Health and safety at home is everything and carrying out a risk assessment when embarking on any project or activity at home is necessary. It not only gives one a glimpse of what is needed to make it a success but also how it should be done.
Anything at home can be risk factor and this necessitates for an assessment to be carried out to determine what needs to be done ensure safety. This can include behavior-based safety assessment of the members of the household.
When carrying out a risk assessment in the home and to ensure safety and health, various questions needs to be asked, such as “What items are dangerous at home that could cause an injury?” “Where should they be kept?” and “What are some of the safety rules that should be put across?”
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in its report indicates that 1.4 million older people are injured in and around their homes. On top of the list of the injuries is resulting from falls.This shows that it is not only young children who are at risks of falling victims to accidents at home but also adults.
It is, therefore, important to ensure that safety at home is given priority. Aspects such as construction materials should also be considered when a person is looking for a home to settle as some of these materials may have a safety concern.
What Are The Steps To Be Taken When Carrying Out Home Assessment To Ensure Safety?
To have a safe home, carrying out assessment cannot be ignored. It is important to ensure that the assessment is done in the right way. Deciding on which way to carry out an assessment may be a challenge and also tedious. However, there are five steps that can guide you while carrying out home assessment.
Step 1: Identify Hazards At Home
Hazards are classified into biological, physical, and chemical and all can be found at home. For instance, chemical hazards are in form of detergents, biological in terms of bacteria and physical in terms of furniture.
These are things that cannot be ignored as they are part of our homes. However, it is important to identify all items in the house that pose a health or safety risk.
Step 2: Determine Who May Be Harmed By The Hazard And How
Depending on the occupants of a home, it is important to determine the effect these hazards on people. Understanding who might be harmed by the hazard and how makes home assessment less laborious.
For instance, in homes where there are no kids, items such as child safety window locks needs not to be installed. Moreover, in a home where a certain individual has an allergy, is it is important to ensure that an item or product that can be an allergen is not brought into the house.
It also makes it convenient for the person who is mandated to ensure safety rules are adhered to carry out the task without facing resistance.
Step 3: Introduce Safety Measures
Safety tools in the market promising to make your home safe are myriad. Choosing the right ones at time may overwhelm you especially if you have not carried out prior research on potential hazards at home.
Therefore, this step should be done after determining what hazards are at your home and how they may harm members of the family. The safety tools range from alarm systems, baby monitors, and child window locks as well safe cabinets among others.
The safety measures adopted at home involve removing a safety hazard or controlling injury that may be caused by it. For instance, kitchen tools such as knives cannot be done away with but can be stored at safe places.
This will minimize injuries that may result from these tools. More also, some items can be completely done away with in order to avoid injuries. For instance, as a family, you can agree on doing away with products that contain allergen that cause health issue to a particular individual.
Step 4: Have A Record On Your Findings
Home assessment is something that you have to do every time you move into a new house. This will not only make the idea of moving into a new house undesirable but also makes a family delay settling down at their new home.
It is, therefore, important to have a glimpse on what should be done at the new home in terms of safety. At this point, those old notes may be just what you need to put things together and have a new beginning in that new neighborhood.
Moreover, if you are not moving out of your current home, the information may come handy when there is need make improvement on certain aspects.
Step 5: Review Home Assessment And Makes Changes Where Necessary
It is not possible to say it will always be safe for family members at a home as a lot can happen. For instance, having a new born is something that necessitates changes around the house to accommodate the new bundle of joy.
Additionally, as children grow up, safety measures around the house need to change. A good example is when a child starts crawling or walking and it necessitates for items that can fall easily to be removed.
For this reason, there will always emerge a reason to review home assessment to ensure that new changes are accommodated. Furthermore, when safety tools installed at the house fail to offer the desired results, it is necessary to make changes.
Areas To Be Prioritized During Home Assessment To Ensure Your Safety
One of the safety concerns that comes into our minds while looking for a new house is physical security. It is all our wish to be find a safe place to call home.
However, this may not be possible despite the fact that one may be living in a rich neighborhood. It is important to note that we all have a role to play in ensuring safety at our homes. Assessment on various physical security measures should be done.
These are the gates, locks, motion sensors, window protection, alarm systems, and security cameras. Home safety technological advancement has not only lead to decreased safety incidences, but has led to improved convenience.
In most homes, there are security camera that allows the occupants to be able to see what is going on. The most advanced system is the motion sensor that is able to beep once motion is detected.
However, some of these safety tools are expensive but this does not mean that there are no cheaper ones. For instance, having good window and door locks will reduce the chances of a break-in significantly.
Moreover, when carrying out home assessment, security lighting is highly recommended as they intimidate any intruder. The interior part of the house should also be looked into while carrying out home assessment. Safety concerns not only emerge from intruders but also from within the house.
For this reason, understanding the layout of the house will be integral while carrying out home assessment. Places like the floor can pose safety challenges depending on the material used in construction.
For instance, in homes with young children, it is advisable to have wooden floor or carpets in order to minimize injuries caused by falls. Sockets on the walls may also pose a risk especially among the children.
Therefore, carrying home assessment to ensure safety relies on the ability of the person to be able to identify even the smallest aspect that are likely to result into accidents. Home appliances are tools that we cannot do away with at our homes.
However, some of these appliances especially the electrical ones may prove to be of safety concern. While carrying out home assessment, it is important to ensure that harm that may be caused by these appliances is minimized. One way to achieve this is to have particular point of storage for the appliances.
Moreover, cutlery such as knives and forks should be stored in safe cabinets with locks. Various rooms in the house also needs be locked especially when there is a baby in the house. For instance, the laundry room should always be locked after cleaning.
When carrying out home assessment, external environment should be considered. For instance, knowing your neighbor is not going to hurt you. In fact, one is at peace knowing that there is person in the neighborhood looking after you.
This does not have to be necessarily being over-friendly with the neighbors, but then it is good to be initiate some communication. It also makes one to be able to fit easily in a new area without having to rely more on ‘I will finding out on your own.’ It is important to note that no man is an island and therefore, make an effort to know who is around you.
Home assessment can be tedious but it is necessary to ensure that safety of a family is achieved. Despite relying on the law enforcers to provide security you need, there is a role that we should also play as well. This will make our stay in our homes not only safe and also memorable.
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Sources
- https://worksmart.org.uk/health-advice/health-and-safety/hazards-and-risks/what-are-five-steps-risk-assessment
- https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/hsprograms/risk_assessment.html
- https://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/social-care-and-support-guide/Pages/assessment-care-needs.aspx
- https://www.alz.org/care/alzheimers-dementia-home-safety.asp
- https://www.hantsfire.gov.uk/keeping-safe/loveyourhome/safeandwell/