Mobile Home Safety

$ Millions are lost, Thousands die and thousands more are injured from lack of knowledge every year.

Don't think “It can't happen to me.” It is a certain bet not one of them expected it either.

This presentation is for those who may not know of these home dangers offering Safety Tips and where to find low cost or free remedies.

Safety in the home requires diligent attention. More accidents, injury and death occur in the home than on the job. Accidents happen in split seconds. Learn how to eliminate hazards and know what to do before accidents happens.

I'm now retired, but I worked in a career of safety. A close family friend and then my dad each had a slip and fall accident and died within weeks. That was what got me started. Although my career did not involve all safety issues included on this site, I added research to include resources on other issues that relate to mobile home or modular home specific safety topics in this single resource list.

The links on the home page are provided to lead you to resources on each of these topics. I encourage you to take time to study issues of personal concern.

Right click and open links in a new tab so you can easily return to the link page to continue your personal study.

Safety is my concern and I hope to do my part in helping people live in a safer environment. I developed this program for mobile home parks based on these points: 

• According to national statistics, 70% of the residents of mobile home parks are considered low income.  
• A former employer made a statement during a business meeting: “It is a good thing low income people don't know about this. They can die blissfully ignorant. We can't waste our time even educating them since they can't afford the remedy.” 

Of course, no sales meant no commissions. Still, that statement has always bothered me. Now that I'm retired, I hope to share what I learned for free with those who may not be able to afford high price devices. There are many low cost and free options. Your own due diligence is your first defense and is always free. Just learning and doing all you can to eliminate hazards can make your life much safer and won't cost you a fortune.

Home Fire Safety

Home fires are frightening and nearly always come with little warning. On average, one person dies in every 100 “stick built” home fires, but 3 people die out of every 100 fires in mobile homes.

Fires during the daytime cost thousands in property losses every year. Fires at night can be deadly. Most who die in a fire die at night during sleep. On average, more than 2500 people die in a home fire every year.

Most of those who died were not prepared to face the emergency. Don't die blissfully ignorant. Educate yourself with facts and be prepared for your own home fire. According to national statistics, one person out of three will experience at least one major home fire in their lifetime.

Smoke alarms are not all the same. Most currently installed in homes across America are still the older ion type and they often do not work. Their own documentation acknowledges a 35% failure rate and industry testing reveals closer to a 70% failure rate. They go off when you push the test button, but they generally fail in a real fire situation. People who rely on them die by the hundreds every year.

Ion alarms use a radioactive element to detect smoke. They react quickly to the fine particle smoke from cooking, steam from showers and roaring fires. To make it worse, people often remove the batteries due to false alarms and end up not protected at all.

Problem is, despite false alarms from cooking and steam, or sounding the alarm when you press the test button, they generally do not react to a slow smoldering smoke of housing and furniture material, particularly the plastic and man made materials in use today. Since they react best to a roaring fire, you would be almost equally protected by hanging a Jiffy Pop tin by your smoke detector. It may very well start popping before an ion smoke detector sounds off. (Dumb idea, yes, but included to make a point.)

Non organic material smoke particles are very different and the ion detector element does not easily detect those particles. If ion detectors go off at all, it is usually after smoldering fabrics and materials have developed into roaring fires; often not until the fire department has already arrived when they hear them go off while they fight the fire. By then, it is too late for you to escape. Most who die in a fire die from smoke inhalation long before they burn in the fire because the alarm did not go off in time.

Photoelectric smoke detectors work with a beam of light. When smoke of any kind interrupts that beam, they sound off. Photoelectric alarms can give you plenty of advance warning, often early enough for you to extinguish a small smoldering fire long before any significant damage and long enough to get out safely. Go to Home Depot or Lowe's or other similar sources and look for a photoelectric alarm. You should have one in every bedroom and at least one in the living area, but at least one in the living area could be enough to save your family.

Carbon Monoxide Detectors are for something completely different, but can make the difference in surviving a fire as well as a leak from chimneys, flues or other discharge paths from any source of open fire, particularly heating and cooking equipment.

Carbon Monoxide is an odorless and colorless gas that can kill you. Your entire family may feel drowsy, or have headaches for hours or even days just from breathing this gas in low doses.

If a carbon monoxide detector sounds off, you may not have a fire, but you may have a leak that needs to be checked. Open all windows and doors to air out the house and go outside for fresh air.

Many states have laws that require homes that use oil, gas, propane, wood or other heat sources that burn to have at least one working carbon monoxide detector on each floor.

