List the critical skills for your estate
Not every skill matters equally. Mark the ones that, if missing, would put people at risk or stop a core system within days.
How
- Start from the systems you are building: power, water, sanitation, heat, food, animals, comms. For each, ask: what failure needs a person, not a part, to fix it?
- Mark as critical any skill that protects life (first aid, fire, carbon monoxide awareness, safe water), any skill that keeps water and heat running, and any skill that keeps stored food safe.
- Mark as important the skills that keep things comfortable or efficient, such as sewing, seed saving and carpentry.
- Set a redundancy goal: at least two people able to do each critical skill. This module uses two as a design choice so one person can act while the other fetches help or kit; medical-6 uses the same principle for first aid.
- Put the final count of critical skills into the skills coverage calculator below.
Do these first
Sources
- Community emergency plan toolkit. UK Cabinet Office toolkit (copy hosted by Test Valley Borough Council), accessed 2026-11