Safety stands second on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Studies show that safety is not only a survival need, but also a psychological one. We are always trying to protect our health, property, and homes. Ensuring home safety and living in a safe environment is very important if you have elderly adults and young children at home.
Here are 5 crucial tips that can help you ensure home safety.
Tip 1. Internet safety
Although the world of technology is advancing at an unprecedented rate, our lives on the other hand are getting less safe on the internet. A lot of dangerous content is rampant on the internet especially when your family surfs the internet unsupervised. The first step in ensuring internet safety would be to install internet filters as an effective way to filter out inappropriate and dangerous content. Educating yourself and educating your family about potentially dangerous activities on the internet could be the best way to ensure safe navigation in the online world.
Tip 2. Germ-Proofing
Germs invade our homes in many forms like pesky bacteria, virus, and fungus. You may be sweeping and mopping your floors everyday but that doesn’t guarantee that bacteria and virus are not entering your living areas. Key areas of the house like kitchen sinks, cutting boards, and counter tops are hot spots for bacteria to accumulate and should be cleaned thoroughly. Meat and vegetables should be cut on separate cutting boards to avoid infection. Counter tops should be wiped clean and kept dry immediately after use.
Tip 3. Put Away Potentially Poisonous Products
All potentially poisonous products like cleaning acids, mothballs, air fresheners, paints, insect sprays, toxics liquid, household cleaning chemicals and laundry products should be out of children’s reach. Identify products that could be potentially hazardous in your house. Label them or stick stickers so your child will be able to understand that it shouldn’t be touched. Safely dispose any of these products that you may have passed their expiration date.
Tip 4. Keep Allergens Away
Allergens are everywhere in the house. Many allergens masquerade as dust mites, cleaning products causing rashes, and allergic reactions. To reduce the sneezing and coughing in your family, switch to natural and eco-friendly products which might reduce the development of allergic reactions.
Tip 5. Fire Safety
To minimize the risk of fire, take precautions to ensure home fire safety by setting smoke detectors and placing fire extinguishers in plain sight. Having these equipments is one thing, but using them is another. So, make sure the smoke detectors and fire extinguishers are items that are familiar with your family members and make sure they understand the utility benefits of these safety items. In addition, these items should be placed in areas of your house that are susceptible to fire.
Home safety is not guaranteed just because you know the safety tips. This should be a matter of concern especially when you’ve just moved in a new neighborhood. Consistent application is important in maintaining and developing home safety. Just as they said, prevention is better than cure because, in case of home safety, it does prevent illness, burglary, and accidents from occurring.