CSCS Leadership & Management (MAP) Questions
Managers & Professionals test: leading safe working.
These questions cover leadership & management (map)for the CITB Health, Safety and Environment (HS&E) test, the exam UK construction workers pass to get a CSCS card.
Leadership & Management (MAP): practice questions (untimed, instant feedback)
- 50 questions · pass mark 90%
- Untimed practice: you see the correct answer immediately after each question.
- Some questions need more than one answer, and these are clearly marked.
All 50 Leadership & Management (MAP) questions and answers
These are the same 50 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. What is a key responsibility of a construction site manager?
Answer: Making sure the work meets safety regulations
- A) Directly managing site staff
- B) Making sure the work meets safety regulations (correct answer)
- C) Recruiting the project's staff
- D) Drawing up the building plans
Why: Site managers must ensure work complies with safety regulations and standards.
2. Which is a key leadership skill for running a construction team?
Answer: Communicating effectively
- A) Designing the architecture
- B) Communicating effectively (correct answer)
- C) Operating machinery
- D) Making building materials
Why: Leaders need effective communication to convey safety procedures and resolve issues.
3. In construction management, what does 'QA' stand for?
Answer: Quality Assurance
- A) Quick Action
- B) Quality Assessment
- C) Quality Assurance (correct answer)
- D) Quantitative Analysis
Why: QA stands for Quality Assurance: the processes that ensure the quality of the work.
4. A worker keeps breaking safety rules. What should a construction manager do?
Answer: Give further training and record what happened
- A) Let it go
- B) Sack them on the spot without any further discussion
- C) Give further training and record what happened (correct answer)
- D) Report them straight to the outside safety authorities
Why: Further training plus a written record addresses the issue constructively.
5. Why carry out regular risk assessments on a construction site?
Answer: To find hazards and reduce them
- A) To push up project costs
- B) To find hazards and reduce them (correct answer)
- C) To train staff
- D) To guarantee the project finishes
Why: Regular assessments identify hazards so preventive measures can be put in place.
6. You are supervising a confined-space entry; the permit expires in 20 minutes but the job needs another hour. What do you do?
Answer: Stop, evacuate the space and issue a new permit
- A) Stop, evacuate the space and issue a new permit (correct answer)
- B) Carry on working until the permit actually runs out
- C) Tell the workers to speed up and get the job finished
- D) Nothing at all, since the work is very nearly finished
Why: Permits are time-limited so conditions are re-tested. Stop, clear the space and re-issue.
7. A new starter arrives with no proof of induction and the job is on the critical path. What is the correct response?
Answer: Refuse site access until induction is done
- A) Let them work because of the pressure on the schedule
- B) Refuse site access until induction is done (correct answer)
- C) Induct them yourself on the spot and note it later
- D) Ignore it and sort the induction paperwork out later
Why: Schedule pressure never justifies skipping induction.
8. In a daily briefing a worker raises a safety concern not covered by the method statement. How should you handle it?
Answer: Take it seriously and reassess the risk there and then
- A) Dismiss the point and move on with the rest of the briefing
- B) Take it seriously and reassess the risk there and then (correct answer)
- C) Tell them to be quiet and let you get on with the briefing
- D) Ignore it because the concern is not documented anywhere
Why: Acting on valid concerns is what keeps a safety culture credible.
9. You see a subcontractor using a damaged grinder; they say their firm allows it. What is your authority?
Answer: You can stop the work immediately
- A) You have none
- B) You can stop the work immediately (correct answer)
- C) You must first call their own supervisor
- D) It is not your responsibility
Why: A site supervisor can stop unsafe work regardless of who employs the operative.
10. A near miss is reported and the investigation will take hours. What is your minimum obligation?
Answer: Log it in the near-miss register and share the immediate finding
- A) Log it in the register and then put the whole thing out of your mind
- B) Log it in the near-miss register and share the immediate finding (correct answer)
- C) Do nothing at all until the full investigation has been completed
- D) Tell your own line manager, and nobody else, until the report is ready
Why: Log it the same day and share the immediate learning at the next toolbox talk.
