(NAPSI)—As a homeowner, few things are more important than safety and security, whether referring to the entry and exit points of your home or community at large. Unfortunately, millions of homes and communities are at risk, with 1 in 15 garages and 3 out of 4 gate systems lacking the latest safety features, which ensure protection for everyone who comes into contact.

As you work to keep your home and community safe, keep in mind the following tips for added safety in your garage and around your community.

1. Don’t Chance It. Check It.^® Beyond your regular routine of checking the fireplace, electrical outlets and carbon monoxide detectors, you should also check systems often overlooked, such as your garage door opener. Because more than 70 percent of homeowners use the garage as the main access point to the home, it is crucial that garage door openers not only function properly, but also safely. To ensure that all family members—including your children and pets—are as safe as possible, consider conducting LiftMaster’s 3-Step Safety Check. The check only takes a few minutes, but it can tell you if the garage is not functioning properly. To conduct, check the sides of the garage door for properly installed photo eyes mounted no higher than six inches off the floor; block photo eyes with an object over six inches tall and test the garage door—the door should not close. Finally, lay a 1.5-inch-high object on the ground, in the door’s path and test the door—the door should reverse off this object. If your garage fails any steps of the check, consult a professional garage door dealer.

2. Make sure your family is prepared under any circumstance—whether it’s a power outage or a storm. Install a backup power source or products that have backup capabilities built in, so that your daily routine isn’t disrupted. To maintain access to the home, consider installing a garage door opener with a battery backup system, so you can still park your vehicle, reach stored items and access your home.

3. In addition to checking or updating your garage door system, you should also consider the safety of your community as a whole. With more than 11 million households across the U.S. located within gated residential communities, automatic gates are another area where safety is often overlooked, but is vital. Do your part by speaking to your community or property manager about the 2016 Underwriters Laboratories’ UL 325 standards, to ensure automatic gates in your community are up to code. If the gates in and around your community do not have the proper safety equipment, such as photo eyes, consider replacing them with ones that do.

4. If you are installing a new garage door or community gate access system, make sure to involve a professional, safety-trained dealer. “Many homeowners don’t realize this, but the garage door is the heaviest moving object in the home, and gates can be even heavier,” said John Villanueva, Vice President of Marketing at LiftMaster. “This makes the garage and gate area extremely important in ensuring the safety of your entire family.”

With these helpful tips, you can ensure that your garage and community’s automatic gates are safe and functional. To learn more about safety in and around your home and community, please visit www.LiftMaster.com.

On the Net:North American Precis Syndicate, Inc.(NAPSI)