I would modify #1 slightly to include adding carbon monoxide detectors. Carbon monoxide is a deadly gas that can kill in 24 hours or less, and is tasteless, odorless, and colorless. There are combination smoke alarm/carbon monoxide detectors on the market at very reasonable prices, especially during holiday sales.
Via YVETTE SMITH REALTOR IN WILLIAMSBURG VA WILLIAMSBURG VIRGINIA HOMES FOR SALE:
Top 10 HOME SAFETY TIPS
You can never have too many home safety tips. So, here's a really cool tool! You can take a safety tour through a virtual home. On the tour, you'll go to each room and learn about leading home dangers and how to keep your family safe. MySafeHome.org features state-of-the-art digital motion graphics animation, bringing home safety to life.
I've listed the TOP 10 Home Safety Tips:
1. Install smoke alarms on every level of your home and outside every sleeping area. Test them monthly. If your smoke alarms are 10 years old or more, replace them. If you build or remodel your home, install fire sprinklers.
2. Develop a fire escape plan for your family: Point out two exits from each room, pick a meeting spot outside, and hold a fire drill at least twice a year.
3. Always stay in the kitchen while food is cooking on the stove.
4. Keep all stairways, paths and walkways well lit. Use railing.
5. Install grab bars in bath and shower stalls, and use a non-slip mat or adhesive safety strips inside bathtubs and showers.
6. Post the National Poison Control Hotline Number (1-800-222-1222) and other emergency numbers next to every phone in your home.
7. Install child locks on all cabinets used to store dangerous items such as poisons, matches and lighters. Install carbon monoxide alarms.
8. Keep your water heater setting at 120 degrees Fahrenheit or less.
9. Install four-sided pool fencing with self-locking and self-closing gates. Fencing should completely isolate the pool from the home and be at least 5 feet high.
10. Constantly supervise children in or near bodies of water such as pools, ponds, bathtubs, toilets and buckets.
Stay Alert, Stay Alive!
Courtsy of Yvette Smith, SRES® REALTOR®
WILLIASMBURG REAL ESTATE
757-753-7472
Long & Foster Realtors
6610-J Mooretown Road
Williamsburg, VA 23188
YvetteSmith@AtHomeInWilliamsburg.com
Russel, I would add one thing to Yvette's great list, and that is for item #4, to also keep them clear of debris and stuff. Some people use stairways to store things, or to put an item temporarily that they intend to take up or downstairs later on.
Hi Russel, I have learned to hard way to obey tip rule #3. Nothing really drastic happened but it could have.
Great tips. I too have learned the value of #3 ... but I still always seem to wander back to the living room and the TV even when food is cooking!