Winter Household Tips – Stepping Up Household Security

Tysers Insurance Brokers |

At 2 am tomorrow morning, October the 25th, the clocks in the UK go back heralding the onset of longer and darker evenings. As insurance claims data indicates a spike in burglaries around this time, it’s an opportune moment to review your household security.

Here are a few tips to keep you, your family, and your property safe and secure.

Shine a smarter light this winter

Timers for lights are useful, but smart security technologies offer significant advantages over the more traditional methods.

Burglars often scope out homes for a few days prior to forcing their entry. If lights in the same rooms switch on at a routine time each night, it doesn’t take long to deduce they’re being operated by a timer.

With smart technology, you can continue to maintain control of your lighting anywhere in the world.

  • Smart bulbs can be dimmed and switched on and off;
  • Smart lighting allows you to vary the routine, lighting up parts of your home, at different times, creating the impression of movement and an occupied property;
  • In addition to the obvious security benefits, this also allows you to conserve energy and achieve efficiencies.

Smart lighting can also be extended to the exterior of your home.  Motion detecting floodlights are a useful deterrent and, when connected to your smartphone, can be used to notify you when unusual activity occurs and linked to security cameras to catch would-be thieves in the act.

Lock it down

To secure your home and the best insurance premiums, it’s important to have British standard locks fitted to all external doors and windows. This will provide you with peace of mind.

The Five Lever Mortice Deadlock

The more levers a lock has the more secure it is, so the Five-Lever Mortice Deadlock is regarded as the most secure general house lock and is often fitted on the wooden external front and back doors (a five-lever Mortice Deadlock is NOT found on uPVC or composite doors).

Most insurers will insist that your lock conforms to British Standard BS3621, which ensures it has certain security features in the mechanism. You can tell if your lock conforms by checking for the BSI Kitemark™ – usually on the plate set in the door.

Rim Automatic Deadlatch with Key-Locking Handle

A rim automatic deadlatch (nightlatch) is fitted on the inside of your door, with the key locking cylinder, to insert your key to open the door, located on the outside of the door.  This type of lock can be locked and unlocked from both sides.  Nightlatches are easy to use from the inside and lock automatically once the door is shut.

Fitting both a nightlatch and a Five Lever Mortice Deadlock to wooden external doors improves the security of your home.

Multi-Point Locking System

This type of lock is commonly used on external front and back doors. This lock can be found on Composite, UPVC, French Windows, and Patio Doors. When the lock is used multiple bolts will engage in the door frame, usually with a minimum of three points and sometimes four or five.

Euro Cylinder Lock

Most often, these locks are to composite and UPVC doors and used with Multipoint locking systems. Make sure you fit a Euro cylinder that is either SS312 diamond approved or TS007 3 Star.

Be Armed, be Alarmed.

For purchasers of alarms for homes and business premises, The British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA) publishes a useful guide.  The guide is designed to provide details of what security standards insurers may typically expect and can be viewed in full here.

Our high-net-worth clients have high-value personal assets making a monitored alarm system the most suitable choice for protecting their homes.

An alarm transmission system (ATS) product is used to transmit alarm signals to a continuously manned alarm receiving centre (ARC).

The installers of such systems conform to police rules and applicable standards which entitles them to request a police unique reference number (URN).  The award of a URN allows the ARC to directly contact the police force’s control room and request an immediate response to alarm activations, justifying police attendance.

 

Need help?

For further risk management advice and insurance quotations please contact a member of our Private Client Team in your nearest regional office.

 

Colchester

Kevin Reed
D: 01206 756065
kevin.reed@tysers.com

 

Hitchin

Roger Bailey
D: 01462 477878 | M: 07748 708898
roger.bailey@tysers.com

Annette Ford
D: 01462 477027 or 01462 439866 | M: 07714 521566
Annetta.Ford@tysers.com

James Stewart
D 01462 439847 | M 07977 442973
james.stewart@tysers.com

 

London

Kate Wallace
D: 0203 915 0397 | M: 07500 994265
kate.wallace@tysers.com

Peter Young
D: 020 3915 0217 | M 07795640530
peter.young@tysers.com

 

Manchester

Nathan Maloney
D: 0161 419 3046 | M: 07795 472 778
nathan.maloney@tysers.com

Stuart Siddall
D: 0161 419 3085 | M: 07855 211 785
stuart.siddall@tysers.com

 

 

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