11. Under CDM 2015, who has the legal duty to draw up the construction phase plan?
Answer: The principal contractor
- A) The principal contractor (correct answer)
- B) The client
- C) The safety officer
- D) The project manager
Why: The client must ensure one exists, but drawing it up is the principal contractor's duty.
12. A project runs over 30 days with 20+ workers at once, or exceeds 500 person-days. What is required?
Answer: The client submits an F10 notification to the HSE
- A) The principal contractor sends the F10 notification to the HSE
- B) The client submits an F10 notification to the HSE (correct answer)
- C) No action is needed, because those thresholds do not apply
- D) The project manager telephones the HSE to give notice
Why: Those thresholds trigger the client's F10 notification under CDM 2015.
13. As principal designer on a 1970s office refurbishment, which survey must be in place before intrusive work?
Answer: An asbestos refurbishment and demolition (R&D) survey
- A) A general health and safety survey of the whole building
- B) An asbestos refurbishment and demolition (R&D) survey (correct answer)
- C) A structural survey
- D) A CDM compliance survey signed off by the principal designer
Why: Pre-2000 buildings likely contain asbestos, so an R&D survey is required first.
14. Your accident frequency rate is rising. Which leading indicator best helps you diagnose the cause early?
Answer: Near-miss reporting rate
- A) Toolbox-talk attendance
- B) Training completion rate
- C) Near-miss reporting rate (correct answer)
- D) Past audit results
Why: A healthy near-miss reporting rate flags problems before the next serious incident.
15. A subcontractor's competence evidence is missing but the gang has arrived. What must the principal contractor do?
Answer: Refuse the work until competence evidence is provided
- A) Let the work proceed and chase the paperwork up afterwards
- B) Do a quick informal check of the gang and let them start
- C) Refuse the work until competence evidence is provided (correct answer)
- D) Just inform the client and let the work carry on as planned
Why: CDM 2015 requires every operative to be competent and inducted before working.
16. Regulation 5(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 names the elements an employer's health and safety arrangements must cover. Which set does it actually list?
Answer: Planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of the measures
- A) Design, procurement, installation, commissioning and handover of the works
- B) Costing, tendering, programming, invoicing and final account settlement
- C) Consultation, election, balloting, inspection and prosecution of offenders
- D) Planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of the measures (correct answer)
Why: Regulation 5(1) requires arrangements for the effective planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of the preventive and protective measures. Supervisors sit mainly in the control and monitoring parts of that list, but they need to recognise all five. The other options describe commercial or design processes, which regulation 5 does not mention.
17. A firm has a thick safety manual that nobody on site actually follows. Why does that fail regulation 5(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999?
Answer: The employer must make the arrangements and also give effect to them
- A) The employer must make the arrangements and also give effect to them (correct answer)
- B) The manual has to be approved in advance by the enforcing authority
- C) A safety manual must be reissued to every operative once each quarter
- D) Written arrangements are only valid once a safety committee adopts them
Why: Regulation 5(1) uses the words make and give effect to. Writing the arrangements down is only half of it, because they must actually be put into practice. This is the legal backbone of what the industry calls a positive safety culture. There is no requirement for the regulator to approve a manual, nor for quarterly reissue or committee adoption.
18. A supervisor spends part of each shift walking the job and checking the gang is still working to the agreed method. Which element of regulation 5(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 is he carrying out?
Answer: Monitoring, which regulation 5(1) lists alongside control and review
- A) Certification, which regulation 5(1) requires of a competent person
- B) Consultation, which regulation 5(1) lists as a separate sixth element
- C) Notification, which regulation 5(1) requires before every shift begins
- D) Monitoring, which regulation 5(1) lists alongside control and review (correct answer)
Why: Regulation 5(1) lists planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review. Checking that agreed measures are still being followed in practice is monitoring. Consultation is dealt with elsewhere in health and safety law and is not one of the five elements, and regulation 5 contains no notification or certification element.
19. Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, when must an employer record the health and safety arrangements required by regulation 5?
