Home Hazard Hunt
Making your home safe is an important step toward preparing yourself and your family. In a disaster, ordinary items in the home can cause injury and damage. Anything that can move, fall, break, or cause a fire is a potential hazard. The Home Hazard Hunt is a good way to identify areas in your home that may pose risks during and after a disaster.
You can identify potential dangers in your home by conducting a home hazard hunt. Foresight and common sense are all that are needed as you go from room to room and imagine what would happen in an earthquake. Some possible hazards are:
- Tall, heavy furniture that could topple, such as bookcases, china cabinets, or modular wall units
- Water heaters that could be pulled away from pipes or gas lines and rupture
- Appliances that could move enough to damage or rupture gas or electrical lines
- Hanging plants in heavy pots that could swing free of hooks
- Heavy picture frames or mirrors over beds
- Poorly on incorrectly installed ceiling fans over beds or sitting areas
- Latches on kitchen or other cabinets that will not hold the door closed
- Breakables or heavy objects that are kept on high or open shelves
- A masonry chimney that could crumble and fall through an unsupported roof
- Flammable liquids, like painting or cleaning products, that would be safer in a garage or outside shed
