Building Safety Month: 4 Important Tips to Improve the Safety of Your Home and/or Business

May is Building Safety Month, an annual event sponsored by the International Code Council.  As an alarm system company, we work with both residential and commercial customers to help them secure their buildings and property with alarm systems, monitoring and life safety services.

To keep your building safe –– whether it’s your home or business –– we offer these 4 important tips for Building Safety Month (and beyond!).

Install Monitored Smoke Alarms

Install smoke detectors in your home, but don’t stop there. We also recommend adding monitored smoke and heat sensors. These sensors will signal an alarm when temperatures rise above a certain point. This could mean help is on the way before a fire even starts. Call us to find out how to add these sensors in your home.

Regularly Replace Smoke Detectors

The smoke detectors in your home last about 10 years, at the most. If you haven’t checked to see if they’re about to die, do it now. A dead smoke detector cannot help save lives. Also, check the batteries at least twice a year, preferably monthly. If you didn’t check during the recent daylight savings weekend, check right now. Replace batteries on alarms that give weak or no signals once you confirm the alarm has not expired altogether.

Get Up To Speed on Life Safety Systems

Does your building or business have proper, legally required fire alarms, sprinklers, extinguishers and backflow prevention devices installed? Are you on a regular schedule to test these life safety systems according to municipal, county and state code? We can help you get all of this in place. We then monitor and test everything on a regular schedule to make sure your building meets all regulations on an ongoing basis.

Add Fire Extinguishers to Home and Rentals

Have you placed working portable fire extinguishers in areas where fires are most like to occur? In your home, you need a fire extinguisher in the kitchen in case of a stove fire. Placing one in the garage is also an excellent idea.  Make sure your entire family knows where to find each fire extinguisher and can reach them without stumbling over or needing to move other objects.

If you own an apartment building or other rental property, make sure renters have a fire extinguisher in the kitchen and other rooms as needed. This could help minimalize damage to your investment if a fire breaks out. Make sure all fire extinguishers are fully charged. Click here to read our recent blog post about choosing the best fire extinguisher for your needs and how to determine if your extinguishers work properly.