Smoke Alarms No Use If You Can’t Hear Them

Smoke Alarms No Use If You Can’t Hear Them

Auckland, April 5 – Smoke alarms are essential for saving lives in the home, but they’re no use if you can’t hear them.

NFD Chief Executive Louise Carroll called on the government to come up with innovative ways to help people with hearing disabilities afford alarm systems that would alert them when they’re activated.

“The Fire Service is quite rightly calling for people to get smoke alarms fitted in their homes, but they are no help if you can’t hear them,” Mrs Carroll said.

“People who are Deaf cannot hear the alarms, and nor can many Hearing Impaired people who take their hearing aids out when they go to bed. And that includes people staying in hotels and motels, as well as people in their own homes.

“Getting an alarm that links with the lights or to a vibrating pad that goes under a pillow is expensive, and we need to look at how we can make these more affordable.”

Mrs Carroll said governments overseas were moving to deal with the issue, and it was time for the New Zealand government to do the same.

She said several Australian state governments provided a subsidy to the Hearing Impaired and Deaf which brought the cost of suitable smoke alarms back to the same price as standard alarms, while in Texas, landlords were now required by law to provide suitable smoke detectors if requested by their Hearing Impaired tenants.

“In Britain one million people can’t hear ordinary smoke alarms, and in New Zealand probably tens of thousands of us are in the same position,” she said.

“The government will argue its budget is blowing out and it can’t afford to subsidize, but let’s be innovative and find other ways of achieving this – perhaps tax rebates, or even a special promotion with the NZ Fire Service or service clubs where these units can be bought with bulk discounts.

“Life is precious, the means to save lives through smoke alarms is there, and with the huge number of New Zealanders who are Hearing Impaired or Deaf and need visual alarms, it makes sense to look outside the box to find a solution.”

ENDS

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