Staying safe and well

We perform regular health and safety checks, risk assessments and more to ensure that our residents are kept safe and well at all times.

As part of this ongoing commitment we are keen to make sure that none of our homes suffer from damp, mould or condensation problems.

You can help us do this by reporting any problems with damp, mould and/or condensation in your home to our Property Maintenance team.

We have some information on how to manage and reduce damp and condensation in your home damp, mould & condensation factsheet

Our tenants handbook and a selection of factsheets are available to provide more information and advice. For example our tenant handbook sets out what to do in the event of a water leak, power cut or gas leak. Useful downloads.

Our commitment

We are committed to ensuring that our residents stay safe and well in their own homes. To achieve this, we maintain our schemes to a high safety standard. This involves the following activities:

Undertaking annual gas safety checks where gas is installed in your home (this is a legal requirement, for more details please see our Gas Safety factsheet).
Undertaking regular health and safety inspections of communal areas.
Ensuring fire and smoke detection equipment is regularly maintained. We ask that you test all smoke detectors in your own home on a monthly basis, and if the smoke alarm starts to make a slow beeping noise it is time for you to change the batteries. Please contact us if you have difficulty in testing your detectors.
Completing a person-centred risk assessment with residents to assess their individual safety needs. This includes identifying any fire risks or damp, mould and condensation concerns.
Working with other agencies such as the Fire and Rescue Service and Adult Social Care where necessary.
Helping residents stay safe in their homes either by putting support mechanisms in place or signposting to other agencies.
Investigating any reports of hoarding (an inability to throw away or part with possessions to the extent that it becomes a health and safety risk to themselves or others) and working with residents where hoarding is a problem.

Click here to Find out more about what we and our local partners are doing to help support independent living across the county.

Insurance

There are two types of household insurance policies – buildings insurance to protect against damage to the structure of our residents’ homes together with its fixtures and fittings, and home contents insurance that protects residents against damage or loss of their possessions.

We arrange buildings insurance but residents need to arrange their own home contents insurance. Residents need to make sure they have enough cover for their possessions, including carpets/laminate flooring and all electrical appliances in the event of a flood, fire or similar disaster that could unfortunately result in them having to pay to remove, store and/or replace all their possessions in one go. Residents should also check if their insurance covers water leaks from their flat that could damage the contents of their neighbours, because they will be liable.

We will only repair the structure of the building and will not contribute to the repair/replacement of residents' personal possessions.