Do your moods increase the risk of suffer an accident at home?

With this text we intend that, in an autonomous way, you can fight against risk. For this reason we provide you with practical aids such as the exercise in the third section, appendix c). 

1. Introduction: the "good life" and Finques Feliu's link to this concept

The concept of "good life" in the words of the German philosopher Hartmut Rosa means: "to feel alive and well, connected in a receptive way with ourselves, with nature, work, our family, etc". 

At Finques Feliu we market properties like this one in Muntaner street. We aspire to do our job with soul!

This requires understanding that we are not selling or renting just another real estate product. No, for the client, we are talking about "his/her home". That is why we claim our link with the realization of your "good life".

2. Psycho-social factors: accident accelerators

If it is believed that accidents are totally random, suggesting a relationship between state of mind and accidents, as the title of the text does, makes no sense. On the other hand, if we affirm that whoever leads a good life, in the sense undertaken by Hartmut Rosa, has less risk of having accidents, this would probably seem much more plausible. The reason is simple: the question that titles this text is little addressed outside psychology.

As we shall see the so-called psycho-social factors increase the risk of accidents.

What do we understand by psycho-social factor? They are those that trigger adverse reactions in our mind. For example: stress, mental fatigue, mental fatigue or irritability.

In the same way, having adopted meditated decisions on an individual or collective scale helps to protect our health and that of other people.

3.  Reducing the risk of accidents: a constant and possible struggle 

a) Before crossing your home entrance: the importance of community cohesion 

We propose a question: is our home the first place we enter from the street? It depends. In an urban apartment building the answer is no, on the other hand, in a rural house the answer will be yes. 

An immense majority of residential buildings are of horizontal ownership. That is to say, in them some common elements, "co-owned" by all the owners, such as the communal area or the entrance passageway, meet with others that are private, such as our floors.

The fact that horizontal ownership is the majority is very important when it comes to preventing accidents because it means that the prevention of accidents involves taking care of the coexistence of the Community of Owners.

With this objective it is necessary to take great care in "building community", that is to say, to know and to unite the people who live in our building is a big step towards our physical safety.

Is it hard to see the link between social cohesion and physical security? With a practical example it is much better.

In 2020 Finques Feliu signed an article in Prevent's blog (In Spanish), where we explained how to demand a reform to the Community of Owners oriented to improve accessibility.

The reform request mentioned above will be simpler when the co-owners know each other, or have a minimum of empathy. Unfortunately, we do not always put ourselves in the shoes of others. On these occasions they are, on the one hand, the ability to act as arbitrator of the property administrator and, on the other hand, the coercive application of the law (in making an accessibility reform compulsory). The two aforementioned factors could unblock the situation. 

In the same sense, in a cohesive community it is much more possible that everyone respects the notices that are set. We are not naive, the problem will almost never disappear, but it will diminish and, in any case, physical security is an area where cooperating is always the way.  

Here are two examples of small actions, which, it is worth saying, represent great changes in social attitudes, and can considerably reduce the risk of accidents:

- At the entrance of the street there was a gazebo. Some time ago the Community of Property Owners agreed to build a ramp to bridge the gap.

- The cleaning workers are now aware that they always have to put a sign that says "caution: wet floor" (as in the picture that illustrates this text).

b) Inside your house: the accidents at home

When we close the door, individual self-awareness is much more important than the collective factor.

It will be thanks to the sum of rational self-awareness and the observation of our environment that will allow us to establish two parallel strategies:

c) Real practical exercise: detection and eradication of risks.

- Identification of hazards at home

- Solution of the problems detected at the first point.

Here is an example:

Problem identified at home: poor lighting of an interior hallway.

Solution to adopt: buy a pump type led to illuminate the path identified as dark, that is to say, as a danger.

Now it's your turn! We encourage you to do the exercise adapted to your home.

We wish that this article answer your curiosity and help you against risk menace.