Answer: Once the employer has five or more employees in the undertaking
- A) Only after an inspector has served a formal improvement notice
- B) Once the employer has five or more employees in the undertaking (correct answer)
- C) Whenever a gang of more than ten operatives works on a single site
- D) As soon as a construction phase plan is drawn up for the project
Why: Regulation 5(2) ties the recording duty to the size of the undertaking: the arrangements must be recorded where the employer employs five or more employees. It is not triggered by enforcement action, by gang size on a particular site, or by the existence of a construction phase plan.
20. Regulation 3(3) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 sets out when a risk assessment has to be reviewed. What are the triggers?
Answer: Reason to suspect it is no longer valid, or a significant change
- A) Reason to suspect it is no longer valid, or a significant change (correct answer)
- B) A reportable injury actually occurring to a member of the working gang
- C) A request from the client during a scheduled site progress meeting
- D) The passing of twelve months from the date the assessment was signed
Why: Regulation 3(3) requires review where there is reason to suspect the assessment is no longer valid, or where there has been a significant change in the matters to which it relates, and any changes needed must then be made. It sets no fixed annual interval, and review is not made to depend on an injury happening or on a client request.
21. An employer with five or more employees has completed a risk assessment. What does regulation 3(6) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require to be recorded?
Answer: The significant findings, and any group of employees especially at risk
- A) The names of all the subcontractors quoting for the next work package
- B) A signed statement from each operative accepting the risks identified
- C) The significant findings, and any group of employees especially at risk (correct answer)
- D) A complete copy of every Approved Code of Practice held on that site
Why: Regulation 3(6) requires an employer with five or more employees to record the significant findings of the assessment and any group of employees identified by it as being especially at risk. There is no requirement for workers to sign an acceptance of risk, and the other options are commercial or library documents.
22. Section 2(2)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 names four things an employer must provide so far as is reasonably practicable. What are they?
Answer: Information, instruction, training and supervision for the employees
- A) Wages, holiday entitlement, sick pay and a written employment contract
- B) Information, instruction, training and supervision for the employees (correct answer)
- C) Head protection, gloves, safety boots and eye protection free of charge
- D) Site induction, toolbox talk, written site rules and a permit to work
Why: Section 2(2)(c) covers the provision of such information, instruction, training and supervision as is necessary to ensure health and safety at work. Supervision is written into the Act itself, which is why supervisory competence is a legal matter and not just good management. The other options list employment terms, equipment or site documents.
23. A site manager tells a new supervisor that supervision and inspection are different things. Which description best fits supervision as the word is used in section 2(2)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974?
Answer: Ongoing oversight of workers as the job proceeds, correcting unsafe acts
- A) A formal recorded examination of plant or a structure at set intervals
- B) An enforcement visit made by an inspector from the relevant authority
- C) A statutory report completed by a competent person and filed on site
- D) Ongoing oversight of workers as the job proceeds, correcting unsafe acts (correct answer)
Why: Section 2(2)(c) treats supervision as a continuing provision made for employees, sitting alongside information, instruction and training. In practice that means watching the work as it happens and putting it right. A thorough examination of plant, a statutory report and a regulator's visit are all inspection activities, which are periodic and evidential rather than continuous.
24. A supervisor gives a short talk to his gang at the start of a shift about a hazard that has just appeared on site. Under CDM 2015, which duty does this most directly help the contractor discharge?
Answer: Giving each worker under its control supervision, instructions and information
- A) Drawing up a fresh construction phase plan for that particular shift
- B) Appointing a principal designer for the remaining phases of the project
- C) Giving each worker under its control supervision, instructions and information (correct answer)
- D) Notifying the enforcing authority in writing that a new site hazard has appeared
Why: Regulation 15(8) of CDM 2015 requires a contractor to provide each worker under their control with appropriate supervision, instructions and information so the work can be done without risks to health and safety so far as is reasonably practicable. A toolbox talk is a common way of doing this. It is good practice rather than a named legal document, so it does not replace the construction phase plan or trigger any notification duty.
25. Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 sets out the employer's general duty to employees. How is that duty qualified?
