Since you did not spell out 'recommendations', I would recommend you do not rely on getting in the habit of shutting water off.

Roll the dice. Leaks aren't very common. Make sure your hoses are new on install.

I haven't done anything differently for 2nd floor laundry rooms. Heck - on a slab, you can get a fair amount of damage from 1st floor stuff - like my interior water heater in 1999. But generally these things don't happen very often. The frustrating thing with tanked water heaters - especially cheap ones - is they leak without warning and are expensive to just replace every X years. Hoses for a washer are way cheaper in comparison.

For laundry rooms on the 2nd floor or where access to the shutoff valve is limited, I typically install an automatic shutoff valve https://www.watts.com/our-story/brands/intelliflow

One of the most cost efficient things you can do is make certain your water supply hoses to the washer are stainless steel and not rubber. Buy a good quality set at any local home supply store and install them.

Do NOT buy the Taco Leakbreaker. It functions at first, (i.e., the actuator properly closes the valve when water is detected), but over time the valve gets harder and harder to close so the actuator can no longer turn off the water. The valve is proprietary so one can't simply replace it with an off-the-shelf ball valve.

@armjim nearly certain my applicance provider added the braided stainless hoses, but that is a GREAT recommendation. @Charles Ross Homes you provided the link to the exact sensor we were thinking of... but I haven't ever used it (or had family who have), so wasn't sure if it worked or not! Thank you....

Our history using the Watts Regulator product is more than 10 years and counting. So far...so good!

It's second nature to us now; when doing laundry, turn on the water at the hookup (it's a quarter turn valve), and when taking clothes out, turn it off. I do wonder if the valve will wear out eventually.