safety/survival gear -- what do you carry?

     Instead of a pad I carry a puffy.  You can sit on your pack pad in an emergency but you can't wear it. 
     I second Snowbell's rec. of handwarmers:  you can snuggle one between your femoral arteries for the night, and it's less "Itchy".   A small custom drug kit is useful as he said; mine includes anti-cramp medicine (OOO! Gotta refill that bit  : ).
     I keep my duct tape on the ski poles, at a height where it serves as a lower platform for the uphill hand on a traverse.
     My repair stuff includes cord, bailing wire, binding screws, and steel wool (that gets stuffed into the stripped holes so the screws grab the thread remnants).  I've now given away 2 spare BD baskets to others who needed them. 
And beer?  Far too heavy for us fast-movers.  100-proof whatever is the best weight-to-results ratio.   

In addition to much of the previously mentioned, I've been carrying a couple of little orange smoke canisters, each about the dia. of 50 cent pc x 1" long. Have always thought would be a) effective signaling device, and b) let the rescue copter know which way the ground lvl winds are blowing. Have never had to use them, fortunately.

Okay, so that's all the emergency stuff people carry. How much of it may sit at the bottom of the pack for a few years and then fail at the moment it is needed?

Hand warmers that don't warm
Duct tape that won't peel off in reasonable pieces
Flares or smoke pots that don't smoke due to new state laws

That's one reason I wrap duct tape around a drink bottle, which usually is a soft drink bottle that gets recycled soon enough, to be replaced by more tape around a new bottle. And, I beware consumable emergency supplies unless I go ahead and fire off a test every so often.

[Direct experience, a friend fell and broke some ribs in a cave not 50 feet from where we had left an "emergency cache" a few years before, but unfortunately the supplies were toast and not much help. But we got him out.]

Luckily most items are static objects that are pretty easy to verify.

Two ft. length by two inch wide fluorescent reflective band ,sunblock, grip wax,cork, 2 long voile straps .Hope this helps bolster all the good info. your recieving.

This was such a good topic, I finally got around to laying out everything in my pack and seeing if it all passed the test.

Here is what I found:

This stuff is always in my pack stored in a small 1.1 nylon stuff sack.

Good First Aid Kit Space Blanket
Power bar 25’ parachute cord
Multi tool Associated Map
Dental floss +needle Altimeter
Pitch wood (fire starter) Compass
TP Whistle
Small envelope sport drink Hot Packs
Zip Fizz Stocking hat
10’ .40 stainless wire Headlamp+ spare batteries
Lighter Duck tape (small role)

This stuff is winter touring specific:

1 L water bottle Ibuprofen
½ L thermos TP
Shovel Skin/ski wax
Probe Foot care kit (athletic tape/moleskin)
Beacon (strapped on) Extra food (bars, sandwich)
Socks Big” headlamp (route finding able)
Wind pants Stocking hat (spare)
Jacket wind/rain Gloves (spare)
Parka (light)

This and the a few little bits of flotsam and jetsam weigh in at 19 ¾ lbs. In a different life I carried a few powerful pain relievers, and a few energy boosters, but unless I am going for an extended trip I go without these.

Recently a friend fell and broke her femur, she was by herself and luckily someone found her, but where she was, she could have just as likely spent the night out. As it turned out she did not have her pack, with the break, a night out in sub freezing weather might have been tough to survive. This has started me thinking about the perfect commo link, and the importance of a good trip plan shared with a trustworthy friend.