No matter how old your home is, there is always one area that you need to be concerned about with children’s safety and that is your garage door. Most modern garage doors have safety precautions installed to prevent the door from closing when it senses motion. However, there are still some additional safety measures homeowners can take to prevent serious injuries and accidents. Here are some Advanced Door Garage Safety Tips to use this spring and summer:
- Do not store gas in the garage, or lock it far away. If you have children, you know how busy they can be. Children are naturally curious and its only a matter of time until they get into things they shouldn’t. One major hazard in the garage is gasoline stored in containers. You need to keep gasoline away from an area that children can easily access it to prevent serious injuries and accidents.
- Put away sharp objects. Most homeowners use the garage to store a handful of things from cutting sheers to saws. No matter what you use your garage for, it pays to invest in tool sheds and storage materials to lock away the dangerous items. Avoid having shelving that children can climb and possibly have heavy objects falling on them.
- Never leave things plugged in. As previously stated, children are naturally curious and they will try to figure out why a table saw works the way it does. Never leave dangerous objects like this out, but even more importantly, do not leave them plugged in! Wind up cords and store them correctly so children cannot pull on the cord and have it come tumbling down on them.
- Lock the cars. Kids love to play inside cars. If you keep your car unlocked in the garage, a child could easily get inside and become trapped. There are several concerns when it comes to children and cars. It’s best to keep the cars locked if you want to avoid serious accidents.
- Talk to your kids about garage safety! The best thing parents can do is teach their children about garage safety. The garage door is designed to go back up if you do have a laser motion system installed, but this isn’t the only thing you will need when you are keeping kids safe. Show them how to open the garage door if there is a serious problem, and discuss with them that the garage is not a place for children to play inside. Talk about the tools and things you keep in the garage, and how important it is for them not to play with these tools.
Prevention is critical when it comes to garage door safety and children. If you would like your garage door inspected, give us a call to schedule a consultation. We can do an assessment of the door and help you decide if it is safe, or if it’s time to consider some basic upgrades to help prevent serious injuries and accidents from occurring.