Be Ready Utah: how to prevent potential hazards in your home

You may not realize the number of serious safety hazards lurking around your home.

As part of our Be Ready Utah segment, we’re talking about the potential dangers you need to look out for.

The idea is to check your home and protect your family from hazards before they become an emergency.

“If there were an earthquake and there could be a lot of things that could cause harm or injury in the home that we can fix if you will we can mitigate those risk and hazards by taking a few steps,” Wade Mathews with the Utah Division of Emergency Management said.

You can do your own Earthquake Home Hazard Hunt.

• Make sure your water heater is fastened to the wall. You don’t want it to tip over and leak out water you would use to drink in an emergency. It could cause a gas leak or potential fire.
• Remove objects from above beds.
• Use earthquake picture wall hangers for large heavy, hanging pictures.
• Also, fasten tall furniture directly into studs of the wall. Things entertainment centers, cabinets, and bookshelves. You should use nylon straps.

“That would prevent injury from little children playing in front of the book shelf or entertainment center watching  a movie or whatever the case,” said Mathews. “We wanna sure we’re keeping people safe.”

Mathews suggests checking smoke alarms, smoke detectors and fire alarms are working.

Keep fire extinguishers handy and know how to shut the gas off to your house if you need to shut it off. You only shut if off if you suspect a leak.

There’s a ton of information on beready.utah-gov. You can print out a Home Hazard Checklist.

You can learn more about Home Hazards from our friends on KSL News Radio at 2:30 p.m.