Home Safety Audit
Review alarm coverage, escape routes, electrical hazards, furniture anchors, and dryer exhaust with a clear follow-up record.
By Dan Gold · Sources reviewed
Walk through the home with a household member, an alarm manual, and a repair log. This checklist helps find issues; a completion score does not certify a home as safe. Start with the safety assessment tool if you want to organize the review.
Work through the checklist
- Smoke alarms: Check inside bedrooms, outside sleeping areas and on each level. Perform the manufacturer’s button test and record manufacture/replacement dates.
- Extinguishers: Inspect accessibility, label, pin/seal, body and the specified readiness indicator. Follow the model’s service or replacement schedule.
- CO alarms: Test as the manual directs and check its end-of-life date. Do not assume every CO alarm has a seven-year life.
- Escape plan: Identify two ways out where possible, keep routes clear, choose an outdoor meeting point and practice with everyone’s mobility needs in mind.
- Electrical cords: Stop using damaged leads; remove cords under rugs and avoid overloaded or chained strips.
- GFCI protection: Verify the required wet-area protection and button-test it with a lamp. Ask an electrician about failures or uncertain coverage.
- Tip-over protection: Anchor dressers, shelving and TVs using suitable kits and the correct wall fasteners. Do not limit anchoring to tall narrow furniture.
- Locks and exits: Check latches while ensuring occupants can escape without being trapped by added security bars or locks.
- Emergency access: View the house number from the street in daylight and darkness; keep it legible and access clear.
- Dryer exhaust: Inspect the accessible transition duct and outdoor hood. Arrange full-route cleaning if blocked or inaccessible.
- Trips and falls: Check rug edges, handrails, lighting and clear paths, especially between bedrooms and bathrooms.
Progress is saved in this browser. Revised tasks start a new checklist.
Check the result and follow up
Record pass, repair needed, or not applicable for each location in a separate note. Fix or arrange service for urgent hazards before treating the audit as complete. Explain the escape plan and shut-off locations to the household, and set reminders for alarm and protection-device tests.
Sources and scope
- USFA: smoke alarm placement, testing and replacement
- Kidde: extinguisher inspections and service
- ESFI: GFCI testing
- CPSC: furniture and TV anchoring
- USFA: dryer exhaust safety
These references support the guidance above. Source review is not a hands-on test of your home or a certification of a product. Follow the instructions for your exact model and local requirements.
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