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Home Safety Guide

Is your home safety up to scratch? Find out some simple ways you can help keep yourself, your family and your home safe.

September 2020 – 3 minute read

What’s in this article:

  • Protecting your home from fire
  • Keeping safe when renovating your home
  • Using a generator safely


 

Replacing smoke alarm

Your home should be your sanctuary. Unfortunately, hazards can sneak in. These home safety tips can help safeguard your family, home and belongings all year-round.

Protecting your home from fire

  • Replace your smoke alarm batteries every year and test these every few months to ensure they work.
  • Download the emergency checklist (PDF 1MB) and make sure everyone living in your home know where it’s located.
  • Create a fire emergency plan and make sure all  members of your household know what to do to get out quickly and safely.
  • Check solar power systems to ensure they are in good working order.
  • Ensure down lights aren’t covered by ceiling insulation as this is one of the lesser known causes of home fires.
  • If you see any  damaged power points or switches around your home, make it a priority to get these repaired immediately for electrical safety.
  • Throw away any damaged electrical appliances and leads.
  • For water safety, avoid using electrical appliances in wet areas like your bathroom or near pools.
  • Install safety switches and test them every 3 months.
  • Sounds intuitive, but for child safety remember to keep matches and lighters out of reach of children.
  • Keep flammable material away from heaters and don’t dry your clothes directly on them.
  • Install a fire extinguisher near your outside grill or BBQ if you have one.
  • Turn off kitchen burners if you leave the room or go out.
  • Clean hotplates and ovens, as food spillages or grease can be a fire hazard.
  • Shake breadcrumbs out of your toaster.
  • Check electric blankets and heaters for damaged controls and wires.
  • Keep clothes dryers clear of lint and make sure the exhaust duct is well ventilated when switched on.

Renovating your home

  • Make sure you know where live electrical cables are located in wall cavities before you cut holes, or drive screws or nails into your walls.
  • Always use a certified electrician to do any electrical work.
  • If you purchase electrical accessories or appliances that need to be hard wired, make sure you use a certified electrician to install and connect them.
  • Always turn off the main power supply before you go into the ceiling space.
  • Be aware of overhead power lines when using ladders outside your home.

Using a generator

Only use a generator for portable appliances such as a bar fridge and never use it inside an enclosed space such as a garage or carport, as you may get carbon monoxide poisoning. Make sure you also stay within the generator load rating.

Vehicle accidents and power lines

If an accident happens near you, remember that the vehicle, fences and trees in contact with the fallen power lines may be live so don’t touch them. Advise occupants of the vehicle to stay where they are and keep any bystanders well away from power lines. Call emergency services for immediate help.

Check insurance

It’s important to make sure your home and contents insurance is up-to-date.


Check if your premium can be lowered if you’ve improved your home security, or if the policy covers your property when it’s vacant more than 60 days and if its new for old replacement.

 

Download the emergency checklist:

Emergency checklist (PDF 1MB)


 

Need Insurance?

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Things you should know

A premium discount of up to 10% for combining Building and Contents covers on one policy is applied for Building and Contents cover. This includes on optional covers for Motor Burnout and Accidental Damage, but not for Portable contents cover  (if selected). This discount is not applied to the premium for Flood.

If you are eligible for more than one discount, Allianz applies them in a predetermined order. This means any subsequent discount will be applied to the reduced premium amount after applying any prior discounts and the effect of the subsequent discount will be reduced.  For example, the aggregate effect of applying two 10% discounts consecutively means that you will not see the full benefit of both these discounts.

Discounts do not apply to taxes or government charges.

Discounts do not apply to optional covers for Domestic workers’ compensation (if available and selected).

Any discounts/entitlements may be subject to rounding and may only apply to the extent that any minimum premium is not reached.

Home and Contents Insurance is issued by Allianz Australia Insurance Limited ABN 15 000 122 850 AFSL 234708 (Allianz). Westpac Banking Corporation ABN 33 007 457 141 AFSL 233714 (the Bank) arranges the initial issue of the insurance under a distribution agreement with Allianz, but does not guarantee the insurance. This information does not take into account your personal circumstances. Before making a decision, please consider the relevant Product Disclosure Statement. For more information call 1300 650 255. To see some of the events covered and not covered, please refer to our Key Fact Sheets (KFS).

If you take out Home and Contents with Allianz the Bank will receive a commission of up to 12% of the premium (exclusive of GST).

A target market determination has been made for this product. Please visit www.westpac.com.au/tmd for the target market determination.