As our loved ones age, ensuring their safety at home becomes increasingly important.
Whether independently residing or as part of a senior retirement community, everyone deserves a home they can move freely in and feel confident.
In this guide, we will explore practical and easy-to-follow home safety tips to keep seniors safe from accidents and ensure the peace of the family members and caregivers.
Top Home Safety Tips for Seniors
1. Remove Tripping Hazards
Did you know that one in four adults aged 65 and older experience a fall every year?
For older adults, an innocent fall can have serious consequences that may include fractures, head trauma, and long-term disability. It is crucial to focus on safety in the home and apply effective home safety tips.
For most senior retirement communities, minimising the risk of falls is a top priority when considering safety. You can implement similar strategies within the home in a safe way:
- Remove loose rugs, or properly secure them with non-slip pads.
- Free walkways of clutter and keep cords or loose wires off the floor that may create a slipping hazard.
- Position furniture so there are wide furniture-free pathways to support easy navigation.
- Constantly repair uneven flooring, torn carpets, and damaged/loose tiles to avoid tripping hazards.
Following these home safety tips will greatly reduce the risk of injury and improve overall safety within the home to assist seniors in feeling confident to continue living independently.
2. Provide Adequate Lighting for Safety at Home
Inadequate lighting greatly increases the risk of accidents. Good visibility plays an important part in having a safe home for seniors.
- Make sure there is bright, glare-free lighting in all hallways, staircases and entryways. Night lights with motion sensors are extremely useful in bedrooms and bathrooms to avoid treacherous stumbles in the dark.
Most senior retirement communities have lighting standards to provide a sense of safety and security to their residents at all times of the day or night. This would be one of the best home safety tips you can provide and put into practice.
3. Safe Bathroom Modifications for Maximum Safety at Home
Bathroom falls are, unfortunately, the most common accidents found in any home, particularly among older adults.
Here are some tried-and-true home safety tips that can be utilised towards creating a better and safer bathing environment:
- Install non-slip mats both inside and outside the bathtub to improve safety at home.
- Utilise shower chairs or benches to promote increased stability during bath time; a feature commonly observed in best senior retirement communities.
4. Fire Safety Precautions
Fire hazards are a major worry when considering senior safety tips at home, and if you are looking to maximise total safety at home, it is crucial to put fire safety first. The following relevant home safety tips for seniors will help to practically reduce the chance of accidents:
- Install smoke detectors in each room and ensure you check and test them monthly. This is highly recommended and part of all home safety tips for seniors.
- Station fire extinguishers in easily accessible locations as suggested as common practice in home safety tips.
- Do not use space heaters with extension cords. This is frequently the cause of residential fires at home and is a blatant disregard for safe practices.
In some reputable senior retirement communities, the actions of routine fire drills, systems testing, and safety inspections are often performed, to ensure the best home safety for seniors.
5. Emergency Preparedness Plan
An often-overlooked aspect related to home safety tips is an emergency plan:
- Keep emergency numbers readily accessible.
- Keep a list of health conditions and medications for emergency services responders.
- Have resources such as phones or emergency call systems handy.
Many senior retirement communities have 24/7 emergency response systems setting a great example for individual homes.
6. Update Technology for Home Safety
Technology can improve safety at home. The following are some home safety tips that can be performed:
- Install smart home systems that have voice assistance.
- Use a medical alert system that is able to summon emergency assistance if a fall or other emergency occurs.
- Use automatic lighting and appliance controls.
Modern senior retirement communities are using these technologies to make a safer living experience.
7. Cognitive Safety Design for Ageing Minds
Most home safety tips for older adults revolve around physical hazards, but cognitive safety is just as important but is often ignored. While some seniors may be experiencing mild cognitive decline, we can establish an environment that is conducive to memory and orientation, thereby increasing safety at home:
- Use large and clear labels in drawers, cabinets and appliances, thus limiting confusion.
- Colour code the rooms or pathways to facilitate easy navigation.
- Use simple, voice-activated assistants for reminders about daily routines, medications, or appointments.
- Place emergency contact information in several visible spots.
Adding cognition-friendly features for seniors can improve their overall home safety, providing them with not just a physical source of protection, but a mental support strategy, a truly holistic approach to ensure safety at home.
8. Companion Pet Safety Integration
Although pet therapy is actively promoted in all senior retirement communities, the associated safety risks of pets are often overlooked by most home safety tips for seniors.
- Secure pet feeding stations at accessible heights to prevent unnecessary bending.
- Make sure to keep the toys, leashes and water bowls organised and not scattered around to eliminate the risk of tripping.
- If caregivers and seniors monitor their pets, they should be using pet monitoring devices that help caregivers be alerted when their safety at home is disrupted.
By using these simple and effective measures, seniors can maintain their pet therapy once they follow the necessary considerations for home safety tips at senior retirement communities.
Your Trusted Senior Retirement Community with Complete Home Safety
At Golden Planet, one of the most trusted senior retirement communities, we understand that safety at home is a top priority for seniors.
Our living spaces are designed to create a safe and serene environment while taking into account the risks that many seniors may have.
Slip-free flooring, emergency call systems, and good lighting are a few of the many different safety features we incorporate for seniors so every resident feels safe and secure.
Families who are distant from the residents can have peace of mind by having access to live footage of their loved ones whenever necessary. With our secure online platform family members can remotely monitor CCTV feeds and stay connected anytime.
Therefore, at Golden Planet we carry a way of life involving comfort, community, and safety with peace of mind.
