Smoke alarms save lives by giving you and your family an early warning if a fire starts in your home. In fact, in the event of a house fire you’re four times more likely to die if your home doesn’t have a working smoke alarm. That’s why it’s essential that you not only have smoke alarms installed in your home, but that you also keep them in good working order. By performing some simple checks and keeping up regular maintenance, you’ll make sure they’re working effectively and are ready to spring into action if they’re ever needed,

2017 Daylight Saving

DST Start (Clock Forward) Sunday, October 1, 2:00am (First Sunday of the month)
Daylight saving is not observed in Queensland, the Northern Territory or Western  Australia           

House fires in Australia are all too common – on average there are 3000 house fires every year in Victoria alone. If you have children, you must educate them on the risk of house fires, and practise your escape plan so they’ll know what to do if they are ever caught in a fire. Here’s some tips to help you get your family fire ready.

Every home should have a written fire escape plan, and you should share and practise it with your kids. As a minimum, your escape plan should include at least two exit points from every room and a safe meeting place outside. It should also include measures for anyone with mobility limitations like babies, the elderly and those with a disability. Get your kids involved in making your plan, as this will help them remember what to do.

If you’re like most people, you probably haven’t thought too much about carbon monoxide. But carbon monoxide is a common cause of fatal poisoning in homes around the world – and the number of cases of poisoning is on the rise in Australia too.

In 2010, Chase and Tyler Robinson died from carbon monoxide poisoning from an unserviced gas heater in their rental property. They were only eight and six years old.

The Chase & Tyler Foundation is a national, not-for-profit organisation which was established to reduce the number of deaths and injuries throughout Australia caused by carbon monoxide. Through the efforts of the foundation to educate communities about this health hazard, Chase and Tyler’s legacy of saving Australian lives will live on.

It’s a colourless, odourless and non-irritant gas, which means you can’t tell when it’s present in the air – so you may not realise the danger until it’s too late.