Before moving in with your parents or an elderly person in your home, you should ensure that you have done its safety evaluation. Which means your home is nice and warm, its roof is safe with no potential threat. You have someone at your home that is specially hired for taking care of them.
Apart from these, there is one important thing. Which you should consider at all costs before moving in elderly persons and that is Home Safety Evaluation. In this article, you will find all the necessary steps that can be taken in this whole process. Make sure you follow all the necessary steps. While evaluating your home safety as these hazards can cause severe threats to your elderly loved ones.
What is Home Safety Evaluation?
Home Safety Evaluation is a process in which basically assessment is done of your home. This assessment looks for any potential hazards while keeping in mind the goal of increasing safety purposes for the elderly persons moving in your home. The main purpose of this assessment is to minimize the risk of injuries to patients and produce a comfortable environment for them.
Home Safety Evaluation is also known as Home Safety Audit. Security evaluation can provide you with the best possible steps that can be taken for the safety measurements in a home. In case, if any harmful situation arises for patients or any person in your family. A home safety audit can be done by the landlord without even appointing any professional team.
You can also look for a professional team that will do Safety Evaluation for your home. Being professional, they will give you the best ideas and will ensure proper safety for your elder loved ones. If you think you have some serious issues in your home regarding safety matters then this is the best option. Otherwise, you can go through on your own if things can settle down easily.
How to Perform Home Safety Evaluation?
There are a range of steps that can be taken while you are performing a home safety evaluation based on requirements and aspects that need attention. Start with breaking down safety evaluation into various steps. You can consider specific things, let’s say lighting, stairs, fire safety, or you can break it down based on your rooms or floors whichever you may find best.
As per the research of The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one of the major causes of danger for elderly persons is fall. You may have no idea about an elderly person falling in home, this can lead to some severe injury, permanent disability of body parts or it can also lead to death. Youngsters having an injury in a fall can recover themselves but for elders, it can lead to death.
There are many other things as well in which seniors struggle in their daily life. The major one can be the bathroom where they can slip due to wet surfaces and fall. Some seniors struggle with sitting and standing problems due to weakness.
In this case, you can look for certain things which can become the reason for falling such as stairs and their broken or icy steps, small or large objects on the floor. You can also look for lots of other hazards that can include:
- Having less number of handlebars on slippery places such as washrooms or showers.
- Not enough lighting at home can be a problem for elders with weak eyesight.
- Furniture of long height such as beds and chairs.
- Dangling electrical switchboards or circuits.
While performing a home safety audit, you can also pay attention to your home security that can make your home safe and sound from intruders. You may also make an emergency plan in case any emergency situation arises. For instance, you can think about a fire eruption in your home.
These are some of the potential hazards that are most of the time forgotten. But, these can be the reason for your loved one’s life threat. Look into these carefully, go deep as much as you can with other things as well if you feel like it needs attention.
The goal of this assessment is to go through all the hazards and check even the smallest thing in your home that can become trouble for the elder ones. Check the walkways that are leading to the front door and check for any open electrical circuits in your basement or in your garage. After checking even the tiny details in your home.
Steps for Safety Hazards
Safety hazards can be different for everyone depending on the potential threats they have found in their home. So, go for some deep assessment while doing a safety evaluation. During the assessment you can write down all the potential hazards that you have found and if you have any idea in mind how you are going to tackle them at the end.
Here are some of the ideas that you may find helpful:
- Install enough handlebars in all the slippery places.
- Place some rugs and a bath mat.
- Remove unnecessary objects from the floor even though they are small.
- Repair old and dim lights.
- Repair broken or icy steps outside as well as inside.
- Repair broken switchboards, electrical wires and look for any open wiring.
- Increase the number of lights in bedrooms and living rooms.
- Replace your old furniture with low-height furniture.
For home security purposes you can replace old locks with some new ones. Look for the best ones in the market. Another thing can be motion sensor lighting, go for it if you are into some great technology. In the end, you can go for an advanced home security system that can play a vital role in protecting you from burglars and can also initiate alarms if they sense smoke or fire. Make sure to clear all the places from fire hazards and install the best fire-protection equipment.
If we talk about the security issues as it is also part of your home safety. Then you should also consider installing some security cameras in your home. They will help you a lot in safety matters. There are some in the markets which give live recordings of your home directly on your phone so that even if you are out somewhere you don’t have to worry about it as you can watch it on your phone.
There are many other security systems out in the market. You can look for the one that suits you best and cater to your needs in the best possible way. It is suggested to go for the latest one as it will be coming in the best features.
All these tips that have been provided may not completely help you in safety. But, they can solve most of the problems. Also, don’t forget to educate everyone in your home including the seniors about the equipment that you have installed and the plans that you came up with in case of an emergency situation.
Who Can Benefit from Home Safety Evaluation?
Mainly home safety evaluation is done for elder persons, as they are weak and can get serious injury even with the fall due to slip or any obstacle. Many aged people are patients of different diseases and are suffering from physical or internal disabilities. Including sensory loss such as poor vision and loss of hearing. Some go through improper balance, they cannot walk properly without the help of a stick. They also face weakness of muscles and bones as a result they cannot hold things properly. So, now you can see these elder people are much more likely to benefit from these safety hazards. Some of the home security measures will also help in the safety of overall families and persons of all age groups.
