How to Improve Safety and Security in Your Home
Having a safer and secure living environment will give you peace of mind and allow you to focus in moving forward as well. Instead of worrying about your own safety, you can instead put that mental energy in making your career or business flourish even further.
Good thing is there are quick and affordable measures you can do to have a safer and secure living environment. These measures can be incorporated during construction or later modification. With a small investment your home can become a safer place for you and your family.
Start with critical areas
It’s dangerous out there but did you know that many accidents still happen inside the home? Worldwide more than 50% of injuries to children happen at home. It’s a similar case with injured elderly patients (higher than 50% of the emergency cases happened inside the home mostly due to falls).
It’s no wonder because we still spend much of our time inside our dwellings and each home is actually a complex environment with several surfaces and moving parts. Also, children still spend most of their time at home which is why the residence is still the most common place for kids to be injured.
Specifically, kitchens and bathrooms are the critical areas because falls, slips and other accidents happen there. The designs of the kitchens and bathrooms including the materials and finishes have a huge impact on how those areas can cause or facilitate accidents. For instance, obstructions toward the stove or refrigerator might cause an impact injury (as well as spills of hot or frozen food) anytime soon. That’s also the case with pointed edges and corners on the bench or counter (it’s good here to round-off the edges and corners). In the bathrooms slips are common which is why it’s good to install slip-resistant flooring as well avoiding the steps (as fewer steps as possible and the flooring should always be even).
It’s easy to map out the problem areas and surfaces especially if you consider the children and the elderly. For example, having handles and bars near baths and showers would be a great help for the elderly and disabled users. Even if there’s slip-resistant flooring, having the assisting handles can help prevent falls and other accidents. Good visibility in the path towards the bathroom also helps in preventing accidents.
In the kitchen, the layout should best reflect the workflow. For instance, the knives should be stored near the area where you do the cutting of meat and ingredients. This way you won’t have to carry the knife (e.g. the knife’s with you and pointed against you and when you turn around suddenly there’s a person in front).
Other ways to improve safety and security
Aside from the kitchens and bathrooms, the windows and doors are also considered problem areas. A child might climb out and fall from the window. The door might not be sturdy enough or it might close suddenly while the child is still on the way. It’s also possible that the flyscreen was not firm enough or installed improperly which is why the child was still able to remove it while up the window.
Kids are naturally attracted to what’s outside and they have all the time in the world to climb up the window or go outside through the door. Even if the doors and windows are closed they’ll always find a way to open them and explore the outside. In many cases though this is dangerous because falls could get them gravely injured. Even a few feet fall can cause serious injury to young children.
As a result, it’s always important to ensure that windows and doors are working properly (they should be firmly closed or there’s a sturdy screen). Screens and grilles provide an additional layer of protection while allowing good air circulation and natural lighting. If they’re made from strong and long-lasting materials, they could also help improve security and discourage intruders.
Although news about falls from a window are rare (partly thanks to safety features already installed on windows), the risk is always there and people don’t want a single act of negligence to harm human lives. It’s especially the case here in Australia where we have long and detailed lists about home security, electrical safety, fire prevention, emergency evacuation and more.
The best approach here is to get every stone turned and assess each square metre for potential hazards. From the roof down to the floor things could go wrong. It’s still good to focus on the problem areas but there’s no harm in looking at all the details and surfaces. For instance, the door knob might just be a small thing but it could cause huge pain and difficulty to the disabled and weak. In case of emergencies and everyday living in general a latch instead could make a huge difference.
Those are just some of the things to watch out for. There could be a lot more depending on whether you have children, disabled or elderly people. Every small detail counts including installing a window grille, a sliding security door (very useful if the person needing emergency is behind the door), slip-resistant flooring and better lighting. Those dozens of little measures can help make your home a safer and secure living environment.