Home Safety Checklist For Worcester

Keeping safe and secure in your residence should be your largest concern. But are you overlooking some useful safety items? Look over this home safety checklist for Worcester and find out where your home needs some work.

This guide starts with some whole-home safety ideas, and then we delve down room-by-room. Then, you can call (508) 283-7533 or send in the form below to talk to a security expert.

Basic Home Safety Checklist for Worcester

While you should use a room-to-room process for home safety in Worcester, there are some things that work for a lot of your rooms. These items can sync with one another through a smart hub, and oftentimes work off other components. You can also manage all your home safety components with a mobile security app, like ADT Control:

Monitored Security System: Each one of your entryways should use a sensor that alerts your family to a break-in. When your alarm triggers, your monitoring expert picks up the alert and immediately sends a first responder.

Smart Lighting For Each Room: Of course, you can set your smart lights so your home is more efficient. But smart lights can also help you keep safe in an emergency. Have your lights flash on when an alarm triggers to scare off intruders or light the way out to a safe location.

Smart Thermostat: Like your smart lights, a smart thermostat in Worcester could save you up to 15% in gas and electric spending. Also, it can flip on the exhaust fan if you have a fire.

Monitored Fire Detectors: At the very least, you have a smoke detector on each floor. You can improve your fire preparedness by installing a monitored fire detector that senses unusual smoke and heat, and pings your 24-hour monitoring team when it thinks that there’s a fire.

Smart Door Locks: Every doorway that uses a keyed lock can use a smart door lock. Now you can assign numbered codes to friends and family and get notifications to your mobile device when the locks are used. Your locks can even automatically open, letting you quickly leave if you have an emergency.

Family Room Safety Checklist For Worcester

You’ll spend a lot of time in the living room, so it may be the best area to optimize your home safety. Highly sought after items, like a TV or video game console, typically reside in your living room, making it a tempting room for burglars. Start with hanging a motion detector or indoor camera by the doorway, then take a look at some of these suggestions:

Motion Detectors: By hanging motion sensors, you’ll have a high-decibel noise anytime they detect unusual movement within your family room. Look for motion detectors that ignore pets or you’ll see a tripped alarm every time your pet roams by for a midnight stroll.
Security Camera: An indoor security camera puts an eye on your living room. Get constant streams of everything so you can see what’s going on through the mobile app. Or speak with your kids when they get back from school by using the two-way talk feature.
Surge Protector/Cord Maintenance: Protect all your electronics and stop overburdening your circuits with a surge protector. For added convenience, set up a smart plug with anti-surge functionality built-in.
Heavy Furniture Bolted To The Wall: If you have curious kids, you’ll need to bolt your bookshelves and entertainment center to the wall. This is extra crucial if your family room uses carpeting that can make furniture extra unstable.
Special Locks For Sliding Doors: If your family room uses a glass door that opens to a deck, patio, or outside porch, you already can see that the door lock is pretty worthless. Put in a custom lock, like a metal bar or small locks that bolt to the top and bottom of the door frame.

Kitchen Safety Checklist For Worcester

Your kitchen has plenty of items that can bring safety to your home. Some of these items are also easy to add and should be found in the Target or Walmart:

Fire Extinguisher: A fire can come from from a neglected pot or an errant grease splatter. Always have a fire extinguisher in close reach for any cooking emergencies.
GFCI Box On Every Outlet: A GFCI outlet should be installed everywhere there’s nearby water to ward off a deadly shock. That includes the plug outlets around your kitchen counter and sink. Since 1987, it’s been code to have one GFCI per dedicated circuit. But each one of your plugs will go if any outlet sees a surge, so you’ll want to use a separate GFCI on each outlet.

Monitored Carbon Monoxide Detector: A CO detector is advised for spaces that employ natural gas for the stove and oven. If your gas appliances spring a leak, the carbon monoxide detector will play a high-decibel siren and ping your monitoring professional.
Clorox Wipes Or Spray: The biggest safety hazard in the kitchen is actually bacteria and protein that comes with uncooked meat and dairy. Always store antiviral wipes or spray to clean your counters before and after preparing food.
Refrigerator Alarm: The food items in your fridge should remain at a chilly temperature to stay healthy to eat. If you leave the freezer or refrigerator door open too long, then an alarm beep will remind you to check the seal. Some fridges come with this installed, some don’t, and you’ll have to pick up a fridge alarm from online.

Bathroom Safety Checklist For Worcester

Just because you may not have a lot of space in your bathroom there’s still safety concerns. From flood prevention to anti-surge outlets, here are a few safety tips for your bathroom:

Flood Detectors: A leaking sink or tub can create a whole lot of destruction. Discover a water problem with a flood detector and save hundreds to thousands of dollars from damage.
Non-slip Shower Mats: A slip and fall in the bathroom can be painful, causing cuts, sore joints, or broken bones. You can steer clear from these issues with a textured bathroom mat for while you towel off.

Textured Bathtub Stickies: Another water hazard, a tub can be a slippery area to stand in. Make sure every has some no-slip stickies so your toes have a textured patch to grip.

Medicine Door Latch: If you have little children or anyone with memory lapses, you should take extra precautions regarding prescription medicine. Safeguard your pills and syrups by using a medicine cabinet with a locking latch.

GFCI Circuits: Just like the kitchen, you need to also install a safer GFCI outlet on each bathroom receptacle. These will shut off the electric current if water enters the outlet or you have an unusual jolt from a curling iron or hair dryer.

