Whether you’re cleaning out the gutters or hanging holiday lights, don’t pull a Clark Griswold in “Christmas Vacation” by having an extension ladder fold up on you. Follow these tips to ensure that home safety extends past your ADT home alarm system.

• Cleat: Create or buy a 2×4 cleat, drive two stakes into the group and screw the cleat into the steaks to help steady the ladder.

• Good standing: Place the ladder on clear, level, dry ground only. Avoid snow, mud and ice.

• ¼ rule: Stand the ladder from the house one-fourth of the distance of its height.

• No outer limits: Don’t over- reach or out-reach while using the ladder.

It’s happened to all of us, the annoying call during dinner of someone trying to sell you something. Some of those callers actually are trying to sell you something, while others are posing as telemarketers to get your personal information. Help protect your home security with these tips:

• Register your number: Add your home and mobile phone number to the National Do Not Call Registry to avoid receiving telephone calls.

• Hang up: If you aren’t interested, it sounds too good to be true or the person on the line won’t stop talking, just hang up. Remember, they called you.

• Don’t pay anything: A caller asking for a fee upfront for a credit card, loan, gift or prize is a huge red flag.

• Screen calls: Pay attention to area codes that appear with calls on your caller ID. Some callers do business outside of the U.S. to avoid law enforcement or charge callers more money for call time.

• Don’t give out personal information: Companies you deal with for services like home alarm systems should already have your information on file. If someone calls and asks you to verify information, hang up and call the company’s customer service line instead.

Make sure you’re not sacrificing home safety for convenience this month, and inspect your home’s biggest moving object during Garage Door Safety Month. Follow these tips to help ensure that your family is safe from garage door accidents.

• Keep controls out of reach: Hide garage door controls in a place where children cannot access them. And don’t leave them in your car where parking attendants or others can access them and compromise your home security.

• Test it: Each month, check the door’s reversing mechanism by placing a roll of paper towels in its path. If the mechanism doesn’t reverse the door’s direction as soon as it touches the paper towels, immediately contact a qualified professional to repair your door. Unplug or avoid operating the door until it is repaired.

• Unplug it while you’re away: Either unplug the opening unit or use a wall security switch made especially for use while you’re away on vacation.

One of the easiest ways to deter intruders from your home – in addition to installing a home alarm system – is installing affordable outdoor security lighting. Whether you choose to control your lighting manually, or with motion sensors or timers, it’s important to find outdoor lighting options that work well for you and your home.

Check out the three main types of outdoor security lighting that can help keep your family safe:

• Porch lights: You probably already have a functioning porch light at your home’s front entryway, but similar fixtures can be extremely effective in other points of entry, including the back of the house, the deck, the garage and near utility shed doors, among other places. These tell potential burglars that you are home or are expecting visitors, which creates unfavorable scenarios for a break-in. To increase effectiveness, use at least a 60-watt bulb at each site.

• Spotlights: If used correctly (and not over-used), these can highlight large areas susceptible to lurking burglars that porch lights don’t reach. Spotlights are great for backyards and driveways.

• Landscape lights: Create a dramatic effect and cast out shadows with lights placed to strategically show off your landscaping and even your ADT system yard sign at night. There are many different attractive styles that can compliment your home’s exterior.

Even the most graceful person can trip and fall over hazardous obstacles that clutter their home. According to the Home Safety Council, falls are a leading cause of unintentional home injury. Home security systems like ADT can help keep your family and home safe from intruders, so take these extra precautions to deter easily prevented accidents inside the home.

• Minimize slippery surfaces: Tape down small rugs and mats that slip and slide around so you won’t. In the bathroom, put a non-slip mat or strips in the tub and shower, and place a mat with a non-skid bottom on the floor.

• Shine a light on it: Keep stairs well-lit, especially at both the top and bottom landings and install nightlights in halls, bedrooms and bathrooms.

• Hold onto something: Have handrails from the top to bottom on both sides of steps and stairs. Install grab bars in the shower and tub.

• Keep things clear: Keep stairs and walking areas free of clutter, and wipe up any spills as soon as they happen.

Just because your child is playing in the backyard – close to your home and its alarm system – it doesn’t guarantee that an accident won’t occur. And if other parents or children won’t be around to alert you of an accident, it’s even more important to take the appropriate steps to improve you child’s home safety.

