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Summertime is rampant with home injuries and accidents. With fires from lightning strikes, burglaries in our empty homes, visitors falling on stairs, and appliances being overused, our safety becomes compromised if we don’t take the proper precautions to ensure everything is in order. This makes it the perfect time to compile or review a home safety checklist to make sure that your home remains safe in the summer and all year around.
A home safety checklist is a handy document that can be kept inside a cabinet where it will serve as a constant reminder of monthly tasks that need to be addressed. Seasonal items can be added if you live in certain parts of the county, and many fire departments will provide dates for other tasks to be added to your master list such as changing smoke detector batteries and carbon monoxide detector batteries. To get started, here are some items that you can put on your list, or you can print out this one, which may be helpful.
- Check cords inside all rooms. Are they frayed, plugged in completely, moved out of the way of traffic, located under a rug or carpet? Cords should never be hidden by carpets or rugs which may cause them to overheat. Frayed cords could indicate that an appliance or piece of furniture needs replacing immediately.
- Has the fireplace been cleaned to be rid of ashes that may have accumulated over past seasons? An extra buildup of creosote could actually cause a fire if the chimney is not treated properly.
- Are all small appliances located out of the way of a water source? Is the blow dryer kept away from the sink so it doesn’t fall in the sink or tub? Is there a radio near the kitchen that could easily fall into water? All of these should be red flags.
- If you have a pool, are flotation devices handy? Is your pool covered when it’s not in use? Many children drown each year from accessing areas where they should not roam.
- Have you updated your “emergency call” list and registered your address with the local fire department? Are your street numbers easily seen? Such small efforts can make such a big impact if there is an emergency. After all, you want to be found, not forgotten.
A home safety checklist is a great tool for keeping seasonal and monthly tasks in order within and around your home. Not all families utilize one, however. If you find that you visited someone’s home and were injured as result of negligence on the part of the homeowner, you may have a personal injury case on your hands. Contact an attorney in New York to help you obtain justice the best way.
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Finz & Finz, P.C. is a New York and Long Island personal injury law firm based out of Mineola, NY. It was founded in 1984 and is highly rated, with many honors and awards of excellence.