Answer: By the words so far as is reasonably practicable, not absolutely
- A) By the words so far as is reasonably practicable, not absolutely (correct answer)
- B) By a fixed safety budget agreed with the client before work starts
- C) By the number of workers employed on the site on any given working day
- D) By whether the employer holds current employers liability insurance
Why: Section 2(1) makes it the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees. That phrase allows the risk to be weighed against the cost, time and trouble of controlling it, but the balance must genuinely favour safety. Budget, headcount and insurance do not alter the standard.
26. Section 2(3) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 requires most employers to prepare a written statement. What must that statement cover?
Answer: General policy, plus the organisation and arrangements to carry it out
- A) The insurance cover held and every claim made in the last five years
- B) General policy, plus the organisation and arrangements to carry it out (correct answer)
- C) The disciplinary rules that apply to anyone who breaks a written site rule
- D) The names of the safety representatives elected at each of its workplaces
Why: Section 2(3) requires a written statement of the employer's general policy on health and safety at work together with the organisation and arrangements for carrying that policy out, revised as often as is appropriate and brought to the notice of employees. Insurance history, disciplinary codes and representative lists are not what the section calls for.
27. A supervisor's gang is working alongside a public footpath that stays open. Which duty in the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 covers members of the public passing the works?
Answer: Section 3(1), on conducting the undertaking so others are not put at risk
- A) Section 37, on offences committed by a company and its senior officers
- B) Section 2(1), on the health, safety and welfare of the employees at work
- C) Section 7, on the personal duty each employee owes while he is at work
- D) Section 3(1), on conducting the undertaking so others are not put at risk (correct answer)
Why: Section 3(1) requires every employer to conduct the undertaking so that, so far as is reasonably practicable, persons not in his employment who may be affected are not exposed to risks to health or safety. Section 2 is limited to employees, section 7 imposes duties on individual employees, and section 37 concerns personal liability of officers.
28. A supervisor is himself an employee of the contractor. What does section 7 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 require of him personally?
Answer: Reasonable care for himself and others, and co-operation with the employer
- A) Reasonable care for himself and others, and co-operation with the employer (correct answer)
- B) Personal public liability insurance covering the gang he is leading
- C) A recognised supervisory qualification before he can lead any gang
- D) A countersignature on the employer's written safety policy statement each year
Why: Section 7 requires every employee to take reasonable care for the health and safety of himself and of others who may be affected by his acts or omissions, and to co-operate with the employer so far as is necessary for the employer's own duties to be met. A supervisor carries this duty like anyone else, and turning a blind eye can breach it. The other options are not section 7 requirements.
29. Which statement correctly describes how the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 divides duties between a company and one of its supervisors?
Answer: Section 2 duties fall on the employer, section 7 duties on the supervisor
- A) Both section 2 and section 7 duties fall wholly on the supervisor alone
- B) The supervisor takes over the employer's duties once work has started
- C) Section 2 duties fall on the employer, section 7 duties on the supervisor (correct answer)
- D) The supervisor has no duties at all unless he is a company director
Why: The section 2 duty to ensure health, safety and welfare so far as is reasonably practicable rests on the employer. A supervisor, as an employee, carries the separate section 7 duty of reasonable care and co-operation. Supervising does not transfer the employer's duty, and section 7 applies whether or not the person is a director.
30. Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 allows an individual to be prosecuted alongside the company. Which individuals does section 37(1) name?
Answer: Any director, manager, secretary or similar officer of the body corporate
- A) Any operative who happened to be working on the site on the day in question
- B) Any director, manager, secretary or similar officer of the body corporate (correct answer)
- C) Any safety representative elected by the workforce at that same workplace
- D) Any agency worker supplied to the company by an employment business
Why: Section 37(1) reaches a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate, and anyone purporting to act in such a capacity. Supervisory and management grades can fall within manager. Ordinary operatives, safety representatives and agency workers are not covered by section 37, though other duties still apply to them.
31. Under section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, what has to be proved about a company officer before he shares the company's guilt?
