ladders in all upper-level rooms.
The Child-Proof Home
Anyone with small children can attest that making a home completely
child-proof is essentially impossible. However, the National Safe Kids
Campaign® maintains that more children die from preventable accidents in the
home than from all childhood diseases combined. There are some things you can do
to help your kids avoid these accidents.
First, protect kids from fire and electrical hazards. Cover electrical outlets,
use a stove guard to prevent children from touching the stove, and keep matches
out of reach. When children are old enough, teach them about the danger of
matches and lighters.
Prevent injury in the bathroom by using full-length bath mats to prevent slips,
covering faucets with spout guards, and installing knob covers on tub faucets
that keep busy hands from turning them on. To prevent scalding accidents
consider temperature controls on tub or shower and sink faucets.
Make kitchen cabinets off limits to small children and use kid-proof latches.
For extra protection, keep dangerous cleansers and chemicals stored up high.
Avoid choking accidents by using hooks to keep long cords up out of the way of
small children. Security gates installed at the top and bottom of stairways
prevent accidental falls. Finally, the most important thing you can do to keep
your children safe at home is supervise them. Nothing replaces your attention in
keeping them from harm.
Windows
Windows can be a serious hazard for small children. Supervise them carefully
if you keep windows open and don't assume a window screen will prevent
them from falling through.
Keep furniture (which children can and inevitably will climb
on) away from windows. And if you install window guards, make sure they include
quick-release latches in case of fire.
Carbon Monoxide
As many as 200 deaths a year and many more cases of illness can be attributed
to accidental carbon monoxide poisoning from fuel-burning appliances in the
home.
Perhaps the most important step to prevent this is to keep fresh air circulating
throughout the home, particularly with today's tight construction
methods. Open a window, turn on a fan, and make sure all fuel-burning appliances
vent to the outdoors.
Have your gas furnace, stove, water heater, and fireplace checked from time to
time to be sure they are functioning properly and efficiently. Never leave your
car running in the garage, even if the door is open. Install quality CO
detectors near the sites of fuel-burning appliances and check and maintain their
batteries on a regular basis.
Radon
Radon is an extremely toxic, colorless gas that may contribute to deaths due
to lung cancer. It is found in the soil and rock under a home, in well water,
and in some building materials. Current thought is that the low levels of radon
that are usually detected in a home do not cause a serious concern.
To insure against the possibility of radon poisoning, have your building site
tested and fixed. To find a qualified radon service professional or to purchase
a radon measurement device, call your state radon contact or either of these two
agencies:
The National Environmental Health Association (NEHA), (719) 227-7518
The National Radon Safety Board (NRSB), (866) 329-3474
