‘Mobility scooters can be a real fire risk’
Mobility scooters can result in a number of safety issues. David Perry, a resident and customer services committee member at Yorkshire Housing, and one of Inside Housing’s Safer Homes Ambassadors, explains how the 18,000-home association has talked to residents who own mobility scooters about how to keep safe
As part of our ongoing Resident Safety Campaign, Inside Housing is recruiting 12 Safer Homes Ambassadors to tell us what safety campaigns they are working on and how they are communicating this to their resident and asking residents to get involved.
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“Half of Yorkshire Housing’s customer services committee are residents,” explains David Perry, Inside Housing’s latest Safer Homes Ambassador. The group scrutinises how the housing association works and part of this is how it communicates safety issues.
Last year, the landlord used Facebook, Twitter and traditional letters to talk to residents about the dangers of mobility scooters. Not just to avoid parking them in corridors where they can block exits in the case of an evacuation, but also because some have wet-cell batteries, which are a fire risk.
The customer services committee was involved in how the campaign was communicated to residents to make sure everyone understood.
David Perry has lived in his Yorkshire Housing home for 10 years. During that time he has been a member of the customer services committee.
Now retired, Mr Perry has worked as managing director of several Shell UK subsidiaries. He also spent time leading the European operation of a foreign exchange brokerage, giving him experience in the world of commercial finance.
How to enter this year’s resident safety competition
This year we are continuing the Resident Safety Campaign by recruiting 12 Safer Homes Ambassadors to talk about what they are doing, and as part of this we are also running a competition to find great work in the sector. Inside Housing wants to use the competition to spread learning and help other organisations think about how they could improve their approach to health and safety.
Inside Housing and Aico would like to hear about an initiative that identified and tackled issues surrounding residential safety and engaged residents.
In particular, we would like to hear about an outstanding communications initiative that has been completed. It will be a strategy targeted at engaging with residents on safety in their home.
This competition is open to housing management and communications teams of social landlords and it is free to enter.
Three winners will be chosen by our judging panel. Winners will have their project profiled in Inside Housing and publicised on Inside Housing’s social media channels, and they will be invited to take part in a resident safety panel discussion to help share information.
All entries must be submitted online and be received by midnight on 30 September 2020.
