CITB Test Questions 2026: What You Need to Know to Pass

What questions come up on the CITB test?

Every question is multiple choice with four options. Some include photographs or short video clips showing a workplace scenario where you need to spot the hazard or identify the correct action. The questions are drawn from 14 topic areas, and you will get a mix of topics in each test. You will not know in advance which topics will feature more heavily.

The pass mark is brutal. 90% means you can only get 5 questions wrong out of 50. Most people who fail do so because they are strong on the common topics (fire safety, PPE, manual handling) but get caught out on the detail-heavy ones (RIDDOR thresholds, noise action values, specific regulations).

Below is a breakdown of every topic area, what the questions test, and the specific facts and figures you need to memorise.

The 14 CITB Test Topics

1. Working at Height

Falls from height are the biggest cause of death in UK construction. Questions test the Work at Height Regulations 2005, which apply at any height where a fall could cause injury (there is no minimum height threshold). You need to know the hierarchy: avoid work at height, prevent falls with collective protection, then minimise distance with personal protection. Know that ladders must be at 75 degrees (4:1 ratio), scaffold guardrails must be at least 950mm high, and ladders should only be used for short-duration work of 30 minutes or less.

2. Manual Handling

Back injuries from poor lifting are extremely common. Questions cover the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 and the TILE framework (Task, Individual, Load, Environment). Key figure: the HSE guideline maximum is 25 kg for men, 16 kg for women in ideal conditions. These are guidelines, not legal limits. The correct lifting technique: bend knees, straight back, load close to body, lift with legs, never twist.

3. Hazardous Substances (COSHH)

The COSHH Regulations 2002 require employers to assess and control exposure to hazardous substances. You need to know the three routes of entry: inhalation, skin absorption, and ingestion. Questions will test your knowledge of safety data sheets, GHS hazard symbols (skull and crossbones = acute toxicity, flame = flammable, exclamation mark = irritant, hand being dissolved = corrosive), and what to do if you are exposed.

4. Asbestos

Asbestos kills more construction workers than anything else. It can be found in any building built or refurbished before 2000. The ban came in 1999. You cannot identify asbestos by sight alone. If you suspect it: stop work, leave the area, report it. Never attempt to remove, bag, or disturb it yourself. Only licensed contractors can handle most types. The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 places a duty on building owners to manage it.

5. Fire Safety

One of the most heavily tested topics. You must know the fire triangle (heat, fuel, oxygen) and the extinguisher colour codes: red = water, cream = foam, blue = dry powder, black = CO2, yellow = wet chemical. Never use water on electrical fires. If you discover a fire: raise the alarm first. Only fight it if trained, the fire is small, and your escape route is clear. Know the difference between Class A (solid), B (liquid), C (gas), D (metal), and F (cooking oil) fires.

6. Electrical Safety

UK construction sites use 110-volt supply through a centre-tapped earth transformer. Maximum shock voltage is 55V, which is much less likely to kill than 240V mains. Plug colour codes: yellow = 110V, blue = 230V, red = 415V three-phase. Before using any portable tool: check the cable, plug, and casing for damage, and check the PAT test label is in date.

7. Excavations and Confined Spaces

Trench collapse is one of the most common causes of death. Before digging: check service plans and use a CAT scanner to locate buried services. Excavations must be inspected by a competent person at the start of every shift and after any event affecting stability. Confined spaces require a permit to work, safe system of work, and trained rescue team on standby. Never enter a confined space to rescue someone unless you are trained and equipped.

8. Personal Protective Equipment

PPE is the last resort in the hierarchy of controls: eliminate, substitute, engineer, administrate, then PPE. The employer must provide it free of charge. Workers must use it correctly and report defects. Type I hard hats protect from top impacts only. Type II helmets protect from top and side impacts. The CE marking (now UKCA in the UK) means it meets minimum safety standards.

9. Noise and Vibration

Know the noise action values: 80 dB(A) = lower action value (provide information, make hearing protection available). 85 dB(A) = upper action value (hearing protection mandatory, designate zones). 87 dB(A) = exposure limit that must not be exceeded. For vibration: hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) is caused by regular use of vibrating tools. Symptoms: white fingers, numbness, tingling. Reduce risk by limiting exposure time and using low-vibration tools.