Thing is, anything that burns gives off carbon monoxide gas. There have been incidents where the carbon monoxide detector has activated long before a smoke detector, which can give you a much earlier warning of a hazard. The added protection for your family is worth the investment to buy and install a carbon monoxide detector on each floor, even if you do not use any kind of fuel for heating or cooking.

Nearly half of all home fires are from cooking. The fastest and safest way to put out a fire on the stove is to cover the fire with a fire blanket. Check the video link to learn more. You can buy fire blankets at Home Depot, Lowe's, Target, Walmart and other department stores. Most other small fires can be quickly distinguished if you have a fire extinguisher readily available. You can also buy fire extinguishers at the same stops.

You could earn a small discount on your home or renter's insurance if you keep these safety devices in your home. Speaking of Insurance, compare the cost of a policy that can replace everything you lose to what many spend on lottery tickets every month. With the lottery, you have one chance in millions to win a large payout. With that same investment, insurance can replace what you lose in a fire, and your chance of a fire is much greater. You are much more likely to get a big payout from insurance than the lottery. Don't go without the protection of a low cost home owner's or renter's insurance policy.

If you learn anything from all of this, please have it be the importance of home fire drills.

Remember those fire drills in school? That was so you would know what do to if there was a real fire. When you went to school, that was to learn things you can use in life. When you start a new job, you have to take some time to learn what to do. You may even be required to get a college degree to know your future career.

If you have a home fire, particularly at night, you have to already know what to do if you are going to survive. That means every person in the home has to know how to get out safely on their own, including the kids. You have to know in advance how you are going to get any babies, or disabled or elderly residents out safely within seconds. All that requires learning through practice.

Once outside, everyone has to know where to meet so you can know all are out safely. People die running back into a burning house to save someone standing safely on the other side of the house. Find a planned meeting place outside that is at a safe distance where everyone is to go.

All that requires a few practice sessions. You need to find obstacles when you can safely get them out of the way during practice. It is nearly impossible to figure it out when you are suddenly awakened during an actual fire. Children may not be able to move a dresser out of the way or even open a window. You need to find that out during fire drills to know what needs to be corrected before you have a fire.

PLEASE – Have a home fire drill today. You could have a fire tonight. Tomorrow could be too late.

Look through the Home Fire Safety links to learn more.

Slip and Fall Prevention

Slip or trip and fall accidents happen all the time. Fortunately, most of the time it can be hilarious to watch someone flail as they stumble and go down. They tumble, everyone has a laugh and they get back up, maybe embarrassed, and go on their way. It is such a common occurrence that many never even consider a fall as anything but a time to laugh. 

In reality, slips, trips and falls result in thousands of injuries every year. Falls are second only to car accidents as a reason to visit the emergency room. An average of 800 people die just in North Carolina every year due to a slip, or trip and fall accident.

A fall can be very deadly. As people age, keeping upright becomes a challenge. One out of three people over the age of 60 falls at least once a year. By the time we reach age 80, it is one out of every two. Falls for older people can cause broken bones and death. A close family friend and then my own dad each died within weeks as a result of injuries from a simple fall to the ground they were standing on. That was the reason I got involved in safety issues in the first place.

There is a lot you can do to reduce the chances of a fall; for yourself, and for any visitors who come to your property. Most remedies only costs your time.

Tai Chi is a very low impact exercise program that really helps seniors regain their balance to avoid falls. It is so low impact even the weakest can perform them and improve their balance. There are many places that offer free tai chi classes. Particularly if you are over age 60, it is worth your time and effort to take these classes for your own safety.

Most slips and trips are due to some surprise condition that is most often not visible, yet many of those conditions can easily be eliminated before any accident even happens by taking care of your surroundings.

Most home care involves just your time rather than any substantial expense. You can make your home much safer by just making needed changes and cleaning up.

Look through your home and yard. Make sure any walkways are wide enough to make an easy passage. Look for any obstructions below knee level and get those hazards away from your walkways. These are potential trip hazards, particularly for seniors with bifocals who might not be able to see them at that height.

If you have any throw rugs, make sure they do not slide when you walk across them. Either remove them or use two sided tape to keep them in place. Old rugs that have curled edges can be a hazard even if they don't move. Any change in your flooring level, even just a quarter inch can cause a trip and fall.

Some people think they can make floors really clean by using products that contain bleach or ammonia. Problem is, these two specific chemicals leave floors extremely slippery if they get wet. You can get a clean floor that is generally non slip by using a non slip floor degreaser type product. Don't make your floors more dangerous by using the wrong cleaning products.

