3042 River Road, P.O. Box 367, Chemainus, BC, V0R 1K0 250.324-2424

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Safety First! around your Park Model

Safety is a Team Effort

Your new home was designed and built with your family's safety in mind. CSA, your manufacturer and VI Modular work together to give you a safer home. However, if you believe that a dangerous condition may exist in your home, first immediately get everyone out and a safe distance away to reduce the risk of serious injury or death.

Your home contains a number of safety features not always found in on-site-built housing. For example:

Smoke Alarms

Smoke alarms are devices that sense smoke in the early stages of a fire and sound an alarm to warn the occupants. Smoke alarms are located according to the CSA requirements each smoke alarm is battery-powered to provide protection should a power failure occur. These batteries should be replaced on a yearly basis or sooner if an alarm indicates a low battery condition. Read the instructions that come with the smoke alarm and instruct your family of an escape plan should a fire occur.

1.    Some ideas for devising a home evacuation plan for your family are:

  1. Draw a floor plan of our home clearly showing all the exits.
  2. Show alternate routes to be taken if a fire starts in a particular section of the home.
  3. Don't wait until there is a fire to test your evacuation plan — have fire drills regularly.
  4. If you have babies or very small children in your family, assign someone to take care of them in case of fire or any other emergency. This would also apply to any elderly or disabled members of your family who would need help in evacuating your home.

6.    A meeting place outside your home should be specified where your family could gather after evacuation so that everyone can quickly and easily be accounted for.

Periodically test the smoke alarms in your home as recommended in the manufacturer's operating instructions furnished with your home.

Exit Doors and Bedroom Egress Windows

Every home is designed to two exit doors which are remote from one another. Be sure that these doors are able to open and left free for exit. Every bedroom, unless it has an exit door leading directly to the outside, has one window designated and specially marked as an "egress" window. "Egress" windows are specially designed to make escape faster and easier in an emergency. Be sure that you and your-family know the location of the "egress" window and understand the operation as described on the window label. Do not place furniture in front of the "egress" window so that it might become blocked.

Ground Fault Interrupter (GFI)

The ground fault interrupter (GFI) receptacles, which are installed on the exterior receptacles, bathroom receptacles and kitchen receptacles, afford shock protection. This device is designed to break the circuit when it detects an imbalance in the current flow. The imbalance may be due to an appliance failure which could result in serious injury or death.

The test instructions and recording chart which you should use each month to test and document testing of the GFI are supplied with your home. Familiarize yourself with the operation and testing of the GFI; it is an important device that could save your life. If the GFI breaks the circuit, be sure to have any appliance you were using serviced before using it again. If no appliance is involved, the circuit should be check by a qualified person before using it again. To restore power at the GFI protected outlets, firmly push the GFI reset button and reset any tripped circuit breakers in the electrical distribution panel board. If the power cannot be restored, or if the GFI or circuit breaker should repeatedly trip, get qualified help immediately.

CAUTION

The GFI does not protect a person who simultaneously contacts both the "hot" wire and the neutral wire. Also, electrical shock can be felt even with the GFI but will usually be of less-then­normally dangerous duration except for persons with heart problems and other conditions that may make them particularly susceptible to injury or death from electric shock. While the GFI circuit breaker does afford a degree of protection, there is no substitute for the knowledge that electricity can be dangerous when carelessly handled or used without reasonable care and can result in serious injury or death.

Fire Precautions

All of the safety features which are built into your new home will be of little value if a fire should start and you and your family are not prepared. Every member of your family should know how to prevent fires and how to escape in case a fire should occur.

