CSCS Highway Works (Specialist) Questions
Specialist highway works test topic questions.
Highway Works (Specialist) — practice questions (untimed, instant feedback)
- 5 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 5 Highway Works (Specialist) questions and answers
These are the same 5 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. Why set up traffic-management signs before starting roadworks?
Answer: To warn road users of the conditions ahead
- A) To speed drivers up
- B) To warn road users of the conditions ahead (correct answer)
- C) To make the site look professional
- D) To attract more workers
Why: Signs guide road users safely through or around the works.
2. Which item of PPE is compulsory for every highway worker?
Answer: High-visibility clothing
- A) A hard hat
- B) Safety boots
- C) High-visibility clothing (correct answer)
- D) Ear protection
Why: High-visibility clothing ensures workers are seen by drivers and plant operators.
3. You find uncovered manholes on a roadworks site. What should you do?
Answer: Tell the supervisor so it is dealt with properly
- A) Cover them with whatever is to hand
- B) Tell the supervisor so it is dealt with properly (correct answer)
- C) Put a cone by them and work around
- D) Ignore them and carry on
Why: Uncovered manholes are a serious hazard; the supervisor must arrange the proper action.
4. Which document sets out the specific safety procedures for a highway site?
Answer: A method statement
- A) An operating manual
- B) A hazard report
- C) A method statement (correct answer)
- D) A risk assessment
Why: A method statement details how a task is to be carried out safely.
5. What is a risk assessment for in highway works?
Answer: To spot hazards and put controls in place
- A) To generate more paperwork
- B) To spot hazards and put controls in place (correct answer)
- C) To train new starters
- D) To hand out job roles
Why: Risk assessments identify hazards so control measures can be put in place.
What this topic covers in the CSCS test
Highway works is a CITB specialist test that adds road and street works questions to the five core Operatives topics. The governing document is Safety at Street Works and Road Works: A Code of Practice, the Red Book, issued under section 65 of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991. It covers all roads except motorways and dual carriageways at 50 mph or more. For those, and for further guidance generally, the Code points you to Chapter 8 of the Traffic Signs Manual, which it describes as authoritative advice that does not itself have the status of a Code of Practice under the Act.
- Signing, lighting and guarding: advance signs, tapers, cones, barriers and warning lights
- Site layout: works area, working space and safety zone, and what belongs in each
- High-visibility clothing classes and other PPE for working near live traffic
- Traffic control: give and take, priority signs, Stop/Go boards and portable signals
- Looking after pedestrians, cyclists, horse riders and disabled users
- Qualifications for street works operatives and supervisors
Key facts worth memorising
- The safety zone is not a work area
- Do not enter the safety zone in the normal course of work, and never place materials, equipment or vehicles in it. It protects you from traffic and traffic from you.
- Class 2 or 3, Class 3 on high-speed roads
- Chapter 8 requires high-visibility clothing at all times on site, to Class 2 or 3, and Class 3 with full-length sleeves on motorways and other high-speed roads.
- One metre for pedestrians
- In no circumstances may footway width be reduced below 1.0 metre. If you cannot maintain that, stop and consult your supervisor.
- Warning lights from 40 mph up
- Works on roads of 40 mph or more need warning lights lit in poor visibility or darkness, no more than 1.5 metres above the road at 40 mph or less and 1.2 metres at 50 mph or more.
- Traffic control has limits
- Give and take suits roads up to 30 mph with 50 metres of cones at most, priority signs up to 80 metres, manually rotated Stop/Go boards up to 500 metres, and portable signals up to 300 metres with highway authority permission. Remotely controlled Stop/Go boards are limited to 200 metres apart and to daylight hours.
- A qualified operative at all times
- NRSWA requires at least one operative on site whose qualifications match the work whenever street works are in progress, plus a qualified supervisor, who need not be present throughout.
What people get wrong
The safety zone is a handy place to stack cones, spoil or the van.
It is not. Materials, equipment and vehicles must not be placed there. Tools, spoil and plant belong in the working space.
Any high-visibility vest will do on the road.
Chapter 8 sets the class: 2 or 3, and Class 3 with full-length sleeves on high-speed roads. It must be clean, fastened and serviceable, and damaged garments replaced.
Get the signs out first and sort the layout afterwards.
The distances, including safety zone dimensions, are worked out first from the table in the Code for that road and speed limit. Advance signing must be in place before any works equipment goes in the carriageway.
A Stop/Go board is fine at night as long as the site is lit.
Chapter 8 requires each sign face to be lit by its own source of light, says reflectorised material alone is not sufficient, and states that it is unlawful to use Stop/Go boards at night unless they are directly lit.
Answering these questions in the test
Two habits carry you through most of these questions. First, the road decides the layout, not convenience: road type and speed limit set the sign sizes, distances, taper and safety zone, and you look them up before you unload. Second, keep the working space and the safety zone separate in your head, because confusing the two causes more wrong answers than anything else here. Failure to follow the Code is evidence of failing the legal duty to sign, light and guard works, so a short job is never an excuse.
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.
- gov.uk/government/publications/safety-at-street-works-and-road-works
- assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7d8038e5274a676d532707/safety-at-streetworks.pdf
- assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7cc632e5274a38e5756aa3/traffic-signs-manual-chapter-08-part-02.pdf
- gov.uk/government/publications/street-works-qualifications-in-england/street-works-qualifications-in-england-guidance-for-operatives-and-supervisors
- citb.co.uk/courses-tests/health-safety-and-environment-hse-test/specialist-test
Topics that come up alongside highway works (specialist)
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