Answer: Consent, connivance, or that the offence was attributable to his neglect
- A) That he was physically present on site on the day the offence occurred
- B) That he personally gave the instruction which led to somebody's injury
- C) Consent, connivance, or that the offence was attributable to his neglect (correct answer)
- D) That he had been served with a prohibition notice in the preceding year
Why: Section 37(1) applies where the company's offence is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of the officer, or to have been attributable to any neglect on his part. Neglect means failing to act when he should have, so presence on site or a direct instruction is not needed. Enforcement history is irrelevant to the test.
32. A supervisor is allocating tasks among his gang. What does regulation 13(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require to be taken into account?
Answer: The capabilities of those employees as regards health and safety
- A) The number of hours each operative worked during the preceding week
- B) The rate of pay agreed for each trade under the working rule agreement
- C) The order in which the contract programme lists the various activities
- D) The capabilities of those employees as regards health and safety (correct answer)
Why: Regulation 13(1) requires an employer, in entrusting tasks to employees, to take into account their capabilities as regards health and safety. For a supervisor this means matching the job to the person's training, experience and physical fitness rather than simply to who is free. Pay rates, programme order and last week's hours are not the test.
33. Regulation 13(2) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires further training on exposure to new or increased risks. Which of these is one of the listed triggers?
Answer: A transfer or change of responsibilities within the employer's undertaking
- A) A transfer or change of responsibilities within the employer's undertaking (correct answer)
- B) An operative reaching five years of service with that same employer
- C) A change in the client's insurance broker part way through the contract period
- D) The site moving from a summer to a winter working programme
Why: Regulation 13(2)(b) lists transfer or a change of responsibilities, new or changed work equipment, new technology, and a new or changed system of work. Long service, insurance arrangements and seasonal programming are not triggers, although a genuinely new system of work for winter conditions could be.
34. Regulation 13(3) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 sets conditions for the training it requires. Which condition does it impose?
Answer: It must take place during working hours and be repeated where appropriate
- A) It must be delivered on a Saturday agreed between worker and employer
- B) It must take place during working hours and be repeated where appropriate (correct answer)
- C) It must be taken in the operative's own unpaid time after the site shuts
- D) It must be limited to the fortnight before a competence card is renewed
Why: Regulation 13(3) requires the training to be repeated periodically where appropriate, adapted to new or changed risks, and to take place during working hours. Pushing training into a worker's own or unpaid time does not satisfy the regulation, and it is not tied to any card renewal cycle.
35. A supervisor sees a situation that anyone with his training would regard as a serious and immediate danger. What does regulation 14(2) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require of him?
Answer: To inform the employer, or a colleague with safety responsibility
- A) To report the matter directly to the enforcing authority within ten days
- B) To write the matter in a personal diary and produce it if asked later
- C) To inform the employer, or a colleague with safety responsibility (correct answer)
- D) To wait until the next scheduled site meeting before raising the matter
Why: Regulation 14(2) requires an employee to inform the employer, or another employee with specific responsibility for the health and safety of fellow employees, of any work situation representing a serious and immediate danger and of any shortcoming in the protection arrangements. Stopping the job as well is standard site practice rather than a duty stated in regulation 14, but the reporting duty is immediate, so delay, private notes and going straight to the regulator all fall short.
36. Regulation 7(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires the appointment of one or more competent persons. What is the role of such a person?
Answer: To assist the employer in taking the measures needed to comply with the law
- A) To assist the employer in taking the measures needed to comply with the law (correct answer)
- B) To sign off every risk assessment on behalf of the relevant enforcing authority
- C) To take over the employer's own legal duties for the whole project
- D) To act as the site first aider whenever the appointed person is absent
Why: Regulation 7(1) requires competent persons to be appointed to assist the employer in undertaking the measures needed to comply with the relevant statutory provisions. The word is assist: the legal duty stays with the employer and cannot be handed over. A competent person has no first aid role by virtue of regulation 7 and does not act for the regulator.
37. Regulation 7(5) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 explains when a person counts as competent. What does it say?
Answer: Sufficient training and experience or knowledge and other qualities
- A) Ten years served in the particular trade he is asked to supervise
- B) A degree in occupational safety awarded by a recognised university
- C) Registration with the enforcing authority for a minimum of one year
- D) Sufficient training and experience or knowledge and other qualities (correct answer)
Why: Regulation 7(5) defines competence as having sufficient training and experience or knowledge and other qualities to enable the person properly to assist in undertaking the measures. It is deliberately not tied to a single qualification, a register or a fixed number of years, because what is sufficient depends on the risks in that undertaking.
