Small home fixes can ensure safety
Make improvements or inexpensive repairs to protect yourself, family
To reduce your odds of falling, put nonslip mats in showers and tubs. Elsewhere, secure or eliminate loose rugs and other tripping hazards.
If it ain’t broke, maybe you should fix it anyway.
That’s the message consumer advocates and insurance experts want you to hear about your home’s hidden dangers. Too often, they say, people put off relatively inexpensive repairs or improvements that could prevent significant damage, injuries or even death. While you can’t eliminate every potential hazard, some small moves can have a huge impact on home safety.
The following fixes typically cost $200 or less.
Reduce fire risks
Fires cause thousands of deaths and billions of dollars of property damage in the U.S. each year, according to the National Fire Protection Association, a nonprofit dedicated to eliminating fire-related loss.
Install and regularly test smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in your home. Prices vary based on features, but a threepack of combination alarms often costs $50 to $100. You should have a fire extinguisher in the kitchen (expect to spend around $50), but don’t store it under the sink where it could be damaged by water leaks, said Ashita Kapoor, associate director of product safety for Consumer Reports, a nonprofit product-testing organization. Instead, place the extinguisher near the stove but not so close that you couldn’t reach it in the event of a fire there.
Also, clean your dryer filter and vents; lint buildup can cause fires. Vent cleaning kits cost around $30.
Watch for fall threats
Falls are a leading cause of injuries treated in emergency rooms, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. To reduce your odds of falling, put nonslip mats in showers and tubs. Elsewhere, secure or eliminate loose rugs and other tripping hazards. Practice good safety habits, such as wiping up spills immediately and using a sturdy step stool rather than a chair to reach anything that’s stored up high.
Also dangerous: stuff that falls on us. “Tip-over” incidents — where heavy furniture, TVs or appliances fall on people — resulted in an annual average of 22,500 injuries treated in emergency rooms from 2018 to 2020, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. From 2000 to 2020, 581 people were killed, 81 percent were younger than 18. Anchors to prevent tipovers cost just a few dollars and connect the heavy piece to a stud in the wall with a strap or tether. If you’re renting and not supposed to put holes in the wall, talk to your property manager about your safety concerns.