10. First Aid and RIDDOR

Minimum provision: an appointed person and a stocked first aid kit. The DR ABC protocol: Danger, Response, Airway, Breathing, Circulation. Under RIDDOR, you must report: fractures (except fingers/thumbs/toes), amputations, crush injuries to head or torso, burns covering significant area, loss of consciousness, and injuries causing over 7 consecutive days off work. Deaths must be reported immediately by phone.

11. Environmental Awareness

Fuel and chemical spills must be contained with a spill kit and reported. Never wash anything into drains. If a spill reaches a watercourse, report it to the Environment Agency. Causing pollution is a criminal offence. Construction sites must control noise, dust, vibration, and water pollution to minimise impact on local residents.

12. Risk Assessment

Know the five steps: identify hazards, decide who might be harmed, evaluate risks and decide controls, record findings, review and update. A hazard is anything that could cause harm. A risk is the likelihood and severity of that harm occurring. The hierarchy of controls: eliminate, substitute, engineering controls, administrative controls, PPE. This concept appears across almost every topic.

13. Health and Welfare

CDM requires construction sites to provide: toilets, hot and cold washing facilities, drinking water, heated rest area, means of heating food, and clothing storage. Leptospirosis (Weil’s disease) is caught from water or soil contaminated by rat urine. Dermatitis is caused by repeated contact with cement, solvents, and detergents. Health surveillance catches problems like HAVS, hearing loss, and respiratory conditions early.

14. General Site Safety

Safety sign colours: red circle = prohibition (must not do), blue circle = mandatory (must do), yellow triangle = warning, green rectangle = safe condition (exits, first aid). Everyone entering site for the first time needs a site induction. A permit to work is required for high-risk activities like hot work, confined space entry, and work on live electrical systems.

How Topics Are Weighted

The CITB does not publish an official weighting, but based on the revision materials and candidate feedback, working at height, fire safety, hazardous substances, and manual handling tend to account for the largest share of questions. That said, you cannot afford to skip any topic. At a 90% pass mark, even two or three questions from a “minor” topic like environmental awareness or welfare facilities can be the difference between passing and failing.

The Operatives test and the Managers and Professionals (MAP) test draw from different question pools. The Operatives test focuses on practical site-level knowledge: what to do if you find asbestos, how to lift safely, which extinguisher to use. The MAP test adds questions on CDM 2015 duties, accident investigation, HASAWA Section 2 and Section 7 responsibilities, and management of contractors. If you are going for a black card, our premium mock test includes a dedicated Managers and Professionals question bank with 150+ MAP-specific questions.

Image and Video Questions

Not all questions are text-only. The real CITB test includes photographs and short video clips showing construction site scenarios. You might see a picture of a scaffold with missing guardrails and be asked to identify the hazard. Or a video of someone operating a forklift and asked what they are doing wrong. These questions test the same knowledge as the text questions, but they require you to apply it visually rather than just recall a fact.

The best way to prepare for these is to practise looking at construction site photographs critically. Every time you are on a real site, get into the habit of scanning for hazards: missing edge protection, unsecured loads, blocked fire exits, damaged cables, missing signage. That habit of active observation is exactly what the image questions are testing.

Where Most People Fail

The pass rate for the CITB Operatives test hovers around 85%. That means roughly 1 in 7 people fail and have to pay £22.50 to retake it. The most common trip-ups are detail questions rather than concept questions.

Fire extinguisher colours are the single most commonly failed question type. People confuse cream (foam) with blue (dry powder) or forget that black means CO2. If you only memorise one thing from this page, memorise the five extinguisher colours.

Noise action values catch people because the numbers are close together: 80, 85, 87. You need to know exactly what happens at each threshold. At 80, hearing protection is made available. At 85, it becomes mandatory. At 87, you have exceeded the legal limit.

RIDDOR reporting trips candidates because the rules are specific. Not all fractures need reporting (fingers, thumbs, and toes are excluded). The 7-day rule is consecutive days, not working days. Burns must cover a “significant” area. These details matter at the 90% pass mark.

The hierarchy of controls appears in different forms across multiple topics. If you understand that elimination is always first and PPE is always last, you can work out the correct answer to questions about manual handling, working at height, noise, dust, and chemicals without memorising each one separately.

The Questions That Look Easy But Are Not

Some CITB questions are designed to test whether you really understand a concept or just recognise the keywords. For example, a question might ask “When should PPE be used?” and offer “at all times” as an option. Many candidates pick it because it sounds like the safest answer. But the correct answer is “as a last resort after all other controls have been considered.” The test rewards precise understanding over cautious guessing.

