living-safety

Safety & security in a condo
“American stuntmen are smart—they think about safety. When they do a jump in a car, they calculate everything: the speed, the distance... But in Hong Kong, we don't know how to count. Everything we do is a guess. If you've got the guts, you do it. All of my stuntmen have gotten hurt.”
—Jackie Chan

Here's a few safety tips that you should think about.

Lock your door
A large number of condo apartment residents fail to keep their unit doors locked. In some condo buildings, unlocked doors can be as high as a 25-30% of all the units. (I hear this from condo contractors and security guards.)

They may keep their doors unlocked because they have a false sense of security or the unit has more residents than they have keys and fobs.

Leaving the door unlocked can cause people to enter your unit by error—if they got off on the wrong floor—or they could be thieves.

In 2016, thieves in West Seattle were stealing Realtor lock boxes outside a condo complex. Once crooks got the key they had access to nearly all the common elements.

People living at the Alki Bonair condo said the thieves hit at least three times since the beginning of October. Once inside the crooks had full access to the garage and rifled through several storage units.

A city police chief in Malaysia reports that thieves rent short-term condo units, or rent a room in a condo, and then rob units when the owners are out.

Then there is a chance that a roomer or a short-term renter made a copy of the unit keys and fob and may come back later.

In October 2016, a Chicago condo association in the Gold Coast neighborhood caught a woman suspected of entering “several” unlocked units and stealing personal items. She was nabbed by a doorman after another resident alerted him that the woman was the thief. The doorman kept the woman from leaving until police arrived

Slips and falls
In the winter, watch out for black ice on the sidewalks and driveways. If you use the staircases, don't rush and hang on to the hand railings.

Floor tiles can be very slippery when wet so be careful when the cleaners are mopping the lobby and when people have brought snow and slush in on their shoes.

Slips and falls is a very common way people get injured and lawsuits are can be a result of a serious injury. He is one tip from a lawyer:

Fire & Co detectors
Make sure your fire alarm and Carbon Monoxide (Co) detectors are properly wired or have working batteries and are less than ten years old.

If you live in a condo or apartment building with a service room, Co alarms must be installed in the service room and adjacent to each sleeping area of all homes above, below and beside the service room. You will need one is you have a gas stove or a fireplace.

In condo or apartment buildings that have a garage, Co alarms must be installed adjacent to each sleeping area of all homes above, below and beside the garage.

Children
Children get hurt most often around the home. That is natural as that is where they spend most of their time and our homes are full of minor hazards.

First of all, there are few amenities in condos for children. There is nowhere, outside their small apartments, where they can play and it is not safe for them to play in the hallways.

Windows in high-rise units need lock that prevent the windows from opening too wide so children cannot fall out. This is a rare occurrence but it does happen and children die. Never leave small children alone on a balcony.

Make sure that the maintenance and machinery rooms are always secure. Children can get killed if they get in those rooms.

Outside, the property consists of parking lots and driveways. There are few safe places for children to play.

If there are no traffic calming devices in the driveway and some drivers go far too quickly. Kids can suddenly dart out from behind the building columns or from behind a parked car.

Pets
Keeping your dog on a leach whenever you leave your unit is a smart habit and it is a requirement in most condos. Equally important is not letting your cat go out on the balcony. A surprising number of cats die when they accidentally fall off of apartment balconies.

Personal safety

1.	Know who your neighbours are.
2.	Do not rely entirely on the video cameras for protection. Much of the time no one is watching them and seeing what happened after the event is too late to prevent the incident from happening.
3.	Do not opened the lobby door for people you do not know. If the resident they are ringing does not answer, tell them to contact security or the superintendent.
4.	Talk regularly to the security guards and the superintendent. They will tell you if there have been any security incidents in the garage or on the property. The manager and the board may not want the residents to know about security problems.
5.	Give management a key to your apartment. If there is a water leak or a fire, they need to get in quickly. It is rare for management to abuse their responsibilities and enter private units without just case.
6.	Have a flashlight with spare batteries, a pet carrier (or leash), and a small First Aid kit in your unit.
7.	Know the condo's safety procedures, if they have any, and where the emergency exits are.
8.	Inform the manager if anyone in your unit will need assistance if, during an emergency, there is ever a need to evacuate your unit.

9.	Don't use force to open or hold the elevator doors open. That can cause the sensors to put the elevator out of service.

Safety in the garage

1.	Always lock your car.
2.	Do not leave any parcels, loose change, GPS units, computers, CDs or anything of value in view of anyone who could look inside the car.
3.	If you start walking in the garage and you start to worry about your safety, for any reason, immediately walk out of there and get someone to escort you to your car.
4.	When walking into the garage, if there are burnt out lights making it too dark to see properly, immediately walk out and have it investigated. A criminal or criminals may have broke the lights so he or they could hide in the dark.
5.	As you approach your car give it a look over to ensure that it has not been broken into.
6.	You may want to carry a cell phone equipped with a speed dial for 911.
7.	Before you get into your car, look inside, especially at the floor by the back seat, to ensure no one is hiding in there.