Use these basic tips to help keep children safe while they’re at play:

• Close proximity: Never let children play on equipment out of your sight. Kids will more likely be careful with you around and when an accident does happen, you’ll be there to help. Also keep a mobile or wireless phone nearby in case you need to call emergency services.

• Soft landings: Cover the ground below and around equipment with soft materials like rubber mulch, pea gravel or hardwood chips so when falls happen, these materials – rather than pavement or grass – will soften the blow and help protect from serious injuries.

• “Fall zone:” Make sure soft ground coverings reach out in a six-foot radius from equipment and each piece of equipment is at least six feet apart to allow for a proper “fall zone.” If your child falls, this will ensure that is nothing in their way except for the soft ground covering.

Certain security measures that your neighbors take, like keeping a feisty guard dog to ward off intruders, may compromise your family’s safety. Children are often quick to pet strange animals and according to the ASPCA at least half of all U.S. children will be bitten by a dog before the age of 12.

So even though you know that a home alarm system is a better home security solution than an animal, make sure to help prevent bites by teaching your children these guidelines about when it’s OK to pet dogs.

1. Keep away: Stay away from chained-up dogs.
2. Don’t tease: Never stare a dog in the eyes or tease dogs behind fences.
3. Leave it alone: Never touch a dog that is eating or sleeping.
4. Stay still: If a dog comes near you stand still and be quiet. If you see a loose dog tell an adult right away.
5. Ask permission: Only pet a dog if the owner has given you permission and then the dog has given you permission by sniffing your closed hand.

Home alarm systems are one of the most effective ways to make seniors feel comfortable at home. They help protect seniors in the events of intruders, fires or floods, and they also offer personal emergency response systems like the ADT® Companion Service®. Learn more about how you or an older loved one can feel at ease staying at home alone with 24-hour medical monitoring.

How it works:

1. In the case of a fall or medical emergency, press the button on your waterproof necklace or wristband within 300 feet of the monitoring base unit.
2. A Companion Services-trained ADT monitoring professional will speak with you over a voice intercom.
3. The ADT representative can send help if needed in the form of emergency services, a relative or neighbor.

Whether you’re crossing the street to go to a neighbor’s cookout in your quiet development or hustling through a crosswalk downtown, don’t assume that you’ll never be involved in a vehicle-pedestrian accident. Well-meaning drivers can easily get distracted and overlook pedestrians. According to the NHTSA, 4,378 pedestrians died in traffic crashes in the U.S. in 2008.

Remember that your home security system can only protect you at home and be sure to keep these safety tips in mind when you’re traveling by foot:

• Follow designated paths: Use sidewalks where provided and only enter or cross streets at legal areas. Drivers expect to see pedestrians in these areas and should be more alert near them.

• Stay visible: If there are no sidewalks, it’s safer to walk facing traffic so you and drivers can see each other better. Avoid walking at night when possible, and wear light-colored clothing and reflective materials. Also carry a flashlight in dark areas.

• Avoid impairment: Consuming alcohol and drugs not only impair your ability to drive, they can also make walking difficult, as well. Keep this in mind and plan accordingly for when you’ll have to walk somewhere.

Summer fun often involves lounging around a pool. But don’t be tempted to nap while the kids are playing. Follow these tips to be proactive about preventing pool-area accidents.

• Adult supervision: Make sure an adult who knows CPR is always carefully watching kids in or near the pool. If at all possible, do not leave the task of watching younger children to older children.

• Safety vests: Keep life vests that are approved by the U.S. Coast Guard on hand. Anyone who is not a strong swimmer should wear one. Air-filled swimming tools are not adequate substitutes.

• Fences: Fences do more than serve as a great back up to a security system. They also help keep children out of the pool when they’re not under your supervision. Surround your pool with a fence that’s at least five-feet-high and closes securely on its own. Keep the gate closed at all times and never prop it open. Also, keep furniture away from the fence so kids won’t be tempted to climb over it.

• Post-swim clean up: Clear any toys from around the pool so children won’t be tempted to retrieve them without your supervision. Also secure the gate so they can’t get back into the area.