You want to be able to think of your home as a place of sanctuary. For that reason, it’s essential that you find ways to reduce your home’s vulnerability in the case of an emergency.
It’s true what they say—an ounce of preparation is usually worth a pound of cure, and for some reason it’s always the things you didn’t bother to prepare for that come around to haunt you later on down the road. In the interests of keeping you covered when disaster strikes, here are 10 simple ways that you can protect your home from an emergency.
1: Have a communication plan
This one is pretty basic, but it covers just about every emergency situation in the book. When something goes wrong—whether it’s a flood, a break in, or an alien invasion—you’ll be in a much better position to handle it with an organized chain of command and set of protocols. Time spent trying to create a plan after something happens is time that could be spent getting you and your loved ones out of danger.
2: Keep your outdoor lights in good shape
Awareness is key to safety, so the best way to see something coming is to literally see it coming. You should always make sure that your outdoor lighting system works, and that it sheds enough light on your property for you to see any potential threats from a long way off. That way, if you happen to be the victim of a home invasion or animal attack, you’ll be able to avoid giving your intruders the element of surprise. Making sure your home uses energy efficiently is a great first step towards keeping your lights functional at all times, so that you know exactly where your power is going.
3: Check your home safety on a regular basis
How many horror or disaster movies have you seen where somebody meets their demise by assuming a security measure would save them in a crisis, only to find out that it’s offline the moment they need it most?
You can avoid this kind of fate by routinely checking the safety features of your home to ensure that they’re working the way they’re supposed to. This will save you from having to deal with any nasty surprises in the event of a crisis.
4: Keep your detectors and alarms charged
In addition to security measures made to keep out intruders, it’s important that the safety measures you rely on to protect you from your own mistakes are always fully functional. Chief among these are smoke alarms.
In fact, having a working smoke alarm in your home reduces your risk of dying in a house fire by as much as 50%. For this reason, it’s essential that you replace the batteries in your alarms and test them on a regular basis.
5: Make sure your fire extinguisher works
It’s true that many fire extinguishers are never used, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be present if a fire does break out. Much like a smoke alarm, a fire extinguisher is there to save your life just in case a relevant situation occurs, so always keep one around and test it often.
6: Keep first aid equipment at home and in the car
Sometimes no matter how many preventative measures and early warning systems you put in place, you’ll still get hurt. If that happens, you need to make sure you’re able to give yourself as much medical attention as you can, even before the professionals show up. That’s why quality first aid equipment is a must for every home and vehicle. If the ambulance is taking it’s time to reach you, you want to make sure you have a way to patch yourself up as best you can while you’re waiting.
7: Research your area
Knowing what the likely threats in your neighbourhood are is a great way to avoid them. Check newspapers, ask at your local police station, or quiz your REALTOR®and potential new neighbours before moving in to find out what likely risks your area poses.
8: Invest in a home security system
We’ve talked quite a bit about checking and maintaining your cameras, alarms and other security measures—but if you don’t even have them, then you’re really in trouble. Research the options in your area for reliable home security, and find something within your budget. With luck, you’ll never need it, but better to be safe than sorry.
9: Don’t advertise your empty house
Whenever you’re leaving the house, a good strategy is to pretend you’re saying goodbye to someone inside (even if nobody is home). Since many criminals target empty houses, this deters any potential thieves or intruders who might be on the lookout for easy pickings, and may convince them to look somewhere else.
10: Maintain a detailed inventory of your home
When a disaster strikes, you never know what kind of objects in your home might prove useful. That’s why you should have a reasonably good idea of what’s in your house at all times. Make lists of everything you have, and brainstorm ways in which it could come in handy. The more thought you put in ahead of time, the more prepared you’ll be when something happens.
You can never be too careful when it comes to keeping your home id being unpleasantly surprised by even the most unfortunate of circumstances.safe and your loved ones prepared. Follow these tips though, and you should be able to avo
