Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Spring Forward with Your Safety Checklist

This coming Sunday, March 14th, is when Daylight Savings Time begins which means that we will all move our clocks forward by 1 hour.

In conjunction with the time change, many fire departments often remind us all to change the batteries in our smoke detectors to ensure that each of our homes is prepared to give us an adequate early warning should we experience a fire.

Beyond just changing batteries, we found a great blog from Organized Home that highlights a list of preparedness activities to consider this time of year.  This author's list included the following:

Change the clocks, change the batteries.
Smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors save lives ... if they're powered on by a fresh battery. Safety experts recommend replacing smoke and carbon monoxide detector batteries twice a year--so celebrate Time Change Sunday with fresh batteries all around.

[Energy savings hint: don't toss the replaced batteries just yet. While they're likely not fully charged, replaced batteries can still do duty in children's toys, media players or electronic devices. Squeeze the last drop of power out of them before you recycle!]

Replace light bulbs.
Chances are, you'll have stepladders out to reach smoke detectors and clocks, so double up on safety (and energy savings) by checking for light bulbs and fixtures.

Check the first-aid kit.
Summer's coming ... along with bumps, scrapes and stings. Check the first aid kit, and replace any missing supplies:

Printable First Aid Kit List

Make or review your family emergency plan.
If an emergency strikes, will your family know what to do?  Review your family's emergency plan, or create one for the first time. Update phone numbers, addresses and contact information, and post an Emergency Information Page near the phone:

Printable Emergency Information Page

Printable Family Emergency Plan

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