Public health advice to stay at home during the Coronavirus pandemic means that most of us will be spending more time at home in the coming months.
If you want to make sure your home is as safe from fire risks as possible, go through the points below while looking around your home.
Tick any items you need to consider or carry out. You can download this checklist to keep as a reminder.
1. Smoking and vaping
Are there smokers living in your home? Or if you have essential visitors, such as carers – do they smoke? When people are restricted to their home, they may find themselves smoking more often.
2. Cooking
With restaurants and bars closed, you may find that you’re doing more cooking at home. And with children home from school, you might have more distractions to deal with.
3. Candles, incense and naked flames
Spending more time at home might mean that you want to make it cosy with candles and incense, but these can be a fire risk.
4. Heating
If you’re heating your home for longer than you usually do, you may be worried about your heating bills.
5. Fireplaces, open fires and log burners
Open fires can provide some much needed heating to your home but can be a fire risk even when not in use.
6. Electrics
With more people working from home, and children at home using tablets and games consoles for longer, you might struggle to find a spare plug socket or a genuine charger to use.
7. Alarms
It’s always better to prevent a fire from happening, but fitting alarms will give an early warning in the event of a fire and allow you vital time to escape.
8. Escape Routes
You might have more than your typical amount of groceries, toilet paper, nappies etc in your home, which could be blocking your escape.
9. Bedtime check
If someone in your household is self-isolating and is now sleeping in a different room, make sure you’ve adapted your bedtime routine accordingly.
