CSCS Health & Welfare Questions
Welfare facilities, hygiene and occupational health.
Health & Welfare — practice questions (untimed, instant feedback)
- 7 questions · pass mark 90%
- Untimed practice — you see the correct answer immediately after each question.
- Some questions need more than one answer — these are clearly marked.
All 7 Health & Welfare questions and answers
These are the same 7 questions as the practice test above, written out with the correct answer and the reasoning behind it. Read them through when you want to revise rather than test yourself.
1. Someone has burnt their hand. What is the best immediate action?
Answer: Cool the hand in cold water or under a cold running tap
- A) Cool the hand in cold water or under a cold running tap (correct answer)
- B) Rub barrier cream or petroleum jelly onto the burn
- C) Get them to keep working to keep the hand moving
- D) Wrap a handkerchief around the burn
Why: Cooling a burn with cold running water limits the damage; creams or cloths can trap heat or cause infection.
2. You find pigeon droppings and nests where you need to work. What should you do?
Answer: Stop work and ask for advice
- A) Work on carefully to avoid disturbing them
- B) Stop work and ask for advice (correct answer)
- C) Attempt to catch the birds
- D) Wait until the birds leave
Why: Bird droppings can carry disease such as psittacosis, so stop and seek advice before continuing.
3. Why must drinking water be available on site?
Answer: To keep workers hydrated
- A) To keep workers hydrated (correct answer)
- B) To wash tools
- C) To mix concrete
- D) To dilute chemicals
Why: Drinking water is a welfare requirement that helps prevent dehydration.
4. Which of these is NOT a required site welfare facility?
Answer: A canteen serving hot food
- A) Toilets
- B) A canteen serving hot food (correct answer)
- C) Somewhere to change
- D) Washing facilities
Why: Toilets, washing and changing facilities are required; a hot-food canteen is not.
5. Why is suitable site lighting important?
Answer: To help prevent accidents and injuries
- A) To lift the mood
- B) To help prevent accidents and injuries (correct answer)
- C) To cut the electricity bill
- D) To speed the work up
Why: Good lighting keeps hazards visible and helps prevent accidents.
6. When should a first-aid kit be checked and restocked?
Answer: Whenever it is used
- A) Monthly
- B) Weekly
- C) Whenever it is used (correct answer)
- D) Daily
Why: Restock a first-aid kit whenever it is used so it is always complete.
7. Which statement about welfare facilities is true?
Answer: Employers must provide somewhere to store and dry clothing
- A) Workers must bring their own cleaning supplies
- B) Employers must provide somewhere to store and dry clothing (correct answer)
- C) Toilets need not be separated by gender
- D) Small sites need no toilets
Why: Employers must provide facilities to store and dry workers' clothing.
What this topic covers in the CSCS test
Welfare on site is a legal minimum, not a perk. Schedule 2 of CDM 2015 lists the facilities every construction site must have, and they must be there from the first day of the job to the last. The test covers those facilities alongside the everyday health risks of site work: dehydration, poor lighting, contaminated ground and the harmful micro-organisms that groundwork, demolition and refurbishment can disturb.
- The five Schedule 2 headings: toilets, washing, drinking water, changing rooms and lockers, rest facilities
- Who provides welfare and who has to check that it happens
- What washing facilities must include, and why washing is a health control
- Drinking water, rest areas and the means of boiling water
- First-aid provision: needs assessment, first-aiders, appointed persons, restocking the kit
- Harmful micro-organisms disturbed by groundwork, demolition and refurbishment
Key facts worth memorising
- The five Schedule 2 headings
- Sanitary conveniences, washing facilities, drinking water, changing rooms and lockers, and facilities for rest, with rest areas having tables, seating with backs, somewhere meals can be prepared and eaten, and the means of boiling water.
- What washing facilities must include
- Clean hot and cold, or warm, water (running so far as reasonably practicable), soap or another means of cleaning, and towels or another means of drying, sited next to every toilet and near any changing rooms.
- Drinking water
- An adequate supply of wholesome drinking water at readily accessible places, signed where needed for health or safety, with cups unless it is a jet people can drink from directly.
- Storing and drying clothing
- Changing rooms need seating and, where necessary, facilities to dry special and personal clothing, plus lockable storage for clothing and personal effects.
- Who provides it
- Contractors provide welfare for workers under their control, the principal contractor must ensure it is there from the start of the project to the finish, and commercial clients must make sure those arrangements exist.
- First-aid minimum
- A suitably stocked first-aid kit, an appointed person to take charge of arrangements and call the emergency services, and information for employees, with kits checked frequently and restocked soon after any use.
What people get wrong
Small or short jobs do not need welfare facilities.
Everyone working on a construction site must have access to toilets and facilities for washing, changing, eating and rest. Mobile units, a central compound or an agreed arrangement to use nearby facilities are all acceptable, but none removes the requirement.
A canteen serving hot food is a required welfare facility.
It is not on the Schedule 2 list. What is required is a rest area where meals can be prepared and eaten, with tables, seating and the means of boiling water.
Hand sanitiser and a small sink in a portable toilet will do.
HSE says that is inadequate unless other suitable washing facilities are nearby. You must be able to wash hands, face and forearms properly.
The first-aid kit gets checked monthly, so it will be fine.
Restock it soon after any use rather than waiting for the next scheduled check.
Answering these questions in the test
Most welfare questions test whether you can separate 'must be provided' from 'would be nice'. Toilets, washing, drinking water, somewhere to change and store or dry clothing, and somewhere to sit and eat are all required; hot meals and a staffed canteen are not. Where a facility is dirty, broken, out of supplies or too far away, the answer is to report it. On health risks the pattern holds: if you disturb ground, drainage or an old building and are not sure what you have found, ask before you carry on.
Sources
Written from the following. Where a figure could not be verified against one of these, it has been left out rather than approximated — our sources and methodology explains how we date and re-check them. Spotted something wrong? Report an error and we will fix it.
- legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/51/schedule/2/made
- hse.gov.uk/construction/healthrisks/welfare/index.htm
- hse.gov.uk/construction/healthrisks/welfare/toilets-and-washing.htm
- hse.gov.uk/construction/healthrisks/hazardous-substances/harmful-micro-organisms.htm
- hse.gov.uk/firstaid/what-employers-need-to-do.htm
Topics that come up alongside health & welfare
Ready for the real thing?
When you are scoring 90% or better here, take a timed 50-question mock under exam conditions, then book your CITB HS&E test.