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CSCS Test Questions and Answers

These aren't real CITB exam questions — CITB doesn't publish its actual question bank, and anyone claiming to sell "leaked" real questions isn't being straight with you. What follows are six example questions written in the same style and covering the same core topics as the real Health, Safety & Environment test, each with a full explanation so you understand the reasoning, not just the answer.

1. PPE replacement

If your employer-provided PPE gets damaged during normal use, who is responsible for replacing it?

  • The worker, out of their own pocket
  • The employer, at no cost to the worker
  • It's split between the employer and worker
  • Nobody — damaged PPE is simply used until the next scheduled replacement
Reveal the answer
The employer, at no cost to the worker.

Under the PPE at Work Regulations 1992, employers must provide suitable PPE free of charge, and that duty includes replacing it when it's lost, damaged, or worn out from normal use.

2. Manual handling

What does the "TILE" mnemonic help you assess before a manual handling task?

  • Time, Insurance, Location, Equipment
  • Task, Individual, Load, Environment
  • Training, Inspection, Lifting, Evaluation
  • Tools, Injury risk, Lighting, Exit routes
Reveal the answer
Task, Individual, Load, Environment.

TILE comes from the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992. It's a simple framework for assessing a lift before you do it: what the task involves, whether the individual is capable of it safely, how awkward or heavy the load is, and what the environment (space, floor, lighting) is like.

3. Reporting a serious injury

Under RIDDOR, how quickly must a death or specified injury at work be reported?

  • Without delay, followed by a written report within 10 days
  • Within 30 days, in writing only
  • Only if the HSE specifically requests it
  • Within 7 days, verbally is sufficient
Reveal the answer
Without delay, followed by a written report within 10 days.

RIDDOR (the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations) requires deaths and specified injuries to be reported to the HSE without delay, with a written follow-up report due within 10 days. Over-7-day injuries have a longer window — 15 days.

4. Working at height

What is the correct order of priority under the Work at Height Regulations 2005?

  • Arrest a fall, then prevent a fall, then avoid working at height
  • Avoid working at height, then prevent falls, then minimise the distance and consequences of a fall
  • Use a harness at all times regardless of the task
  • There is no set order — any control measure is equally acceptable
Reveal the answer
Avoid working at height, then prevent falls, then minimise the distance and consequences of a fall.

This is the hierarchy of control for work at height: first ask whether the work at height can be avoided entirely, then use collective measures to prevent a fall (like guardrails), and only fall back on minimising the distance and consequences of a fall (like fall-arrest systems) when the first two aren't reasonably practicable. Restraint is always preferred over arrest.

5. Safety signage

What colour combination indicates a first aid sign under BS EN ISO 7010?

  • Red cross on a white background
  • White cross on a green background
  • Black cross on a yellow background
  • Blue cross on a white background
Reveal the answer
White cross on a green background.

Green background signs indicate safe conditions or emergency escape/first aid facilities. First aid specifically uses a white cross on green (BS EN ISO 7010:2012, sign E003) — not red, which is reserved for prohibition signs.

6. "Reasonably practicable"

In UK health and safety law, what does "reasonably practicable" mean?

  • Whatever the employer can afford, regardless of risk
  • Every possible precaution, no matter the cost or effort
  • Weighing the level of risk against the cost, time, and effort needed to control it
  • A legal term with no real definition
Reveal the answer
Weighing the level of risk against the cost, time, and effort needed to control it.

This is the standard used throughout UK health and safety law (including the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974). It's not "do everything possible" and it's not "do the cheapest thing" — it's a balance, often described as reducing risk to a level that is "as low as reasonably practicable" (ALARP).

Want to practise with a full test?

These six cover a slice of what comes up. The real test spans PPE, manual handling, working at height, fire safety, hazardous substances, signs and signals, accident reporting, and general site safety — our free mock test covers all of it, 50 questions at a time, with the same instant explanations.

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