Mark any step up or down with a significant color change to make it clearly visible. Mark any sloping floor with enough lighting and color changes to make sure anyone passing can see it well in advance.

Steps and stairs can be dangerous if not kept in good condition. Measure the rise from step to step. If they are not equal, they can cause a fall. Even a difference as little as one quarter inch can alter the gait enough to make someone lose their balance.

Install a solid handrail about 35 inches above the toe of each step in a set of stairs. It should be in the right side as you go down the stairs and should be strong enough that you can drop a 300 pound weight on it from a foot above it. If it will not withstand that weight drop, it is not likely to be strong enough to support someone during a fall.

Statistically, falls on stairs are at the top or bottom more often than the rest of the run. Hand rails should extend a foot beyond the top and bottom of the stairs because that is where they are needed most often.

Check your yard for any roots above ground or holes big enough to step or trip in. Eliminate these hazards as you remove anything that blocks clear passages on your walkways. Be sure to remove all ice and snow from walkways as it happens. Use salt to melt ice as needed.

Property owners and particularly business owners and managers are legally obligated to keep the premises safe for visitors and customers. You need to be vigilant to keep an eye out for any unsafe conditions. If someone has a fall, they generally have to prove that there was a hazard that caused it, and that it was there long enough that the property owner or manager should have known about it and was negligent in ignoring it or not repairing it.

Slip and fall accidents are very difficult to prove and require the services of a personal injury lawyer who specializes in such claims. Most will work on contingency fees from your award rather than cash payments out of pocket. 

Don't be on the wrong side of a lawsuit because you ignored some unsafe condition on your property. Removing hazards uses your time and maybe some small repair costs. A lawsuit could cost thousands.

Look through the Slip and Fall Prevention links to learn more.

Handicap Issues

I became involved in handicap issues when I worked in slip and fall prevention issues. Many more people are disabled in some way than most of us can imagine. The universal image of a wheelchair to mark disabled parking is very misleading. There are more people who do not use a wheelchair at all than those who do who are disabled in some way.

Many disabilities are not visible to the casual observer. Some with physical impairments are able to walk short distances but walking more than 100 feet at a time can leave them out of breath. Some can't see or hear hazards on their walkways. There are many other ways some people just can't do everything they want because of some disability. Many could be customers if markets and businesses make sure they accommodate their needs. The ADA requires compliance.

The Americans With Disability Act was established in the 1990s to accommodate the needs of those who have mental and physical limitations and allow all to participate in every place and every opportunity that is open to the public. A lot of people have heard of the ADA, but most are not aware of all that is included.

Any place that is open to the public is required to comply with ADA mandates. Buildings and grounds that existed before the law was created are generally exempted UNTIL they make any modifications or add new construction. Everything new MUST COMPLY with ADA Mandates.

Small businesses can apply to the ADA for generous Tax Credits to help fund repairs made specifically to accommodate the handicapped. On the other hand, they may face huge penalties and fines for failure to comply.

The important point is that handicapped people encounter all kinds of conditions that block their participation in public places. Handicapped people need to understand that their very handicap gives them special powers to make things right. Don't just grumble and complain to family and friends.

If you encounter some condition that keeps you from enjoying full use of any place public, use the special complaint form provided by the ADA. The form requires that you describe how the condition affects you due to your disability. That means those who do not have your disability cannot even complete the form. You have the power to make it right. You may also be personally compensated if your rights have been violated.

Look through the Handicap Issues links to learn more.

Child Safety * Senior Safety *General Mobile Home Safety and Repairs * Weather Disasters and Mobile Home Safety

Although my work experience did not specifically involve these safety issues, they are all safety related, which is why I added research to include links to sites to provide education on each topic. More information is being added as I continue research on mobile home safety issues.

Take time to browse the links in each section to educate yourself on each topic.

Being prepared with knowledge is the first step in keeping you and your family safe at home. In most cases your only cost is your time to learn and do your work.

Hey, the biggest reason I took the time to assemble this information in a single resource was that statement from a former employer: “It is a good thing low income people don't know about this. They can die blissfully ignorant. We can't waste our time even educating them since they can't afford the remedy.”

That statement bugged me enough to take several months to put this together for you. I'm retired, not some corporate sales agent. I have nothing to sell. I don't work for any government agency and have no authority to order you to do a dang thing. I'm just doing what I can to help reduce needless injury and death before your time is up.

Don't die blissfully ignorant.

It is now up to you to do for yourself for your own safety.

If want help with any of these issues, feel free to get in touch and I'll do what I am able to help you stay safe at home. Daveconlin @ ymail.com