Are your tenants safe at home?
As millions of people work and school their kids from home, we’re hearing that home is the safest place to be but the fire risk may be higher than usual, especially leading into winter. The most important thing you can do as a property manager is ensure every home on your roll is properly protected with compliant, working smoke alarms.
Winter is coming!
Troy Thompson, Managing Director at Smoke Alarms Australia, the industry leader in smoke alarm services says during winter the risks for house fires is greater with more people using heaters and appliances, cooking and possibly overloading power boards. It’s vital that people are vigilant in having smoke alarms installed and, that they are operational.
Property managers and landlords of course want to ensure that tenants are safe, and they are meeting their duty of care. Being sure that homes have adequate, functioning smoke alarms is the single most important thing agents can do to impact fire safety.
The critical role of smoke alarms
Research shows that an absence of working smoke alarms increases the risk of dying in a housefire by an incredible 80 per cent. It’s a terrifying statistic.
It’s not enough to have alarms installed. They must work! Data for properties serviced by Smoke Alarms Australia show that more than 50% of homes are not compliant on first service. Close to half of all home fires attended by fire services are at properties where the smoke alarm does not work.
Meeting your obligations
There are strict rules outlining the responsibilities of landlords and agents. The simplest way to protect yourself, your landlords and of course your tenants is to engage a smoke alarm service provider who will manage the maintenance of alarms at all your properties.
If your agency already has a relationship with Smoke Alarms Australia, log into the portal for latest updates on how we are progressing with your properties, or our website for important notifications on how we’ve adapted our procedures to meet smoke alarm requirements while maintaining social distancing.
If you are not currently working with us, our website has a lot of useful information and tools including our risk calculator which will help you evaluate the risk in your portfolio for your uncovered properties.
REINSW thanks Smoke Alarms Australia for this article.
If you would like to read more information about your obligations when it comes to smoke alarms read our recent article RTA in Focus: Smoke Alarms.