The safety of your home should never be a cause for concern. You deserve access to all the amenities and services that best suit you and your lifestyle needs. Committed to providing well-managed properties at all times, safety is at the heart of everything we do and we are proud to have been awarded 5 stars, by the Safety Council, for our efforts in health and safety management. We want to protect all that you love.
We ensure that your home is safe by regularly checking anything that can cause harm in communal areas. In addition, we maintain protective equipment such as emergency lighting, smoke ventilation and fire detection. We also help you understand what you can do to stay safe.
Our employees are highly-trained to know exactly what to be alert to when it comes to keeping you and your property secure. Meanwhile, our contractors fully recognise our commitment to health and safety. They collaborate with us to ensure that any work carried out is done so safely, to protect everyone involved.
If you are the first to identify something wrong with your property, let us know. A failed emergency light, broken fire door, cracked paving slab, faulty lift or combustible material left in corridors can be dangerous. Work with us to protect your community.
1 ‘Self-closing’, fire-rated front doors help to stop the spread of fire and smoke
2 Fully-functioning smoke alarms save lives by acting as an early warning, allowing extra time for escape
3 Know the evacuation plan and ask your property manager what to do in the case of an emergency
4 Items in corridors or staircases block escape and hinder firefighters whilst feeding the fire
5 Most fires in residential blocks start due to unattended ovens and hobs, as well as cigarette smoking
Adequate fire safety in purpose-built flats and tower blocks is central to the protection of residents and their homes. To help you stay abreast of the principles involved, here is a simple guide on both the design and fire risk principles.
Buildings are designed with a high degree of compartmentation between each flat and between the flats and communal areas. Compartmentation restricts smoke and fire to the flat of origin for a specified amount of time.
Statistically, there is a low probability of fire spreading beyond the flat where it broke out.
Very few fires start in communal areas and escape routes
Residents in the flat where the fire broke out should evacuate and call the fire brigade. Meanwhile the building’s occupants are safe to remain in their flats, unless directed to leave.
In most blocks there are no fire alarms in communal areas. In most Retirement living blocks there will be. Communal alarms sound when there is smoke in the communal area and are not usually audible in flats. The purpose is to alert people who are in communal areas to evacuate the block.
There is no requirement for fire extinguishers in communal areas, except for plant and service rooms.
Residents should familiarise themselves with their building’s emergency procedures
Early warning of fires saves lives. Residents should ensure they have working detectors in their flats
Keeping compartmentation intact in flats keeps the risk of smoke and fire spread low. Removing or changing doors and making holes in walls and ceilings in flats can speed up smoke and fire spread
With reports of the bad winter weather coming our way it is essential we stay warm, stay healthy and stay safe. Cold temperatures and icy conditions can be extremely dangerous, planning ahead and taking precautions are vital to staying safe this winter.
Snow, rain, wind and ice are some of the pleasures winter brings. Extreme weather affects your safety, our employees safety and our contractors safety.
We understand some of you might have paths and driveways you need to clear in the event of snow, so please do this with caution and consideration. If your path or driveway is icy, please do not make the issue worse by using hot water to break the ice, this will just create a sheer icy surface instead. If you want to prevent your driveway from freezing over, try gritting the surface with salt. The best time to do this is early morning.
Slips, trips and falls are the most common accident, no matter what the weather conditions are. The number of people being admitted to hospital after falling during wintery weather has been increasing the last few years, but there are some simple tips to follow to make sure you are not one of them:
• Always wear sturdy footwear with good grip, trainers or heels will not be any help to you in blustery weather.
• Allow yourself extra time to get from one place to another and make sure you are looking at where you are walking.
• If you are hard of walking, try avoid going out unless absolutely necessary, ask your friend or relative to pop to the shops for you.
• If you cannot avoid going out, take main routes you know will be cleared, use handrails and walking sticks and wear extra layers to protect your more vulnerable areas.
• If an area is particularly unsafe, report it. You could be helping another.
• When entering a communal space in your development, please make sure you wipe your feet to prevent wet flooring.
With the arctic weather outside we all want are homes to be warm and cosy, often meaning we might light up the fires or the boilers might be working overtime. In this colder season, we need to pay extra attention to the carbon monoxide levels in our homes.
Any fuel-burning appliance can potentially cause a dangerous level of carbon monoxide (CO) to build up, so we suggest you buy yourself a CO alarm, which are sold fairly cheaply at your local hardware store or online. CO poisoning is always a risk, so this will benefit you all year round.
If you want any more advice, please visit The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accident (RoSPA) page on Winter Safety here.
Slips, trips and falls are the most common accident, no matter what the weather conditions are. The number of people being admitted to hospital after falling during wintery weather has been increasing the last few years, but there are some simple tips to follow to make sure you are not one of them:
• If the weather is severe in these winter months, stay at home. The best thing to do when the roads are bad and the weather is rough, is to stay away from driving all together.
• If the weather conditions aren’t so bad to prevent travel, but are bad enough to make parts of your journey hazardous, make sure you plan ahead and give yourself extra time to get to your destination.
• Make sure you take into account the roads you will be driving on. Will they have black ice? Are they rural or likely to be unsalted? One journey may see yourself going through a number of different weather conditions, so make sure you’re prepared, and your car is prepared.
• It is crucial that you plan rest stops along your travels, allowing yourself to freshen up and make sure the weather is reasonable for the foreseeable future.
• If you feel you cannot drive any further, turn back or wait. Nothing and nowhere is more important than your safety.