CHAPTER TWO

Take a safety inventory of your home: look for things that need improving. When you find a potential trouble spot, fit it as soon as possible. Check wiring, plumbing and your heating and cooling plants yearly. Check locks, alarms and emergency equipment. Are they in good working order?

Pay attention to the flammability of fabrics and other decorating materials. The laws regarding safety of such items are not as comprehensive as they could be, so ask questions when you make purchases of this kind. Safety specifications should be available.

Is your home kid proof? Are electric outlets covered, cabinet doors fitted out with safety latches, guns locked up and safely stored out of a child's reach? How about medicines and dangerous chemicals? If you haven't taken these precautions, do so. A child might not live to regret your carelessness.

Install alarm systems, smoke detectors, and secure locking systems in your home.

Swimming pools are as attractive as a magnet; be sure yours is properly fenced and maintained. Pool alarms 

are not expensive and are a good idea, especially in neighborhoods with a lot of small children. Even a small swimming pool is a potential danger. Speaking of swimming pools, make sure you have proper liability coverage in case of accidents: even if an accident is not your fault, you may be liable for it.

Keep cleaning solvents and other combustible (or poisonous) products out of reach, cool, and dry. If there's a "use by" date on the product, discard properly if out dated.

Are you prepared for hurricane season? The biggest danger we face on the Gulf Coast is complacency because although we've had some big blows, they've been mercifully few and far between. We have, however, the potential for a storm fully as devastating as Hurricane Andrew, so get your house and your family ready.

Make household safety upkeep and maintenance part of the overall care of your property: don't leave trash around or gates unmended, don't put off safety-related tasks and improvements just because their importance is not a matter of obvious urgency. Apply the same safety criteria at home that you must use at work: your own property is surely as important as your employer's.