38. Regulation 10(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 covers the information an employer gives employees. What two qualities must it have?
Answer: It must be comprehensible to them and relevant to their own situation
- A) It must be in writing and countersigned by a director of the firm's board
- B) It must be comprehensible to them and relevant to their own situation (correct answer)
- C) It must be translated into at least three commonly spoken languages
- D) It must be displayed on a notice board at the main entrance to the site
Why: Regulation 10(1) requires employers to provide comprehensible and relevant information on the risks identified by the assessment and the preventive and protective measures, among other things. Comprehensible is the practical test a supervisor should apply when briefing a gang, including anyone whose first language is not English. The regulation does not prescribe a format, a fixed number of languages or a notice board.
39. Regulation 8(5) of CDM 2015 applies to a person working on a project under the control of another. What does it require that person to do?
Answer: Report anything likely to endanger their own or another person's safety
- A) Report anything likely to endanger their own or another person's safety (correct answer)
- B) Halt all work on the site until the client has been formally notified
- C) Record the matter in a personal notebook and produce it when asked
- D) Notify the enforcing authority in writing within ten working days
Why: Regulation 8(5) requires a person working under another's control to report to that person anything they are aware of in relation to the project that is likely to endanger their own health or safety or that of others. It is a reporting up duty, aimed at the person in control. It does not require a site shutdown, a private record or a direct report to the regulator.
40. Regulation 8(4) of CDM 2015 requires duty holders to cooperate with each other. How far does that duty reach?
Answer: To others working on the project or at an adjoining construction site
- A) Only to those specifically named in the construction phase plan itself
- B) Only to people directly employed by the same contracting organisation
- C) To others working on the project or at an adjoining construction site (correct answer)
- D) Only to the client and the principal designer, not to any other trade
Why: Regulation 8(4) requires cooperation with any other person working on or in relation to a project at the same or an adjoining construction site, to the extent needed for duties to be fulfilled. This matters where neighbouring works create risks for each other, for instance a crane oversailing or a shared access. The narrower options all understate the reach of the duty.
41. Regulation 8(1) of CDM 2015 sets the standard a contractor or designer must meet before being appointed to a project. What must they have?
Answer: Skills, knowledge and experience, and organisational capability if a firm
- A) Membership of a recognised trade federation plus three written trade references
- B) Public liability insurance at a level set by the principal contractor
- C) A valid competence card for every operative they will bring on to site
- D) Skills, knowledge and experience, and organisational capability if a firm (correct answer)
Why: Regulation 8(1) requires the skills, knowledge and experience, and where the appointee is an organisation the organisational capability, necessary to fulfil the role in a way that secures health and safety. Federation membership, individual cards and insurance may all be useful evidence, but none of them is the legal test set by regulation 8(1).
42. Under regulation 8(3) of CDM 2015, what must a person who appoints a contractor or designer to a project actually do?
Answer: Take reasonable steps to satisfy themselves that the appointee is capable
- A) Obtain a written performance guarantee from the appointee's own bank
- B) Take reasonable steps to satisfy themselves that the appointee is capable (correct answer)
- C) Notify the relevant enforcing authority of the appointment before work begins
- D) Arrange an independent audit of the appointee's accounts every year
Why: Regulation 8(3) puts the checking duty on whoever makes the appointment: they must take reasonable steps to satisfy themselves that the designer or contractor meets the regulation 8(1) standard. Financial guarantees, notification of appointments and accounts audits are commercial matters and are not required by regulation 8.
43. A supervisor is issued with a method statement setting out how a lift will be carried out. Which duty in CDM 2015 regulation 15 does working to it, and checking that others do, most directly support?
