Emergency Preparedness Merit Badge
The ten requirements, with the First Aid merit badge drawn as the major undertaking it is and the chart drawn before the family meeting that discusses it.
11 steps (49 parts inside them). 5 parts depend on questions you have not answered yet. · Version 1, published 13 August 2026 · About Emergency Preparedness Merit Badge
No questions answered
This is the whole plan: everything that could apply to anybody. Answering the 2 questions at the address above takes out the parts that are not for you.
Which of this applies to you
You have not answered anything yet, so this is the whole plan: everything that could apply to anybody. Answering 2 short questions will take out the parts that are not for you.
Your progress
56 steps can be started now; 3 are waiting on something else.
Clear ticksYour ticks are kept in this browser, so they will still be here next time. They are in the address as well, so a link to this page carries them to another device.
The steps
Stage 1 of 8
3 steps
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1. Emergency situations Requirement
The discussion, and then the chart that the rest of the badge refers back to.
23 parts, 1 ticked
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1(b). Build the chart: twenty-one situations against every aspect Often forgotten Usually comes after 1(a). Discuss the aspects of emergency preparedness. Twenty-one situations, all of them required, against every aspect of preparedness. It is easy to do fifteen and believe the requirement is finished, which is why they are drawn separately here. This chart is also what requirement 2(a) discusses, so it has to be complete before the family meeting.
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2. Planning for family emergencies Requirement
Three parts, and the first of them needs the whole family in one room.
3 parts
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2(a). Hold a family meeting about the chart Often forgotten Usually comes after 1(b). Build the chart: twenty-one situations against every aspect.
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9. Earn the First Aid merit badge Often forgotten Milestone
One line in the requirements and the largest single piece of work in this badge: a whole merit badge with fifteen requirements of its own. There is a separate plan for it on this site. Start it first.
This is an entire merit badge stated as one requirement, and it is by a wide margin the biggest piece of work on this page: First Aid has fifteen requirements and around a hundred parts. If you have already earned it, tick this and Emergency Preparedness is much shorter than it looks. If you have not, start it today and work through everything else here while it runs. There is a separate plan for the First Aid merit badge on this site.
Stage 2 of 8
2 steps
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3. Preventing accidents and emergencies. Do one of two Requirement
Inspect a building, or plan prevention for five family activities.
2 parts
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10. Careers. Do one of three Requirement
An interview, three careers researched, or the skills turned towards a hobby or a healthier life.
3 parts
Stage 3 of 8
1 step
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4. Save somebody without becoming a casualty Requirement
Four situations, and the words "without putting yourself in danger" are the requirement rather than a caution attached to it.
The words "without putting yourself in danger" are the requirement, not a caution attached to it. A rescue that makes a second casualty has not met requirement 4, whatever else it achieved.
Stage 4 of 8
1 step
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5. Signalling for help Requirement
Three audiences: the air, the ground and the water.
Stage 5 of 8
1 step
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6. Move an injured person out of a remote area Task
With another person, two good ways using improvised stretchers: conserving the rescuers' energy while keeping the casualty safe.
Stage 6 of 8
1 step
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7. NIMS and the Incident Command System Requirement
How the formal machinery works, and where a troop fits into it.
Stage 7 of 8
1 step
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8. Emergency service Requirement
Four parts, ending in something you take part in rather than describe.
8 parts
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8(d). Take part in an emergency service project or exercise Often forgotten This one depends on an organisation. A real emergency service project or a practice exercise, with a troop, a community agency, a Scout camp or a school: mobilisation exercises are not something you can arrange for yourself. Ask early what is already planned.
Stage 8 of 8
1 step
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Counselor signs it off Milestone
The completion date is the date you met the requirements, not the date of the signature.
Usually comes after 9. Earn the First Aid merit badge, 8. Emergency service and 10. Careers. Do one of three.
Merit badge requirements are republished annually. A Scout beginning work uses the requirements as they stand then; a Scout already working may finish under the ones they started with. Guide to Advancement 7.0.4.3 governs which applies. This page records the date its copy was read. Check it against the official page before relying on it.
This plan is a planning aid: the current Boy Scouts of America publication is always the authority, and the sources used here are listed in full. Each step names its own.