A household skills inventory is a simple list of what each person in your home can actually do in an emergency — not what you own. Most family emergency plans focus on gear: flashlights, food, a bag by the door. Far fewer households sit down and ask who in the home knows how to stop bleeding, shut off the gas, or use a fire extinguisher. Gear without skills is a box of tools nobody knows how to use.
Building this inventory takes about 20 minutes. You list five skill areas, rate each household member honestly, and circle the gaps worth closing first.
The Five Skill Areas to Assess
These categories cover the situations most households actually face — power outages, storms, and short-term disruptions that resolve at home. They reflect the planning framework the Department of Homeland Security’s Ready.gov program uses to help families prepare.
1. First Aid
Can anyone in your household stop bleeding, help someone who is choking, or recognize when a situation needs emergency medical services instead of home care? A stocked first aid kit does not help if nobody knows how to use what is in it. Blueprint Prepared covers first aid supplies in our Home Preparedness category, but supplies are only half the picture — the skill has to live with a person, not a box.
This article does not teach first aid technique. For that, look at an in-person course through a recognized provider such as the American Red Cross or your local fire department. See our Medical Disclaimer for what this site can and cannot tell you about medical situations.
2. Fire Safety
This is the most commonly skipped skill. Ready.gov’s preparedness guidance recommends every household know three things: how to use a fire extinguisher with the PASS method — Pull, Aim, Squeeze, Sweep — where the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms are and that they are tested regularly, and a practiced two-way exit plan from every room.
- Do you know where every fire extinguisher in the home is, and has anyone actually practiced pulling the pin?
- Are smoke and CO alarms on every level of the home, tested, and less than ten years old?
- Does everyone in the household know two ways out of their bedroom?
3. Utility Shutoff
Knowing how to shut off gas, water, and electricity at the main is a life-safety skill after events like earthquakes, gas leaks, or flooding — and it is one almost no household practices. If only one adult in the home knows where the gas shutoff valve is, that is a single point of failure.
- Does more than one person know where the main gas shutoff is and how to turn it?
- Does more than one person know where the water main shutoff is?
- Does everyone know where the electrical panel is and how to flip a breaker?
4. Water Treatment Basics
If tap water becomes unsafe, the standard emergency method recommended by public health agencies is bringing water to a rolling boil for one minute, or three minutes at higher elevations, before drinking it. This kills most disease-causing organisms, though it does not remove chemical contamination. For storage and filtration options, see our Emergency Food & Water category.
- Does your household know how to safely boil water for drinking if the tap is unsafe?
- Do you know where your local boil-water notices would be announced?
- Is there a backup water storage plan if boiling isn’t possible because there is no power source for heat?
5. Navigation and Communication
Ready.gov’s family communication planning guidance centers on three habits: picking two meeting locations, one near home and one farther away in case of evacuation, designating an out-of-state contact everyone can reach if local lines are down, and defaulting to text over phone calls, since texts use less bandwidth and are more likely to get through during network congestion.
- Does everyone in the household know both meeting locations by memory, not just on paper?
- Is there an out-of-state contact everyone has saved in their phone and knows by name?
- Could your household navigate a primary and secondary route out of the neighborhood without GPS?
Build Your Own Skills Inventory
Grab a sheet of paper and list every person in your household down one side. Across the top, write the five skill areas above: First Aid, Fire Safety, Utility Shutoff, Water Treatment, and Navigation and Communication. For each person and each skill, mark a simple score:
- 1 — No experience. This person has not done this before.
- 2 — Basic familiarity. This person understands the idea but hasn’t practiced it.
- 3 — Confident and practiced. This person could do this today without help.
Any score under 3 is a gap. The goal is not a perfect scorecard — it is a clear, honest picture of where your household actually stands.
Deciding Which Gap to Close First
Most households find gaps in every category on the first pass. That’s normal — the point is prioritizing, not fixing everything this weekend.
- Start with whichever skill only one adult in the home has. A single point of failure — one person who knows the gas shutoff, one person who’s done first aid training — is the highest-risk gap, because that person might not be home when it matters.
- Then close the free skills. Locating the utility shutoffs and practicing the fire extinguisher PASS method costs nothing but ten minutes.
- Then schedule the skills that need outside training. First aid and CPR require an actual course — put it on the calendar rather than leaving it as a someday item.
- Re-rate the household every six months. Kids age into new capabilities, and skills without practice fade.
Households With Extra Considerations
A skills inventory should also account for household members who need extra planning:
- Young children can often learn age-appropriate versions of these skills, such as knowing their address, how to call for help, and where the meeting point is, even before they can do full first aid or utility shutoff.
- Older adults or household members with mobility limitations may need an assigned buddy for tasks like utility shutoff or evacuation, since those tasks may not be physically realistic for them to do alone.
- Anyone with a medical condition requiring regular medication or equipment needs a specific plan for that need beyond general first aid, and that planning should involve their own healthcare provider rather than general emergency guidance.
- Pets need a designated household member responsible for them during an evacuation, since pet handling isn’t automatic under stress.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should we redo the skills inventory?
Every six months is a reasonable rhythm, or after any major household change, such as a new baby, a household member moving out, or a move to a new home with a different utility layout.
What if nobody in the household has any of these skills yet?
Start with the free ones today, such as locating utility shutoffs and practicing the fire extinguisher steps, and schedule a first aid and CPR course through a recognized provider like the American Red Cross within the next month. You don’t need everything in place before the plan has value.
Is online first aid certification good enough?
Hands-on skills like CPR and wound care are generally taught more reliably in person, since they involve physical technique that’s hard to verify through a screen. Check with your certifying organization about which format they consider valid for their certification.
Do teenagers need their own line in the inventory?
Yes. Teenagers are often capable of first aid, fire safety, and communication-plan responsibilities, and treating them as a capable household member rather than just someone to be evacuated closes real gaps, especially if they’re sometimes home alone.
Educational Disclaimer
This article is for general educational purposes only. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, and it is not a substitute for training from a qualified instructor or guidance from a licensed medical professional. Blueprint Prepared is an independent publication and is not affiliated with the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, Ready.gov, or the American Red Cross. For official emergency planning guidance, visit Ready.gov.