Another common trap is questions that use “first” or “most important.” If a question asks what you should do first when you discover a fire, the answer is raise the alarm, not grab an extinguisher. If it asks what the most important factor is before a manual lift, the answer is the risk assessment, not the lifting technique. These priority questions test whether you know the correct sequence, not just the correct actions.

Watch out for double negatives and absolute language. Questions with “never”, “always”, “all”, and “none” are often distractors. Construction safety is about managing risk, not eliminating it entirely. If an answer option claims something is “completely safe” or “never required”, it is almost certainly wrong.

How to Prepare for the CITB Test

The most effective approach is active practice testing, not passive reading. Research consistently shows that testing yourself on material is more effective for retention than simply re-reading notes. That means taking mock tests, reviewing what you got wrong, studying those areas, and testing again.

Step 1: Read through the topic summaries above and highlight any areas where you are not confident on the specific figures and thresholds.

Step 2: Take a full 50-question practice test under timed conditions. The topic-by-topic breakdown at the end shows exactly where your weaknesses are.

Step 3: Study your weak topics using the official CITB revision materials (the “blue book” available from the CITB website).

Step 4: Retake the mock test. Because our test draws from a bank of 300+ questions, you will get different questions each time. Keep cycling until you are consistently scoring above 90%.

Do not book your real test until you are passing the mock test comfortably. At £22.50 a pop, failing twice costs more than the time spent practising.

What Happens on Test Day

The test takes place at a Pearson VUE test centre. Arrive 15 minutes early with valid photo ID (passport or driving licence). You cannot bring phones, notes, or any other materials into the test room.

The test is on a touchscreen computer. 50 questions, one at a time, with a countdown timer. Some questions include photographs or short videos showing workplace scenarios. You tap your answer on the screen. You can go back and change answers before submitting.

You get your result immediately. Pass and you receive a confirmation letter for your CSCS card application. Fail and you can rebook after 48 hours, but you pay the full £22.50 again.

After You Pass

Your CITB test result is valid for two years. Within that window, you need to apply for your CSCS card through the CSCS website. The card itself costs around £36 and is valid for five years. If you let the two-year window expire without applying, you will need to retake the CITB test and pay the £22.50 fee again.

Which card you get depends on your qualifications, not your test score. The test is a pass/fail gateway. A green card requires a basic health and safety course. A blue card requires an NVQ Level 2 in your trade. A gold card requires an NVQ Level 3 or 4. A black card requires an NVQ Level 6 or 7. If you are unsure which card you need, use our CSCS Card Finder.

If you are looking to progress from a green card to a blue card through on-site assessment rather than classroom training, our guide on how to get a blue CSCS card without NVQ explains the EWPA and OSAT routes available to experienced workers.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many questions are on the real CITB test?

50 multiple choice questions in 45 minutes. You need 45 correct (90%) to pass the Operatives test. The Managers and Professionals (MAP) test also has 50 questions but with an 80% pass mark.

Are the questions on this page from the real test?

No. The real CITB questions are not published. The topic summaries and example questions here are written by NVQ Reviews to cover the same knowledge areas at the same difficulty level. Use them alongside the official revision materials for the best preparation.

What is the pass rate for the CITB test?

Around 85% for the Operatives test. That means roughly 1 in 7 candidates fail on their first attempt. The most common reason is underestimating the detail required at a 90% pass mark.

How much does the test cost?

£22.50 per attempt as of 2026. If you fail, you pay the full fee again to rebook. There is no limit on retakes but there is a 48-hour minimum wait between attempts.

How long is the result valid?

Two years. You must apply for your CSCS card within this window. Once your card is issued, it is valid for five years.

Which version of the test do I need?

The Operatives test is for green card and blue card applicants. The Managers and Professionals (MAP) test is for black card applicants. Our premium mock test covers both versions with separate question banks.

Can I take the CITB test online?

No. The official test must be taken in person at a Pearson VUE centre. You can practise online with our mock tests, but the real exam requires in-person attendance with photo ID.

What should I do if I fail?

You can rebook after a 48-hour wait. Use the time to identify where you lost marks (our premium test gives you a topic-by-topic breakdown), study those specific areas, and retake the mock until you are consistently above 90% before rebooking the real thing.