Children’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For Worcester

Your kid’s bedroom should balance safety with accessibility. If their window coverings or other things are safe but tricky to manage, then your kids may get around the device with dangerous activities -- like climb a bookshelf -- to open them. Try these simple, and safe, ideas:

Cord-Free Window Treatments: Safety experts have long called corded window treatments an unsuspecting danger for both children and pets. Install motorized shades that kids can easily open and close with a remote control. Or go state-of-the-art and pair your shades to your ADT security system so they rise automatically at dawn, and lower at bedtime for added darkness.

Tableside Security Camera: An indoor security camera perched on your child’s desk can act as a high tech baby monitor that you can see from a mobile device. And if they need something, they can use the 2-way talk feature included on the camera.

Outlet Covers: While each outlet should use covers on them for your young children, this is doubly urgent in a child’s bedroom. It’s the one room in your house where your children will most likely play solo without consistent parental supervision.

Window Safety Ladder: If you have bedrooms on an upper level, then you need to have a window escape ladder. These can help a child escape even if the stairs or lower levels are blocked off with fire. Remember to go over how to use the ladder at least twice a year.

Toy Box Or Low Bookshelves: It’s interesting to look at a toy box as a safety component, but you’ll see the light if you’ve ever stepped on a building block in your bare feet. A clean floor gives your child a quick way out during a safety or security event.

Master Bedroom Safety Checklist For Worcester

Your main bedroom should be an oasis, so let your safety devices make you more responsive when you experience an emergency event. After all, being startled awake by a high-decibel siren can be quite a shock.

Smart Hub Touchscreen: Having a touchscreen on your bedside table lets you see what’s going on without leaving your bed. You could always use your ADT phone app. However, the large touchscreen is often faster to use when you’re coming out of sleep and finding your bearings.

Device Charging Station: We use our cell phones for almost everything now alarms, news readers, social media, and maybe even phones. However, a dead phone can cut us off from the outside world if there’s a problem. So, a charging station or cord becomes should be used nightly.

Nightlight/Smart Lights: A small light can calm you when you’re startled awake from a siren or other noises. If you won’t drift off to sleep with a small nightlight, use smart lights in your bedroom and hall. Then you can control light anytime with a button push or voice command.
Fireproof Lockbox: Stash your essential paperwork like social security cards, passports, or a bankbook in a fireproof safe. Your lockbox can be a bigger one that is located in a corner or a smaller handheld lockbox that you can carry as you escape during a fire or other emergency.

Temperature Sensor: The drawback with bedrooms is that they tend to run too hot or be cold because they are located far from the thermostat. A heat sensor will communicate to your smart thermostat so you can have a pleasant, peaceful sleep at just the right temperature.

Basement/Garage Safety Checklist For Worcester

Most safety problems in the garage or basement deal with your pipes or heating system. Finding hazards early can stave away larger problems in the future. So, as you take a look around your basement or garage, check over these crucial items:

Flood Sensor Or Sump Pump Alarm: Putting a flood sensor by your water heater or sump pump can stop you from discovering a lake when you go into your garage or basement. It’s much better than rummaging through a heap of soggy storage boxes.

CO Alarm: It’s nice to have a carbon monoxide detector in areas where a natural gas leak can happen. If you use a gas furnace, you should install a detector in the same area as your HVAC unit.
Remote Water Shutoff Valve: If your flood alarm senses a hot water heater leak or a burst pipe, then you will have to cap the primary water valve at once. With a wireless shutoff valve, you can stop water flow from any mobile device. That’s helpful when you’re on vacation and see a water leak notification on your phone.
Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage door open causes all sorts of problems. You can waste heat through that gaping hole, and all sorts of animals or intruders can just wander in. A sensor will text you about a forgotten garage door and allow you to close it through the app.
Temperature Sensor: A temperature alarm in your basement or garage is essential if you worry about your pipes freezing. The heat in these rooms can be drastically different than the rest of the home, so you may want to keep a constant look on the temperature through the ADT mobile app.

Outside Safety Checklist for Worcester

Your landscaping, driveway, and front porch are just as important to make safe as the rest of your house. Try this checklist to defend your perimeter:

Doorbell Security Camera: See who’s at the the front step before you answer it and talk to visitors. See deliveries and review video clips if they vanish off the step.

Outdoor Camera: You can place outdoor security cameras to guard against suspicious activity in your back yard. These devices are nice in areas where you might not have a window -- like around a cellar or by the driveway.

Low Shrubs: Tall foliage can offer some solitude, but they also obscure your line of sight of the outside. Don’t offer potential intruders a place to hide. Plus, large bushes, shrubs or greenery too close to your home can jam up gutters and bring in ants and termites.
ADT Signage: One of the most popular deterrents for home intrusion is alerting potential rogues that you use an updated security system. An ADT yard sign by the front door and a window sticker will alert people that they should shove off to an unprotected target.

Motion Triggered Flood Light Fixtures: Light is the greatest obstacle to people who skulk in the shadows. Motion-controlled lighting on your porch, garage, or deck can shoo lurkers away. Lights also help you get inside when you arrive home late at night.

Use Secure24 Alarm Systems To Help You Finish Your Home Safety Checklist for Worcester

While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t install each household item on your Worcester home safety checklist, we can install a customized home security system. With easy-to-use devices and ADT monitoring, we can customize the best system for your home’s needs. Just phone (508) 283-7533 for more information or send in the form below. Or customize your own solution with our Security System Designer.