If you’ve ever bought electronic products and seen the UL logo (at left) on the tag or the box, then you had your own personal guardian angel looking out for the safety of your home and you didn’t even know it!  The holidays may be over, but parents like you and me are concerned about making our homes a safer place for kids all year long. 

Did you know that a large percentage of accidents happen at home?  To help change that, UL created a great web site called Safety at Home that provides great information about the home safety movement. Homemaker Barbi has teamed up with UL to bring you these 6 tips for safeguarding for your home year-round. 

What is UL?

UL is a century-old organization that specializes in independent product safety certification.  What that means in everyday language is that they have been establishing the standards for safety in household products and testing them to make sure they are safe for consumers like us to use since before we were even born!  From bedroom lamps to Christmas lights, looking for a UL logo on a product you’re about to buy should give you a feeling of relief that your family’s safety has already been thought of.

6 Ways to Safeguard Your Home Year-Round

1.  Install a carbon monoxide (CO) alarm and smoke alarm, at least one for each floor of your house, near sleeping areas.

2.  Test your smoke and CO alarms once a month and remember to change the batteries in all alarms when changing your clocks for daylight savings time.

3.  Keep medications locked up.  Never leave medicine in any place children can access it, such as in your purse, in kitchen drawers, on pantry shelves, or in medicine cabinets.  Store all medications together in a cabinet or other container with a child-proof safety lock.

4.  Take care of electrical cords.  “Never run electrical cords under carpets, rugs or heavy items, or bunch them up behind a hot appliance or radiator,” UL says.  Using electrical cords in this way could cause them to overheat, which is a fire hazard.

5.  Be cautious of space heaters.  UL advises us to keep blankets, curtains, even wallpaper (because of the glue), which are all flammable materials, at least 3 feet away from heat sources such as space heaters to lessen the risk of fire.

6.  Know what to do in an electrical storm.  Instead of panicking during an electrical storm, know which items in your home to avoid: plumbing, wires and cables, metal doors and window frames, all electrical appliances, and even corded phones.

Bonus Tip:  Design and practice a family fire escape route with your kids today.  Being prepared in case you ever have to use your fire escape plan is always a good thing.

To learn more about the safety movement which is sweeping the nation, visit Safety at Home today.

Images used with permission by Underwriters Laboratories.