House Talk Winter 2019

SMOKE
ALARMS
SAVE LIVES
In the rare event of a fire, smoke alarms will wake
you up, give you essential early warning and
time to escape, but only if they are fitted and
working correctly.
They give you vital time to ‘get out, stay out and
call 999’ if ever you’re unlucky enough to have a
fire.
It’s crucial that you test them regularly. We advise
once a week
Looking after your smoke alarm
• Once a week - carry out test. Press the button
until the alarm sounds
• Once a year - change the battery (unless it’s a
long life alarm or hard wired alarm) - use family
birthdays, or a special occasion, to remind you
to change it
If you don’t have a hard wired smoke alarm/fire
detector tell your local housing office.
Sealed detector units will have an expiry date on
and will need to be replaced entirely. If you have
trouble fitting or testing your smoke alarm - ask a
friend, family member, neighbour or carer to test it
for you.
Bleeping smoke alarms
If your smoke alarm is making an intermittent
bleeping/chirping noise, please:
• check your smoke alarm is definitely the source
of the sound, and it isn’t coming from another
alarm (smoke/carbon monoxide/gas/burglar
alarm) by process of elimination.
• test the alarm by pressing the ‘test’ button
• change the battery.
If it persists call your local housing office to report
the repair.
Always allow us access to carry out routine gas
and electricity maintenance.
A regular service will ensure your safety is not
compromised.
We’ll be checking your boiler
is running safely
By law all landlords must carry out annual gas safety
checks on the gas appliances in your home using a
registered Gas Safe Engineer to ensure the boiler is
running safely and efficiently.
We need to do this to meet legal requirements, and
also ensure that our gas appliances are safe for you
to use.
We will:
• Check the boiler, and a gas fire if you have one.
• Carry out a visual check on the appliances that
are not owned by us, such as the gas cooker.
• Test the smoke alarm in your home, and if you do
not have one, we can arrange for one to be fitted
for you.
Liberty Gas is our registered Gas Safe Engineer.
Liberty will contact you in advance to tell you that
the gas safety check is due, and offer you
appointment times.
Always allow us to carry out the routine gas safety
checks and maintenance, it’s important. We
appreciate your support in allowing us in to carry
them out. A regular service will ensure safety for you
and your family.
You SMoke?
Safety Tips
Smoking is not only bad for your health, but also
a risk to the safety in your home. If you haven’t
given up yet and have to have a cigarette then
please:
• never leave cigarettes without stubbing them
out, even for just a second
• always run butts under the tap to ensure all
embers are put out
• never put cigarette butts down the bin shoot
• never leave matches or lighters lying around,
especially if you have children around. Place them
somewhere safe out of reach or locked away.
26 house talk