Before a Fire Starts

  1. Remove trash and stored items of outlived usefulness — particularly from the vicinity of furnaces and heaters and from hallways and exit areas.
  2. Exercise care in the use of electricity. Do not overload outlets with many appliances, and do not hang electrical cords over nails or under carpets. Have cords replaced when they begin to fray or crack, and have electrical work done by competent electricians.
  3. Do not store gasoline or flammable cleansers in glass containers, which can break, and avoid storing them inside the home. Do not keep more flammable liquids on hand than you really need.
  4. To avoid the danger of spontaneous ignition, dispose of rags wet with oil, polishes or other flammable liquids in outdoor garbage cans.
  5. Inspect your home and workplace often for these and other hazards.
  6. Plan for escape from every area of the home, discuss escape routes with your family and actually rehearse escape. You might have to find your way out in thick smoke or darkness.
  7. Sleep with bedroom doors closed. In the event of a fire, you will gain precious minutes to escape.
  8. Learn the best way to extinguish common fires in early stages. Roll a person whose clothing is on fire; use a proper portable extinguisher or even a handful of baking soda to extinguish fire on your stove.
  9. Clothing a fire is prelude to tragedy. Do not wear (or permit children to wear) loose, frilly garments if there is any chance at all of accidental contact with a stove burner or other source of fire.
  10. Exercise extreme care with smoking materials and matches, which are frequent causes of destructive fire. Do not leave these where children can reach them.

11. Invest in fire extinguishers.

12.                If a fire starts and you have any doubt about whether you can extinguish it, immediately get everyone out of the home and a safe distance away to reduce the risk of serious injury or death. Never reenter a burning home.

  1. If you see, smell or hear any hint of fire, evacuate the family immediately. Don't compound tragedy by attempting a rescue through a gauntlet of flames or thick smoke. Call the fire department as soon as possible. Don't attempt to extinguish a fire unless it is confined to a small area and your extinguishing equipment is equal to the task.
  2. If your clothing ignites, roll over on the ground or the floor. Running will just fan the flames. Teach the proper procedures to your children.
  3. Before opening your door when you suspect fire in another part of the home, feel the inside of the door with the palm of your hand. If it's hot, don't open it. If smoke is pouring into the room under the door, stuff bedding or clothing into the crack and get out of the home quickly. Identify bedroom egress windows and familiarize yourself with how to open all windows in your home. You may need to exit from a window if a fire or other emergency occurs.
  4. In a smoke-filled room, keep low. Gases, smoke and air heated by fire rise, and the safest area is at the floor. Cover mouth and nose with a damp cloth, if possible. Don't assume that clear air in a fire situation is safe. It could contain carbon monoxide, a clear, odorless and very lethal gas that in its early stages of exposure affect judgment, hampering an escape.

Fire Safety Reminders

Fire is an unexpected event even with the best of housekeeping, safety features and fire prevention procedures. The smoke detector(s) should ensure time to leave the home safely. In addition, remember these helpful hints when faced with a fire:

1.            When reporting a fire, speak calmly, don't panic and give all the information needed.

2.            Remember to feel the door before you exit. If it is hot, don't open it. Since smoke and heat may cause unconsciousness, look for another route of escape.

3.            If the door seems to be cool, open it cautiously and be prepared to slam it shut if you see an outburst of flames. If the path is clear, then escape.

4.            Remember to close the door behind you — this will slow down the spread of the fire.

5.            Whenever you are in a smoke-filled room, keep down close to the floor — the air will be easier to breathe.

6.            Never reenter a burning home.

7.            Above all, don't panic.

8.            If you have small children, you should also consider the following:

9.            Make sure children are never left unattended.

10.         Teach your children how to dial 911 and ask for assistance.

11.         Instruct the baby-sitter to follow the evacuation plan which you have established for your family if a fire should occur.

*Materials made from or containing urethane foam will burn rapidly, releasing great heat and consuming oxygen at a high rate. The resulting lack of oxygen presents a danger of suffocation to the occupants. Hazardous gases released by the burning material can be incapacitating or fatal if inhaled in sufficient quantities.

 

In general, plan ahead for safer living...

1.            Know your new home.

2.            Learn the "do's" and "don'ts" of safer living as outlined in this manual.

3.            Follow the instructions provided with your new home and the equipment in it.

4.            Be sure all members of your family are safety-conscious.

5.            Finally, take a few minutes with your family to read and understand the safety tips we have given you and your family to go through the "Fire Safety Checklist" in this manual.