HOME SAFETY
Outside the home
Install sensor lights around your home so you will be alerted if someone is outside. Lay gravel around the house so footsteps can be heard. Ensure your property number is clearly visible day and night (so emergency services can find it easily). Trim trees and shrubs to reduce hiding places and make it easy to see the street. Secure your garage and garden shed with locks. Keep wheelie bins in locked rear yard, or chain and lock them away from windows. Lock away loose or heavy items and ladders when not in use. Consider fitting your letterbox with a lock to restrict access to mail. You can also use a private post office box, so that your home address is not listed with services. (Australia Post offers free mailboxes - see Online Safety.) The power board should be housed within a box to restrict tampering with the power supply. The box can be secured with a lock set approved by your electricity provider. Guard against easy access to the rear yard with a fence or locked gate. NSW Federation of Housing Associations Inc and Q Shelter. (2017)
It’s important to make your home very secure, after you have left an abusive relationship.
Here is a list of security checks. Please seek specialist support with this home audit and ask for help with safety upgrade costs. In the home Change the locks (often changing the barrels is a less expensive option). If renting, check the housing support section in this booklet. Install security screen doors and always use a key to lock them. Darkened screening is also effective. Always check who is at the front door before you open it. Install and use a door peephole or video camera. Keep keys out of view, in new storage spots, remove keys from doors and windows. Where there is a security screen door, install perspex around the door handle. Ensure windows are secure, with locks or dowel rods/sticks. If ventilation is required, lock it in a partially open position. Ensure your home has smoke alarms installed and are working. Install a solid door with a lock or security chain to an interior room where you have access to a phone. You can go to this room in an emergency, call the police and wait for them to arrive. Install a security system with alarms, a camera, or movement sensors. S ecure sky lights and manholes.
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