During construction one of the most important aspects to look at is safety. This could be with respect to the overall features as well as about fire safety. A home is complete when it is safe and it is very important to keep a few points in mind about fire safety. Carefully discussing the same with your contractors as well as with your construction company can help you have a safe home at all points of time.
Keeping the fire safety system in check is also necessary. So, here listed are a few points that need to be kept in mind to keep your homes away from fire hazards.
- Make it a point to analyze the design of your home and understand the areas that can be prone to a fire hazard. Kitchen, electric points, etc, need to be evaluated well and smoke alarms need to fixed in all these areas. The important part is to test these alarms once in a while as a routine so as to know if it might need a battery change.
- Install a fire extinguisher in your kitchen and make sure you know how to use it. Arrange your kitchen appliances in such a manner that it the leads do not cross over cooker rings.
- Be careful in the home design and arrangement about what you keep near electrical sockets and in the kitchen. Avoid keeping paper or other easily combustible substances in order to prevent the fire from spreading in case of an unfortunate incident. Similarly, be very careful when working with oil in the kitchen. Always have a fire blanket to put out the fire in an accessible area.
- If you have any smokers at home be very careful with the cigarette buds. Place ashtrays and make sure they are disposed of properly but not before it is put out completely.
- Design 2 ways of exiting the home in case of a fire hazard and always make sure all the members at home are aware of the same. Also, fix a meaning point outside your family in case of such a situation.
- Check electrical leads and plugs once in 2-3 years as a routine to check if any deterioration or burning has occurred. Also, check if by any chance there are any overloaded sockets.
- Have your air conditioning system’s coils replaced or cleaned once in a while.
- Be aware of the kind of materials that can be used with various kitchen appliances and check them before you use them.
- Portable heaters and other heating elements also lead to most fire hazards across the globe. Be very careful to keep these away from combustible substances. Make sure to turn them off before you go to sleep.
- Be careful with matches, combustible substances, etc from being out of reach of children.
- Clean your kitchen vents or chimney regularly so as to avoid any chances of a fire hazard. Also, make sure the kitchen has enough ventilation.
- Have contact numbers of fire brigade and manuals with fire safety course materials as an additional precautionary measure. If possible enroll and complete a fire safety course as it will come in handy.