Home Emergency Information Sheet

Who this is for

The page you want on the wall when water is coming through the ceiling. It records where every shut-off and control is and how it works, where the safety kit is, and who to ring.

Every household, and especially anyone who leaves the house with a sitter, a lodger, a teenager or a guest who has never had to find the stopcock.

What this helps you track

• Where the stopcock, the gas or oil shut-off and the consumer unit are, and how to use them
• Where the fire extinguisher, first aid kit, torch and spare keys are kept
• Who to ring for each utility, with the account number they will ask for
• The insurer's emergency line and the policy number, before you need them

How to use it

1. Fill in the address as you would give it over the phone, and a landmark for anyone unfamiliar with the street.
2. Walk the house and write where each shut-off and control actually is — 'under the kitchen sink, behind the bin' — and how to operate it.
3. Do the same for the safety kit and the spare keys, then tick each line once you have checked it yourself.
4. Fill in the numbers: your utility suppliers, the tradespeople you would actually ring, and your insurer's emergency line with the policy number.
5. Print it, put it somewhere obvious, and show anyone staying in the house where it is.
6. Read through it once a year and when a supplier or a policy changes.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The online version keeps what you enter in your own browser and builds the completed PDF on your device.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

Is this the same as an emergency contact sheet?

No. A contact sheet is people. This is the house: where things are, how to turn them off and which company to ring. Keep both; the household contacts sheet on this site covers the people.

Why write how to operate the shut-off?

Because the person who needs it may never have turned a stopcock, and some turn the wrong way, are stiff, or need a key. One line of instruction saves a flooded kitchen.

Should the sheet include the emergency services number?

Write your country's number in the first line of the numbers table. The sheet does not print one because it differs by country and the sheet is used in many.

Where should it go?

Inside a kitchen cupboard door, by the consumer unit or on the fridge — somewhere a stranger to the house could be told to look. A photo of it on your phone is a good second copy.