Keeping Your Home Safe While You're Away

The last thing you want to be doing when you're away on holiday or just for the weekend is worrying about your home, that's why home security is very important, especially when you're not there. There would be nothing worse than arriving home after a lovely break away to then have to deal with a break in or damage due to flooding or fire. If you're not in the property, even a small leak can cause a huge amount of damage if it's not spotted and dealt with quickly.

There are plenty of measures you can take though, to ensure your home is as safe as possible. Here are a few practical tips:

1.

Firstly, make sure your house doesn't look empty. If you're going away for an extended period of time, make sure your hedges are trimmed and your garden is tidy. If it looks overgrown, it could look like it isn't lived in, making it more appealing to potential burglars as there's less risk of being caught. They can loot at their leisure safe in the knowledge that they won't be disturbed. Remember that scene from 'Home Alone', when Macaulay Culkin makes it appear as if there's a Christmas party going on? Well, something like that! 

2.

It's a good idea to ask a neighbour to keep an eye on your property. If you have a glass fronted door, an obvious build up of post is another sure sign that the house isn't occupied. If you can have someone pop round and move it out of sight then this would really help. Also ask them to have a quick look round every room, so if the roof has sprung a leak or something else is amiss, it can be spotted and dealt with before it becomes a bigger issue.

3.

If you're taking your car with you, you could also offer your drive as a parking space for a neighbour. A car in the drive will make the property look occupied. If parking is tricky on your street then someone might be very appreciative of your offer too. If you're leaving your car behind while you go away, make sure you don't leave the keys in view of a window. Car theft after keys have been stolen from a house is very common.

4.

Before you go away write a check list so you don't forget to do anything. Make sure all the doors and windows are locked and check that all taps are off. Turn off all plug sockets that aren't needed and you're reducing the risk of an electrical fire. It's also a good idea to check your insurance is valid and gives you good coverage, just in case something should happen while you're away.

5.

Having the lights off in the house on a dark evening can also be a bit of a giveaway that the property is vacant. You could invest in a timer switch for your lights so they come on and turn off replicating normal use. You could also consider installing a security system. This may be a simple burglar alarm, or it may include cameras within your property so you can monitor what is going on while you're away. Being able to check on your house remotely via the internet can be very reassuring. You may only be watching the cats sleeping, but you might see flood water creeping in. You can then call someone to sort out the problem for you asap; just make sure someone has a spare set of keys in case of emergency.

So How Safe Was Glastonbury 2013?

                                           Image Courtesy of Glastonbury Festival

Halfway through the summer the most significant international music event -according to many- took place; I’m talking of course about Glastonbury, where this year more than 175,000 music lovers had the opportunity to enjoy the crème de la crème of musicians performing live over a three-day musical marathon. When it comes to organising crowd-magnetising festivals though, it’s not just about getting the best musicians out there to perform or achieving the best results in sound; security is also paramount at big festivals and for many Glastonbury is the ultimate test.

This incredibly popular festival brings thousands of people flocking to the site, a number of whom don't have tickets and try to scale the fence, break the fence down or climb under it. The size of the festival keeps growing and so the problem of large amounts of people breaking in has risen year on year. It really is a massive concern. If you've never visited the Glastonbury festival then you'd be forgiven for thinking that securing the area would be a simple issue. When you realise the scale of the event you'll get a better idea of the huge task companies offering security services have faced over the years.

Firstly the site covers over 900 acres. That's a huge area. As well as the stages and camping areas there are around 200 bars and pubs, 350 food traders and hundreds of other stands, stalls and exhibits, not to mention literally thousands of toilets (this year the amounted to 5.487!). Glastonbury in full swing resembles a small city. Add to this massive area more than 175,000 people and you start to see just how gigantic this festival really is. Think of the town or city where you live, and then imagine trying to ring fence the whole place so no one can get in; now this might seem impossible but this year, Eve Trakway have managed to achieve this with great success!

Stopping people getting in without buying a ticket is much more than simply a money saving exercise. Of course it's unfair on those who have bought tickets that so many people over the years have managed to sneak in for free, but as well as this, all those extra people create a huge safety risk when the area is overfilled. Security, medical staff and other facilities have been carefully chosen to match the number of attendees, which of course is based on the number of tickets that have been sold. The capacity of the festival is capped and when that number of tickets have been sold, no more are available. However with tens of thousands of extra people attending illegally, the facilities and services are all stretched beyond their limits as the festival exceeds a safe capacity. If there were a major incident such as a fire, safety could be greatly compromised and a large scale evacuation would be much more difficult. Demand for facilities such as water and toilets can be overloaded and the whole site can’t run smoothly.  Overcrowding can be a big issue and it can be a dangerous one too. In previous years overcrowding due to an influx of people entering without tickets has made the crowds at some performances reach critical levels and people have been injured in the crush.

Over the years many of the people who have climbed the fence were not just attempting to watch the bands for free, but instead had criminal intentions. Stealing from the sea of unattended tents is a pretty easy job for a petty criminal and, unfortunately, this type of crime was rife before the large fences were introduced. It's very upsetting finding your tent has been broken into and your belongings stolen, but it's hard to do anything about it. There are lockers on the site that you can use, but most people leave their possession in their tent, trusting that they'll still be there when they get back. As most people at the festival will spend the majority of their time watching bands and exploring the site, nearly all tents are empty for most of the day making it very appealing to the thieves.

This time though, crime at the festival was greatly reduced thanks to fence jumping being virtually eliminated, primarily thanks to the organisers' decision to assign the huge task of security and monitoring to EveTrakway. Eve's solution was to erect their Super Fortress fence. This really is the ultimate fence as it stands at 4.12m and surrounds the entire 8km perimeter of the festival site. It's made of smooth solid aluminium panels that are securely joined together with tamper proof fixings. As well as this perimeter fence, Eve also installed an interior mesh fence, some yards from the first; this created a walkway in between that could be observed and patrolled. Anyone who did by some miracle find their way over the first fence, would then find themselves faced with another fence and no cover to hide in while they tried to get over this next obstacle.

Fences from Glastonbury's past had been made from sections bolted together. They were climbed over, broken down and tunnelled under. All these entry methods are now impossible. The smooth surface of the Super Fortress fence is not climbable, there are prongs that go deep into the ground from the foot of the fence that makes it impossible to tunnel under and the fixings are hidden and are tamper proof so it can't be taken apart. It's also very strong, so you can't simply bend it or push it over to gain entry.

These days you won't see hoards of people attempting to 'nip over the fence'. If you tried to break into Glastonbury these days chances are you only ended up with a long trip home again. If there is a well-hidden message to this year’s Glastonbury this is that trying to break in really isn't worth it. So next year, buy a ticket and get into the festival legitimately, safe in the knowledge that the Super Fortress fence from Eve will ensure that the festival isn't dangerously overcrowded and that crime will be kept to a minimum. Oh, and enjoy yourselves while it lasts!