How to Improve the Safety of Your Home

A home should be comfortable, pleasant and enjoyable to live in, but more than anything else, it should be safe. After all, while many of us now take this for granted, the very function of a house and home is to keep us protected from the elements and other people. 

That said, sometimes a house is made unsafe not by that which surrounds it, but the means by which it’s constructed, and the very necessary amenities used throughout. In this post, we’ll discuss how we can properly think of safety in a home environment, what this means, and of course, the long-term approach we can use towards rectifying issues.

This sometimes means making adjustments to our house or perhaps removing issues that might be present. For instance, purchasing a ‘fixer-upper’ will entail not only decorating the house, but making it livable for the occupants. The more you can think along a ‘safety first’ mindset, the more you’ll be able to get the best from your home.
In this post, we hope to discuss that and more:

Handrails & Guards

Handrails and guards in your home can prevent people from slipping, falling of staircases, or falling in a steep garden. If you can properly place these guardrails where they need to be, using wall plate key clamp fittings to secure them in place, then you’re much more likely to keep relatives and friends of all ages cared for when on your property.

You’d be surprised how much a simple handrail and guard can help. Some people, for instance, prefer to have an open staircase where a heightening drop at one or either side seems to add to the decor, but oftentimes, it’s just not worth the risk of injury. Sure, a guardrail may take up some space, but if it prevents a relative from hurting themselves, then that’s a small price to pay.

Locking Up Hazardous Materials

Any family home will invariably have a range of hazardous materials on-site, most often cleaning products. However, anyone with access to such materials can harm themselves, particularly children, and so it’s important to store them safely. Make sure that you store these items out of arm’s reach, and if you wish to be really careful, lock the cupboard you store them in. This can prevent anyone from gaining access purposefully or accidentally and causing a problem.

Competent Locks

If you’re familiar with the YouTube channel ‘Lockpicking Lawyer,’ locks in general are quite easy to pick, and the general household locks most people use provide laughable protection against those who know what they’re doing.

This isn’t to say that your home is going to be the target of a professional cat burglar, but the truth is that valuables stored in your home can be a target, especially tools in a garage or shed. For this reason, it’s important to focus on ensuring your home has competent locks set up on the windows, doors, and outhouses. This might involve using deadbolt locks in addition to your normal key lock for your front door, or ensuring your windows can be locked on ‘ventilation mode,’ allowing for a little bit of leeway when needing to cool off tin the summer, yet never losing out on that excellent security.

Might not be a good reminder to check and change your locks as appropriate, or to have extra keys cut and to revise your safe storage areas? You could also consider a home security system, which you can check prices for on Vivint pricing.

Privacy Is Key

It’s important to understand that privacy is one of the most fundamental elements of well-practiced security, and for good reason. Put simply, having valuables on-display in your living room, an expensive car on your driveway and not in your garage, and a garden that doesn’t seem to be protected with privacy fencing or gates, all of this could potentially lead you to invite those with negative intentions to come and pay attention to your home.

General privacy is a shrewd idea, be that making sure your curtains are drawn at night, or installing motion-sensitive floodlights to ensure that at night, any trespasser onto your property is illuminated in full.

Sockets & Plugs

While a grounded electrical circuit is generally considered safe, a child may be inclined to put themselves in harm’s way. Thankfully, unused sockets can have socket protectors placed over them to prevent your child from playing with it. The same can protect against particularly nosy and wet-tonged pets.

With this advice, we believe you’re sure to improve safety in your home in the best possible manner.