Answer: The contractor's duty to plan, manage and monitor the construction work
- A) The contractor's duty to plan, manage and monitor the construction work (correct answer)
- B) The contractor's duty to appoint a principal designer for the project
- C) The contractor's duty to notify the project to the enforcing authority
- D) The contractor's duty to prepare and hold the health and safety file
Why: Regulation 15(2) requires a contractor to plan, manage and monitor construction work carried out by the contractor or by workers under their control, so that so far as is reasonably practicable it is done without risks to health and safety. A method statement is a common way of recording the plan, and supervising against it is the manage and monitor part. The health and safety file, appointments and notification sit with other duty holders.
44. A permit to work system is in place on a multi contractor site. Under regulation 15(3) of CDM 2015, what must each contractor do about arrangements of that kind?
Answer: Follow the principal contractor's directions and the relevant plan parts
- A) Report directly to the client rather than to the principal contractor
- B) Write a separate construction phase plan covering only its own works
- C) Follow the principal contractor's directions and the relevant plan parts (correct answer)
- D) Appoint its own principal designer for the packages of work it carries out
Why: Where more than one contractor is working on a project, regulation 15(3) requires each contractor to comply with directions given by the principal designer or principal contractor and with the parts of the construction phase plan relevant to its work. Permit systems are normally part of the site rules within that plan, so ignoring a permit is a breach of this duty. Only one construction phase plan and one principal designer exist for a project.
45. Regulation 13(1) of CDM 2015 sets out the principal contractor's core duty during the construction phase. What is that duty?
Answer: Plan, manage and monitor it, and coordinate health and safety matters
- A) Employ every operative on the site directly instead of through other firms
- B) Plan, manage and monitor it, and coordinate health and safety matters (correct answer)
- C) Approve the permanent works designs before any construction begins
- D) Prepare the health and safety file and hand it to the client at the end
Why: Regulation 13(1) requires the principal contractor to plan, manage and monitor the construction phase and coordinate matters relating to health and safety during it, so that so far as is reasonably practicable the work is carried out without risks. Coordination between contractors is the addition that distinguishes this from an ordinary contractor's duty. Direct employment is not required, and design approval and the file are principal designer matters.
46. Work has started and site conditions have changed since the construction phase plan was written. What does regulation 12(4) of CDM 2015 require of the principal contractor?
Answer: To review, update and revise it so it remains sufficient for the work
- A) To replace it with a method statement once the groundworks are complete
- B) To lock it away unchanged so the original version stays on the record
- C) To send a fresh copy to the enforcing authority at the end of each month
- D) To review, update and revise it so it remains sufficient for the work (correct answer)
Why: Regulation 12(4) requires the principal contractor to ensure the construction phase plan is appropriately reviewed, updated and revised from time to time so that it continues to be sufficient to ensure the work is carried out without risks so far as is reasonably practicable. A plan frozen at day one quickly stops matching the job. Method statements sit under the plan and do not replace it.
47. Section 2(6) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 places a consultation duty on employers. What is that duty aimed at achieving?
Answer: Arrangements letting employer and employees co-operate on safety measures
- A) A decision on which operatives will be released at the end of the contract
- B) Agreement on the hourly rates paid for hazardous work on the site
- C) Arrangements letting employer and employees co-operate on safety measures (correct answer)
- D) A choice of supplier for the protective equipment issued on the site
Why: Section 2(6) requires employers to consult safety representatives with a view to making and maintaining arrangements that enable employer and employees to co-operate effectively in promoting and developing health and safety measures, and in checking how well those measures work. Consultation is two way and about safety, not about pay, redundancy or purchasing.
48. The Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996 fill a gap left by earlier law. Which employees does regulation 3 apply to?
Answer: Those not represented by safety representatives under the 1977 Regulations
- A) Those not represented by safety representatives under the 1977 Regulations (correct answer)
- B) Those with less than twelve months service with their current employer
- C) Those working at a site where fewer than five people are at work on a given day
- D) Those supplied to the employer through an employment business only
Why: Regulation 3 requires an employer to consult, in good time, employees who are not represented by safety representatives appointed under the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977. That closes the gap for non unionised workforces. Length of service, site headcount and agency status are not what decides whether regulation 3 applies.
49. Under the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977, what triggers an employer's duty to establish a safety committee, and by when must it exist?
