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Safety at home

The primary responsibility for ensuring the safety of one’s home lies with the resident. Maintaining safety and taking action in hazardous situations must be adapted to the needs of the people living in the same home. This also applies to apartments in blocks of flats and terraced houses. In a housing company, safety is a joint effort between the company and its residents.

Safety at home is based on anticipation and preparation:

  • Assess the risks at your home and prepare for them.
  • Make sure that all apartments have at least one smoke detector per each beginning 60 square metres on every floor or level and that the smoke detectors work.

The owner of the building, in many cases the housing company, is responsible for the installation and maintenance of fire alarms. It is the resident’s duty to immediately notify the owner of the building, i.e. the housing company, of any faults in the smoke detectors, such as the battery running out or the smoke detector not working.

If you own a property, you must take care of the safety of your building.  This means, for example, that

  • accidents and incidents are prevented in an appropriate manner
  • preparations have been made for dealing with accidents
  • the chimney sweep regularly sweeps any fireplaces and ducts in use in the building
  • a rescue plan has been drawn up for a residential property if the building has at least three apartments.

More information on other websites:

You should also be prepared for a situation in which everyday events are disrupted because of an accident of some exceptional circumstances.
See instructions on preparing for incidents and crises and how to act during them

See contents related to the topic:

Self-assessment of fire safety

Take care of the safety of any building you own. Answer the questions on the form the authorities sent you and fix any fire safety deficiencies.

Chimney sweeping

The owner of a building, or the person responsible for it, must ensure that the fireplaces and flues in the property are swept regularly.

Emergency plan for residential property

An emergency plan must be made for a residential building with at least three residential units. The owner of the property is responsible for the plan.

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