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It’s easy to overlook the obvious, especially when you’re busy, distracted or anxious to get something done. But oversights when tackling home improvements, and even routine chores, can have serious consequences, particularly when it comes to personal safety.

In Preventing Home Accidents (Hunter House, 2012), author and certified safety professional Dan Hannan, serves up a comprehensive guide for raising home-saftey awareness. As an experienced safety educator and trainer, Hannan acknowledges that, while safety isn’t the most thrilling topic, it is an important one; especially since 46 percent of all accidental deaths each year occur in the home, outpacing automobile and workplace fatalities combined (according to the National Safety Council).

Preventing Home Accidents is filled with 263 pages of useful information, advice, tips and checklists devoted to home safety basics (inside and out), electrical and chemical hazards, fire prevention, indoor air quality, tool safety, and emergency first-aid. Each chapter concludes with a Recommended Practices checklist for topics covered, along with a helpful resources section for more information. A more complete Master Inspection Schedule in the back of the book will help you determine ways to make safety a priority in your home.

“While most home safety is little more than good common sense, there is a tendency to overlook the obvious,” says Bob Vila, who wrote the book’s foreword. “In Preventing Home Accidents you will find a wealth of valuable, detailed information on everything from best safety practices for using power and hand tools to the proper way to store, use and dispose of aerosol spray cans, unused paints, and household cleaning supplies.” Definitely a book for every DIYer’s home library. To get your copy, visit Amazon.com