Smartest Improvement? A Safety Renovation
Installing a new roof, updating a kitchen, adding another room to a home -- these are the things that come to mind when one thinks of a home-improvement project. However, what good are these improvements if you don't also renovate the way you think about safety in the home? A safety hazard can quickly escalate and ruin all of your hard work.
According to recent accident statistics from the National Safety Council, the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control and other advocacy groups, approximately 45 percent of unintentional injury deaths occurred in and around the home. Unintentional home injury deaths to children are caused primarily by fire and burns, suffocation, drowning, firearms, falls, choking, and poisoning.
It is important to keep safety in mind with everything you do as a homeowner. Therefore, take the time to assess these areas of potential concern as part of any home-improvement plans:
- Periodically check your hot water tank, washing machine, dishwasher, and refrigerator icemaker to see if they are secure and leak-free.
- Keep supplemental heating sources, such as wood-burning stoves, or kerosene, propane or electrical heaters at least 3 feet away from flammable items including draperies and clothing.
- Don't store flammable items, or just about anything too close to furnaces or hot water tanks.
- Carefully monitor the electrical system for shorts and sparks. Do not run cords under rugs or heavy furniture, and do not overload electrical outlets.
- Keep chemical cleaning products, home-repair items, like paint and mineral spirits, and tools under lock and key or out of reach of children.
- Do not store combustible materials like newspapers and rags in the basement or garage.
- Burn only dry, seasoned hardwood in your fireplace, and regularly have the chimney inspected and cleaned.
- Install a working smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector on every floor of the home.
- Inspect surrounding trees and cut down any dead limbs. If a tree doesn't seem sound to you, bring in an expert tree service to remove it. You don't want a tree crashing down during a powerful storm.
- Make sure steps, both indoors and outdoors, are level and intact. Install better lighting at entryways to improve safety.
- Install a safety fence around a pool with a locked gate.