What Is Health and Safety?

New figures have shown that summer could be a prime time for opportunistic thieves to target homes with outdoor equipment – making asset tagging your belongings over the coming months an absolute necessity.

According to research published this month by Aviva, the number of thefts from gardens and outbuildings increases by around 25 per cent when the clocks go forward, with power tools (42 per cent), lawn mowers (19 per cent) and other equipment among the things targeted by criminals. It even suggests things like rakes are often stolen from outside peoples’ homes!

Commenting on the shocking findings, household underwriting manager at Aviva Peter Ketteringham said that while many will welcome the extra hours of sunlight that comes at this time of year, it also makes valuable items that are left lying around in plain sight easier to spot – which is why homeowners need to take a more vigilant approach to security.

“Try not to advertise what you’ve got,” he explained. “Make sure sheds and summerhouses are properly secured and clear up your garden every evening so there’s nothing lying around that could tempt a criminal on to your property – and bear in mind that loose items like ladders and wheelie bins are perfect for burglars to use to get into your home, so shut them away, out of sight if you can.”

Of course, we are also big advocates of extra security measures that can make burglars think twice about poaching your belongings at Whatishealthandsafety.co.uk, including easy-to-use asset tags. Aviva’s offered a wealth of professional advice here. However, I’d also recommend that people order an array of asset tags to protect their property. These adhesive labels might be small, but they can deter thieves and help keep track of lost or stolen items.

So, if you’ve got expensive tools like drills, lawn mowers, chainsaws and strimmers, now is definitely the time to be labelling them up. It won’t cost you that much and it shouldn’t take you that long, but it could be just the kind of deterrent that saves you money and inconvenience in the long run.

 

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