Common Home Safety Hazards

If someone were to ask you what the most dangerous room in your home was, would you know?

It’s not an easy question to answer. Dealing with home hazards is more than just counting the number of risks in your home, but assessing the impact you can have on each one. Risks can be as manageable as checking whether your smoke alarm battery needs replacing. Others aren’t, such as the rate of break-ins in your neighbourhood.

There are practical steps both renters and homeowners can take to help protect their belongings and the people they care about. Learning how to identify common home safety hazards and how to counteract them can go a long way toward keeping your household safer.

In this article, we’ll discuss some common safety hazards and how to keep them in check to improve the safety of your home.

Fire Hazards

Every year, over 17,000 fire incidents are recorded annually in Australia. ^[1] There are a number of common fire hazards in the home, which can include cooking equipment, unattended stovetops, heaters, dryers, electrical wiring and barbecues.

Despite the number of fire hazards in homes, most house fires can be prevented with the right precautions.

Here’s what you can do to minimise fire risks in your home:

• Stay with your food while it’s cooking
• Check for frayed cords on your electrical appliances
• Make sure your stoves and ovens are regularly cleaned to avoid grease fires
• Don’t leave open flames (such as candles) unattended near blinds and curtains
• Don’t leave heaters unattended, especially near furniture, laundry, or clothes
• Don’t smoke inside, especially in bed
• Regularly clean out the lint filter in your dryer
• Don’t leave matches and lighters in reach of children
• Have a fire blanket and fire extinguisher in easy reach near the kitchen area
• Regularly check your fire alarms and make sure they’re working properly

Consider: if there were a fire in your home, would you have the necessary tools to stop it? What’s more, would you be covered for the thousands of dollars needed not just to replace damaged belongings, but to do repairs for your home? Protect yourself by making sure today’s sum insured covers tomorrow’s potential disaster.

Get a Home & Contents Insurance Quote and save 30%^ online on your first year’s premium

Electrical Hazards

Electrical accidents are more common than you might think. Between 2023 and 2024, 378 hospitalisations were recorded due to exposure to an electric current. ^[2]

While it may be tempting to try installing a new power point or replacing a light switch, if you are doing anything in your home that requires interacting with electrical wires, you need to contact a licensed electrician.

Even if you aren’t planning on tampering with the wiring in your home, there are plenty of ways you can accidentally cause an electrical accident. Here are some tips to minimise electrical hazards in your home:

• Don’t use double-adaptors or power boards that aren’t surge-protected
• Follow up with an electrician if a device trips your safety switch
• Don’t overload powerboards with multiple appliances (this is a common cause of electrical house fires)
• Don’t plug in or use electrical appliances near water
• Don’t handle electrical appliances with wet hands
• Make sure safety switches on all indoor and outdoor power circuits are working properly
• Fully unwind extension cords before use to prevent overheating
• Maintain your home circuit breakers to prevent them from failing
• Turn off the main power points at the switchboard when accessing the ceiling or crawl spaces around your home
• Make sure your electrical home appliances are properly maintained so they’re less likely to fail

Water and Escape of Liquid Hazards

Escaping liquid from a burst pipe, a leaky flexi hose, or a broken washing machine can be disastrous to your belongings and the very structure of your home. For example, if liquid were to escape inside your walls or cabinets, you could be looking at some serious repairs.

One of the biggest culprits for these kinds of leaks are flexi-hoses. These are water pipes made of an internal rubber lining surrounded by flexible braids of stainless steel that can create some serious leaks if not inspected regularly. Escape of Liquid hazards are no laughing matter. Claims for these kinds of water damage claims can cost over $30,000.

You can avoid these scenarios by making sure you take the following precautions to prevent water damage in your home:

• Inspect your flexi-hose every 6 months
• Check your manufacture dates on flexi-hoses, water heaters, dishwashers and washing machines
• Clear your gutters to avoid roof and ceiling damage after heavy rain
• Regularly check for leaks and early signs of water damage behind your walls, and call a licensed plumber to solve these issues
• If you are going on holiday, turn your water off at the main valve

Child Safety Hazards

Young children aren’t the best at assessing risks at home. Infants, especially, are at a high risk of injury, being 7.5 times more likely to be hospitalised than adults. ^[3] That’s why it’s important to assess home safety hazards to keep young ones as safe as possible.

Risks for Young Children

There are a number of common home safety hazards that can pose a risk to young children.

These risks can include:

• Poor lighting (which can lead to falls)
• Window blind cords (children are highly susceptible to strangulation on these when not properly secured)
• Access to household chemicals and cleaning products
• Open fences to pools and spas
• Stairs
• Unlocked doors or windows
• Exposed power cords and outlets

Baby Proofing a House

Here’s some ways you can safely babyproof your home:

• Make sure all cots and bed rails meet Australian safety standards (AS2172)
• Add bumper guards to the corners of tables and any other sharp edges
• Latch drawers that have sharp or dangerous objects (kitchen knives, household cleaning products)
• Add lockable safety gates at the base of the stairs and the entryways to the kitchen
• Have outlet covers over all power-point circuits
• Add power point covers

Cover for Your Child’s Belongings

Something else to consider is the possessions of young children. Be it a bedtime teddy or an electronic device, children have a hard time coping when those objects suddenly disappear due to theft or a house fire. Consider covering your child’s belongings under the optional cover of Portable Contents on your Home and Contents Insurance policy so that they can be replaced, repaired or reimbursed for loss or damage caused by an insured event.

Theft and Security Hazards

Some of the most common items stolen in burglaries are personal items such as jewellery, clothing, devices, tools, purses/wallets, bikes and sporting equipment. If your home was broken into while you were on holiday, would your contents insurance cover everything that was taken? Would you be able to replace the bike in your garage or the laptop in the study?

To help protect your most important belongings, ensure your contents sum insured is updated, also known as the cost to rebuild your home and replace your contents. To help you decide what you think your home and belongings are worth, you can use our Home and Contents Replacement Calculator tools to find an estimated amount.

Here are some tips on how you can help protect your home from break-ins:

• Lock doors and windows
• Keep your garage door locked
• Limit access to the second floor
• Add security systems such as sensors, motion detectors, video doorbells and security cameras
• Ask someone to house sit if you go on holiday
• Avoid sharing personal details or travel plans publicly on social media

Dealing with theft isn’t just about kitting out your home with surveillance equipment and electronic locks. It’s also about preparing yourself by getting the appropriate cover for your belongings.

Try to stay up to date with your content cover. Also note that any security upgrades you’ve made to your home may be relevant when declaring your home to an insurer.

Your Home Safety Checklist

You’ve identified the hazards. Now make sure you have the right actionable plan to keep them in check:

Help protect what you’ve secured. Get a Home & Contents Insurance Quote and save 30%^ online on your first year’s premium.

See More Home Hazards Guides