Keeping you and your family safe in your home is doubtless a major priority. Yet, according to RoSPA, year after year in the UK there are approximately 6,000 deaths as a result of home accidents.
Accidents can include fires which lead to widespread damage, injury and often death – and the most common causes of house fires in the UK are down to cooking, heating and electrical appliances.
As a result, it’s important to be aware of the heating, plumbing and electrical safety tips which may well prevent such accidents from happening in the first place.
Here are some of the things to bear in mind, when dealing with your home appliances.
Electrical safety tips
Many accidents in the home surround electricity-related appliances and a huge cause of fire is often from damaged wiring or faulty electrical equipment.
To be completely sure that your home is electricity safe, you may want to ask a qualified electrician to carry out an electrical safety check.
In addition, here are the following things which you can do yourself to stay electricity safe:
- Don’t overload plug sockets or using multiple adaptors
- Make sure electrical wires are kept out of the way of pets and children
- Remove plugs from the socket using the plug and not the wire
- Never mix electricity and water
- Allow space for air to circulate around electrical appliances
- Always use smoke detectors and check them regularly
- Never put metal items such as cutlery in toasters or microwaves
Gas safety tips
The main gas appliances which we have in the home are used for heating and cooking – these include boilers and gas hobs.
However useful they may be in providing heating and hot water, gas can also be a potential hazard in the home, so it’s vital that, if you ever find yourself with problems with your gas appliances, you should only ever allow them to be worked on by a Gas Safe registered engineer.
If you can smell gas, then call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999 immediately – and if you are calling on a mobile phone make sure you are well away from the leak.
Gas safe tips which you can follow include:
- Make sure that your gas appliances are regularly serviced
- Check that all ventilation bricks, grilles and outside flues are present and clear
- Never use a gas appliance which isn’t working properly.
- Use a carbon monoxide detector – this deadly gas doesn’t have a smell, so it’s incredibly hard to detect
- If you are concerned about a gas leak, never use a lighted flame anywhere nearby
Plumbing safety tips
Of course, ensuring your boiler is properly serviced and maintained, not to mention in good working order, is quite arguably one of the most important jobs that a Gas Safe registered plumber can do.
However, it’s also vital to ensure that a fully qualified plumber carries out any kind of plumbing work in your home, from fixing blocked pipes and toilets, to the installation of a new bathroom.
For professional help and advice from fully qualified heating, plumbing and electrical experts this winter, just give us a call or fill out our online form.
Our emergency team is also on standby for any potential Christmas heating or plumbing problems you face.