Essential Home Safety Tips for Winter

For good reasons, we consider our homes a haven of safety and well-being, as they should be. Unfortunately, from our decades of providing NJ Home Insurance, we know your home is also a potential hazard zone. And data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CSPC) substantiates our experience.

Cooking Causes Fires.

CSPC statistics say the # 1 cause of residential fires is cooking accidents. Its stats show on Thanksgiving Day each year that there is an average of 1,700 cooking fires, which is more than triple the daily average. Besides Holiday turkey fryer and stove fires, Christmas tree, candle, and electrical fires are winter home fire hazards that need attention.

Please Review the Following Winter Home Safety Tips.

Ensure your smoke and carbon monoxide warning devices are operational with fresh batteries and sufficient for your living spaces. Keep a suitable fire extinguisher nearby fireplaces and in the kitchen. Train your family members on how to use them in an emergency. Extinguishing pan fires by putting a lid on the pan is quicker and less messy. Never use water or flour as they can spread stove fires.

You Are Neither As Young Nor Agile As You Think.

Hang your holiday decorations safely. Ladders, aging bodies, and inclement weather are a dangerous combination. According to the CSPC, half of the 200 decorating-related injuries each day of the holiday season involve falls. It’s not just older folks as young people are also likely to suffer a disastrous holiday decorating fall.

In 2018, roughly 17,500 emergency room visits were due to holiday decorating-related injuries. Your ER deductible may equate to the cost of a professional outdoor holiday decorating service- not to mention the ongoing costs and suffering from serious injuries or worse.

Hire Professionals for Essential Maintenance Services.

Have professionals inspect and perform routine maintenance on your HVAC system, chimney, and dryer vent. Know how to operate your wood burning or gas fireplace safely and adequately. Hire a duct cleaning service to improve your HVAC efficiency and indoor air quality.

Besides keeping your family and home safer, you will extend the life of your essential services by maintaining them properly. Many HVAC service providers offer annual contracts to check and keep your unit in the spring and fall. Consult with them to learn if they include the valuable bonus of emergency priority service for clients with annual contracts.

Stay in Place Safely.

NJ winters are brutal at times, causing power outages in freezing weather. Consider installing an emergency generator to use in such conditions. If you plan to ride out a few days without power or a generator, you need a plan for how to keep a space in your home livable.

Start with bundling everyone with extra layers of clothing and blankets. Gather everyone, including pets, in a single room. Keep the door shut as much as possible. Block drafts and air leaks with towels. Insulate windows with curtains and blankets. Use your fireplace safely with caution. Look out for your neighbors, especially those with infants or older residents, to ensure they stay warm and safe.

Create and Be Ready to Implement a Back-up Plan.

Understand your options for where to find shelter if you must evacuate your home. Know how you will get to the shelter and what to do next if it is not viable when you need it. Create a communication web of family members and neighbors to contact each other if you are separated during an emergency. If your location is rural, it’s critical to know how to get to essential services and to have your network check your safety status frequently.

Avoid Unnecessary Snowed-in Safety Hazards.

Even when you are snowed-in with power, it may not be easy to heat your home satisfactorily. Such conditions turn fireplaces, candles, and portable heaters into potential fire dangers. Carbon monoxide poisoning is a present threat when using camp stoves, grills, or your stove without adequate ventilation. It’s also crucial for you to realize using your car as a warming device is a potentially deadly carbon monoxide danger.

Maintain Your Vehicle to Keep It Winter Storm Ready.

Now is the time to prepare your vehicle before the arrival of harsh winter weather. Keep your fuel tank near full and winterize your car by checking your radiator and antifreeze levels. Replace worn tires with all-weather or snow tires. Add an appropriate antifreeze solution to your windshield washer.

Create a wintertime vehicle emergency kit in case you get stuck or stranded. You’ll want to gather extra gloves, hats, blankets, and sleeping bags. Add to your list nonperishable food, mobile phone charger and cords, extra batteries, plastic storage bags, booster cables, flashlight, shovel, sand, or cat litter, and a first aid kit.

Stock Up for Short-term Living Inside Your Home without Power.

As with your vehicle, you need an indoor emergency kit. Keep an adequate supply of drinking water and no-cooking necessary food. And be extra aware if family members have special diets such as infant formula or other medically essential food items. Have an appropriate supply of prescriptions drugs on hand.

You’ll want to create a winter disaster kit to include flashlights, batteries, wind-up flashlights, and radios. Keep your stash of warm blankets, hats, boots, gloves, and winter coats readily available.

Winterize Your Plumbing.

Properly insulate all water pipes along exterior walls and any exposed to unheated interior locations. Turn off the water supply to outdoor spigots and drain them. Consider installing freeze-proof outdoor spigots. Open all rooms, enclosures, and cabinets that contain water pipes to help keep them warm. In extreme sub-zero temperatures, keep water flowing by opening your indoor spigots just enough to create a tiny but steady drip.

Cut Back on Trees and Landscaping.

Fierce winds, freezing snow, and rain can turn trees and landscaping into severe threats to your home. Top off and trim back any trees or tree branches that could topple and inflict significant damage to your home. It hurts to cut back on the beauty and shade full-grown trees provide, but it’s so worth it to avoid having them become obstacles of destruction against your home in an intense winter storm.

There is always more to do than what’s on this list. Still, from our years of helping homeowners file claims from damages due to winter storms, we’re confident following our suggestions will prepare your home, your family, and you to ride out the worst storms in the best possible conditions.

As your local NJ Home Insurance specialists at Dickstein Associates Agency, we are eager to help you evaluate your needs and protect your home and family from all disasters, including the worst that winter weather can throw at us. Our homeowner insurance experts will discuss the amount and type of coverage you need to protect your home against property damage and liability risks. And we’ll review how replacement cost coverage on the dwelling and your personal property works, so you’re fully insured.

About Dickstein Associates Agency

Dickstein Associates Agency has distinguished itself as a leading provider of personal and business insurance in the tri-state area since 1965. We pride ourselves on being advocates for our clients and providing them with quality and affordable coverages. As Trusted Choice™ independent insurance agency, we partner with various national and regional carriers, allowing for flexible coverage for each client’s unique circumstances. For more information on how you can leverage all your insurance to work best for you, and how we can secure the best insurance in the marketplace suited to your specific needs and business objectives, contact us today at (800) 862-6662 or www.dicksteininsurance.com.