Stay Safe, Stay Spooky

When it comes to Halloween the ghosts and ghouls may be your biggest concern and it is easy to forget some simple preparedness advice to keep you safer this spooky season. To make sure you’re fully prepared we have rounded up all the advice you should be aware of over this Halloween.

Norfolk and Suffolk Constabularies have put together some useful advice if you are planning to trick or treat this Halloween, we’ve included some key points below.  You can find the whole document and further advice here: halloween_safety_0.pdf (suffolk.police.uk)

  • If you‘re trick or treating, make sure you’re accompanied by an adult

  • Only visit the houses of people you know, or those who want to be visited - usually anyone displaying a pumpkin outside their house

  • Make sure road users can see you & make sure you’re carrying a torch

  • Never go inside someone else’s house

With winter fast approaching the nights are getting darker earlier, this provides less visibility to both those in vehicles and on foot; so if you are planning to trick or treat or head out with some friends its important to wear at least one piece of high visibility clothing.

To help educate younger children on the importance of #BeBrightBeSeen, check out this game from Think.gov: www.think.gov.uk/resource/be-bright-be-seen-game/

Before you head out for Halloween take a minute to set up the in-case of emergency (ICE) contacts on your phone, you never know when these may come in handy! There is a simple video on how to set these up that can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R9SEUTQ550

Wherever you may be heading, out to a party, a local venue or trick or treating it is always useful to look up the current government guidance, which can be seen here: Coronavirus: how to stay safe and help prevent the spread – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Although not a legal requirement, some venues or individuals may still ask you to produce a negative lateral flow or COVID passport, remember to check the guidance for where you’re heading before your arrival.

Preparing for Halloween is a great time to get the whole family involved, from decorating to carving pumpkins, whilst doing these activities think about running through some household preparedness advice and practicing your safe escape routes. If you haven’t yet set up safe escape routes or are interested in more house-hold preparedness advice head to our website: norfolkprepared.co.uk for some tips and tricks.

Home safety is important all year round, however with extra lighting and candles burning around Halloween now is a good time to check your fire alarms. If you want to test these more regularly you can take part in Norfolk Fires #testittuesday, where they encourage everyone to check their fire alarms every Tuesday.

Remember to stay safe this Halloween, if you feel like you are in an emergency always dial 999, for situations less immediate dial 111 for advice. Have a Spooktacular Halloween….