Robbery
Sadly, robbery is a highly common criminal activity during the holiday season. Make sure you keep all your belongings in safes or locked away. Is your insurance up to date? Do you have a register of serial numbers? Do you have items engraved where suitable? Keep your gifts, whether wrapped or unwrapped away from the windows or lounge windows from where they can be seen easily. Tuck them away under your Christmas tree or any other place. Keeping them away from the eyes of criminals can reduce the risk of possible robbery attacks at your home! Often times, when robbers aren’t able to look for something interesting, they don’t even bother to try their luck, so always keep it hidden. If you do have a valuable item to go under the tree, perhaps consider leaving that until the last minute … and keep it hidden someplace else. Consider burglar alarms where suitable or if you are not feeling safe.
Make it look like someone is always in your house
Even when you are not around your house, or have to slip out to run quick errands, leave the lights on or some light music playing inside, so that it looks like someone’s home. Lights, TV’s and music on timers work great. These create an impression that someone is home and can greatly reduce the chances of any criminals even thinking of making your home a target.
Lock all your windows and doors at all times
This may sound intuitive, however, it is one of the most common mistakes that people make. Being busy with preparations and forgetting about the little things is natural, but try your best to always keep an eye on your windows and doors being locked at all times. In Queensland, we often leave things open to avoid the place getting hot – consider the risks.
Be safe – young and old
Along with your visitors comes risks. Your house may not be baby or child proof … consider moving poisons and cleaning agents to high cupboards whilst you have visitors, and ensure toys are not left on the floor that may cause a trip hazard. The kids may have a new skateboard, but the kitchen floor is not the place for it.
Hanging around Christmas lights
Stay safe when you use ladders to hang Christmas lights around your house. Many of the injuries happen from falling off ladders due to not taking safety precautions. We recommend that you don’t climb ladders without having someone holding the ladder to ensure your safety.
Collect your parcels
You may have ordered a bunch of goodies and gifts for the holiday season from online. This makes it a necessity for you to always look out for when your packages arrive. Always try to stay home to collect your parcels or assign someone to collect them for you on your behalf, if you can’t.
Risk of toppling trees
Make sure that you place your Christmas trees on sturdy stands so that they have no chance of falling over. Buy a stand that is relevant and can hold the weight of your Christmas tree. Keep smaller decorations out of the reach of small children at all times to prevent any choking hazards.
Talk to your neighbours
If you are going away on holidays, talk to your neighbours and ask them to constantly keep a check on your place. By doing something as little as taking in the post can help to keep away any prying eyes. Criminals are always on the lookout for the best opportunity, you need to make sure you don’t give them the “golden” opportunity. Some are as blatant as backing up a removalist truck and loading up all your possessions in full view … if you talk to your neighbours, they can simply call the Police immediately.
Cancel any kind of regular deliveries
Regular deliveries include fruit and vegetable boxes, milk or newspaper deliveries. Have a friend or neighbour collect/remove the junk mail and put your bins in and out.
Inspect your lights
Before you start hanging your lights, make sure you check them thoroughly to avoid any mishaps from happening. Check if there are any frayed wires or if the socket or bulbs are broken and also check if there are any loose connections. These problems can be the cause of fire and even electrocution. Always use minimal power cords. Avoid overloading your sockets as this may lead to fires as well.
Switch off your Christmas lights when not in use
When you are going outside, or to bed, make sure you turn off your Christmas lights, because although they look pretty they may lead to fires. Electrical items are highly associated with fires so better to be careful.
Dispose of all the wrappers
Try not to leave empty boxes or wrapping papers outside your house. This will only lead robbers into thinking about all the lovely gifts that you received from your friends and family. Make use of black plastic bags to dispose of all your wrapping papers and boxes so that they are not in view.
These are some of the risks and precautions that you need to take for the holiday season, to always be in safe hands. Follow these and you are good to go!
If we can help with any pre-Christmas jobs, perhaps that bedroom that you want to paint for guests, flyscreen’s repaired, fence repaired or other handyman jobs, contact us now on 0413 001 846.