Individual Safety Kit
Each person must have a personal emergency safety kit.
This should be as small and light as possible. It will be carried at all times when you are outside urban areas!
The purpose of this safety kit is to help you survive unexpected conditions.
- Lost: survival for one day with shelter (poncho, space blanket), fire and food.
- Dehydration: Water purification tablets, ziploc bag.
- Separated from Group: whistle, compass and map.
- Injured: Bee or wasp stings (antihistamine), cuts (bandages and tape).
- Equipment failure: knife, line
A safety kit consists of those items which are held in reserve for emergencies. It should not include items that are accessed or used regularly.
This kit should be assembled in a container that is robust and which will protect the contents. Note, again, that this kit has items just for emergencies, so that it is not expected to be opened often. It may never be opened (which is good) except to refresh expired items or to verify the contents.
The following items are examples and represent what we consider to be a minimal list of items.
(Note that not all of the following may legally be taken on an airplane!)
- Waterproof LED flashlight with extra bulbs and batteries
- Magnesium fire starter bar (or other fire starting system THAT YOU KNOW HOW TO USE)
- 5 in one kit (or similar compact survival kit): compass, whistle, flint, matches, waterproof container, small mirror
- 10 meters of 400 lb. test nylon string
- Iodine pills and test treatment pills
- Ziploc bag (as a water container)
- Emergency space blanket
- Emergency poncho
- Emergency Knife, blade exceeds 3 1/2"
- 3 1/2" self adhesive bandage wrap
- 10 medium butterfly bandages
- Diphenhydramine (antihistamine such as Benadryl) tablets with instructions for use in sealed bag
- Ibuprophen tablets with instructions for use in sealed bag
- 1/2" waterproof tape
- Two protein bars
- Extra Rite-in-Rain note pad
- Carabiners (not for climbing but for supporting equipment)
- Contour map of the expected research area
- Small waterproof bag to store all of the above