SimpliSafe Reveals The Most Common Home Mishaps That Can Disrupt the Holidays

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Nov 10, 2022, 12:09 ET

National survey finds fires, porch pirates, and frozen pipes
to be the most feared holiday mishaps among U.S. adults

BOSTON, Nov. 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ahead of the holiday season, SimpliSafe^®, maker of award-winning home security systems and the experts in protection, today announced new data that reveals the most feared holiday mishaps, which include fires, porch pirates and frozen pipes. According to the nationwide survey conducted in October, despite the fact that more than one-third (35%)¹of American adults are worried about a holiday mishap, most are not prepared for them, leaving themselves and their homes vulnerable. Data suggests holiday anxiety starts to build in advance of the holidays, with social media conversation around holiday mishaps peaking as early as December 8 last year².

Fire-Related Incidents

With cooking and eating at the core of many winter holiday celebrations, it is unsurprising that fire and cooking-related mishaps top the list of mishap fears.

Nearly 40 percent of respondents have experienced burnt food, kitchen fires or electrical fires during the holidays.
More than 70 percent of respondents have set off a smoke alarm while cooking a holiday meal.
According to SimpliSafe alarm data, fire alarm events spiked the week of Thanksgiving last year compared to the week before and after, and were even higher than the week of Christmas.³

Porch Pirating

During the holidays, there is an uptick in package delivery, with USPS indicating they deliver more than 13.2 billion parcels between Thanksgiving and New Year's. With this surge in deliveries often comes a spike in home package theft, known as "porch pirating." Almost half (45%) of people surveyed have had packages stolen from their front porch or home.

Holiday Mishap Preparation

Despite worries about holiday mishaps, minimal preparation is done for the winter and holiday season.

Nearly 40 percent of respondents do not or rarely change the batteries in their smoke detectors before cooking a holiday meal.
The majority (87%) of adults do not have a meal backup plan in case of a kitchen fire.
Only 19 percent clean out the fireplace in preparation for the holidays and winter season.

Interestingly, people do seem to take measures to protect their packages. According to the survey, 54 percent of people are using a home security system to monitor for porch pirates, ice build-up, car theft and more.

"As the experts in protection, we're continuously evaluating how consumers feel and perceive their safety at different moments in time," said Brenda Bynarowicz, Senior Vice President of Marketing at SimpliSafe. "Through research and ongoing conversations with our customers, we know the holidays can be an exciting time for families, but they can also be busy and stressful, leaving protection to inadvertently take a back seat. The good news is that there are simple, proactive measures people can take to set themselves up for a successful and safe holiday season – whether it's testing their smoke detectors, cleaning and recalibrating their oven before heavy use or using outdoor cameras and video doorbells to keep an eye on comings and goings."

Additional findings from the survey include:

40 percent of pet owning respondents are worried that their pet will play with or ruin holiday decorations.
Nearly 60 percent of respondents say they use home security cameras to check to see who has arrived at their home during the holidays.

Visit SimpliSafe's blog to learn how to better prepare for the holiday season, including ways to winterize your home and how to properly install a home security system. To learn more about SimpliSafe, visit SimpliSafe.com.

About SimpliSafe

SimpliSafe fundamentally changed the alarm industry, pioneering a new way to make home the safest place on earth for everyone. Founded in 2006, SimpliSafe now protects millions of people and is committed to its founding goal: to make every home secure. SimpliSafe has been coined the number one home security pick by several highly-esteemed publications and was recently awarded "Best Overall Home Security System of 2022" by U.S. News & World Report. SimpliCam, SimpliSafe, and the SimpliSafe logo are the registered trademarks of SimpliSafe, Inc. in the US and other countries.

¹The survey was conducted by Pollfish in October 2022 to 1,000 US-based adults aged 18 and older.
² Social listening results as reported by Sprout Social encompassed messages sourced from Twitter during the 2021 holiday season.
³ Internal data from SimpliSafe from November – December 2021.

SOURCE SimpliSafe