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How safe is your home?

A short animation from the Emergency Planning College to help you consider how safe your home is and how prepared you are for an emergency.
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There’s never a good time to have to deal with emergencies. But by preparing an emergency plan, you can make sure you’re not left stranded if and when disaster hits. [THUNDER] Why not take a walk around your own home and see how safe it is? Start by thinking about any emergencies you might be likely to face based on your own circumstances. What needs changing in your home to prevent an emergency? What other emergencies do you think you need to prepare for? Have you prepared for every possible emergency? Or just some?
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Are all your warning systems working and regularly tested? [FIRE CRACKLING]
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Who else might your emergency affect? Is your family aware of your emergency plan? Now that you’ve checked the safety of your own home, how prepared are you in the event that you’d need to be evacuated? Have you thought about alternative accommodation? Who else do you need to think about in this scenario? What do you need to take with you? Would you know how to communicate with your loved ones if it’s not possible to use your usual means? When you’ve successfully considered how to prepare before an emergency hits, why not review the government guidance on preparing for emergencies and then list the actions in your emergency plan.
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When you’ve compiled your own emergency plan, it’s a good idea to share what you’ve learned with your friends, family, and community.

How safe is your home; what would happen if you had an emergency? As you watch this short animation we would like you to think about how safe your home is.

Your task:

Part 1: Walk through your home and consider it as if you were a safety expert.

  • What needs changing?
  • What needs to be in place to prevent emergencies? (e.g. fire alarms/security)
  • What needs to be done to ensure your home can survive/adapt? (e.g. lift power sockets higher, add flood defence doors, drainage, water course/ditch management)

Let’s look at how you can prepare yourself, your family and your community for response and recovery.

The initial response will be chaotic whether you’re together or separated.

Part 2: Think about how you would meet and where you would meet up.

  • How would you communicate if there is no communication – could you leave a message with someone?
  • How would the children cope, how could you support them?
  • How would elderly or vulnerable adults cope? What would be their needs and how could you support them?

Part 3:

Having considered parts 1 and 2 and watched the animation, review this Government guidance on Preparing for emergencies and then list the actions in your Emergency Plan in the Home Escape Plan section.

Document with information symbol - denotes a task to complete in your Emergency Plan

Then consider how you will share this with others. Will you give some a copy and would you do a walk through with others? If you have children you might like to look at these resources for children.

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Staying Safe: How to be Prepared in the Modern World

Created by
FutureLearn - Learning For Life

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