How Safe Is Your New Home?
My old school friend Mike had a lucky escape this week when a falling chimney pot narrowly missed him as he was getting out of his car on his drive at home. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) say that the home is the most common place for accidents to happen, that almost 6,000 people die in home accidents each year and 2.7 million people visit their local A&E seeking help1.
Health and Safety is drummed in to us in the workplace but this can often be left behind in the office and completely forgotten when we get home. We might ask a Gas Safe Registered engineer to come and check our central heating boiler once a year, but this isn’t always a given as I was reminded last week, when a vendor admitted to me that she hasn’t had her boiler checked for over five years! Carbon monoxide from unsafe heating appliances can be a massive risk, especially as we experience the current cold snap and might be tempted to pop on that fire or stove that we haven’t used for a while. But there can be plenty of other risks in the house we also need to be aware of:
A few years ago, I conducted a valuation inspection on a modern three storey house in Peterborough where two large concrete tiles had slipped from the roof and were hanging over the edge of a gutter above a conservatory, which the clients used as a play-room for their children. The clients hadn’t noticed this and I dread to think what might have happened had I not looked up that day.
I’m also reminded of the time that an old housemate (who was also called Michael) fell down the stairs and into the decorative plate glass door. He was so badly cut that when I arrived home to see the blood everywhere I was fearing the worst. Fortunately, he didn't need surgery but he was unable to drive and needed intensive rehab and so missed work for a few weeks.
Sometimes hazards in the house can be obvious…if you look. Sometimes there can be more subtle dangers or sometimes those dangers can be hidden out of sight entirely in the loft or somewhere else. Whether it is dangerous glazing, hanging rooftiles, carbon monoxide, falling chimney pots or something else in the home such as asbestos, missing fire escape windows, exposed electrical wiring or unstable garden walls – all of which I have seen in the last month, surveyors are trained to identify those dangers and will flag them to buyers who commission an RICS Home Survey.
When buyers choose a Home Survey, they often expect that we will identify if there are any structural defects with the property, but Home Surveys are so much more than that and the Health and Safety aspect of what surveyors do must not be underestimated. If you are moving house, please remember that no-one else will conduct a safety check of your potential purchase. Many of the issues that contribute towards accidents in the home can be identified and can be mitigated against.
Please don’t end up being one of RoSPA’s statistics.
© Hill Home Survey, 2024. All rights reserved.
The content within this blog is strictly for information only. It is not intended to be and must not be construed as advice. The information provided was correct at the time of writing. Our thanks to Michael Myler and Michael Daly for kindly allowing us to share their stories. People called something other than Michael are also at risk of accidents.
1https://www.rospa.com/policy/home-safety/uk/scotland/research/statistics
For further information and to discuss the correct survey type for the property you are buying and/or your valuation options, please contact Hill Home Survey on 01733 855232