Answer: A written request by two safety representatives, met within three months
- A) A majority vote of the workforce taken at a properly convened meeting
- B) A written request by two safety representatives, met within three months (correct answer)
- C) A direction issued by an inspector following a routine visit to the site
- D) The site headcount passing one hundred operatives at any point in time
Why: Regulation 9(1) prescribes the case as one where at least two safety representatives ask the employer in writing to establish a safety committee. Regulation 9(2)(c) then requires the committee to be established not later than three months after that request. Workforce ballots, inspector directions and headcount thresholds are not the statutory trigger.
50. Regulation 15(9) of CDM 2015 lists what the information given to a worker must include. Which of these is on that list?
Answer: A suitable site induction and the procedures for serious imminent danger
- A) The name of the site insurer and the policy number covering the project
- B) The commercial value of the contract and the agreed completion date
- C) A suitable site induction and the procedures for serious imminent danger (correct answer)
- D) The home telephone number of each director of the contracting company
Why: Regulation 15(9) requires the information to include a suitable site induction where not already given by the principal contractor, the procedures to be followed in the event of serious and imminent danger, information on risks identified by the regulation 3 risk assessment or arising from another contractor's work, and anything else needed to comply with the law. Insurance, contract value and directors' contact details are not part of that list.
What this topic covers in the CSCS test
This is the Managers and Professionals (MAP) side of the HS&E test. CITB sets it in five sections: legal and management, occupational health, wellbeing and welfare, general safety, high risk activities, and environment. It is not the Supervisory specialist test, which is built instead on the five core Operatives areas plus a specialist section. It asks less about what a hazard looks like and more about what you do with authority: who holds which duty under CDM 2015, what you stop, and what has to be written down. The right answer usually has a competent person deciding and a record left behind.
- CDM 2015 duty holders: client, principal designer, principal contractor, contractor and worker
- The F10 notification, the construction phase plan and the health and safety file
- Risk assessments and method statements, and when the law requires them in writing
- Induction, competence checks, supervision and refusing site access
- Permits to work, what they authorise, and leaving a job safe at the end of a shift
- Toolbox talks, near-miss reporting and incident investigation
- Leading indicators as well as accident figures
Key facts worth memorising
- Notifiable projects
- A project must be notified to HSE if the work will last longer than 30 working days with more than 20 workers on site at once, or exceed 500 person days. The client gives the notice.
- Who writes the plan
- The principal contractor, or the sole contractor, prepares and updates the construction phase plan. The principal designer prepares the health and safety file where there is more than one contractor.
- Record before you break
- CDM 2015 regulation 20 requires the arrangements for demolition or dismantling to be recorded in writing before that work begins.
- Five or more
- Every employer must make a suitable and sufficient risk assessment, and where five or more people are employed the significant findings must be recorded.
- A permit does not make a job safe
- HSE says so plainly. A permit states what work is allowed, when, and what has been made safe, and the people doing the job sign it.
- Plan, Do, Check, Act
- HSG65 sets out the cycle. The Check stage expects preventive information such as training progress alongside incident data such as accident and sickness absence rates.
What people get wrong
Only a worker's own employer can stop their work.
Under CDM 2015 regulation 15(3), where there is more than one contractor each must comply with the principal contractor's directions. Unsafe work gets stopped first and the employer sorted out after, not the other way round.
The client draws up the construction phase plan.
The client must make sure a plan exists before the construction phase begins, but preparing it is the principal contractor's duty. The client's own documents are the F10 and the pre-construction information.
Programme pressure can justify starting before induction.
It cannot. Operatives must be inducted and competent before they start. A critical-path job is a reason to arrange the induction quickly, not to skip it.
Accident figures are the best measure of how safe a site is.
Accident rates only tell you what has already gone wrong. HSE's Plan, Do, Check, Act guidance asks for preventive information, such as progress of training and maintenance programmes, to be given appropriate weight alongside incident data such as accident and sickness absence rates.
Answering these questions in the test
These questions are scenario-based, and the wrong options are the commercially convenient ones: carry on, speed up, sort it later. Read for two things. First, who holds the duty, because CDM 2015 splits duties between client, principal designer, principal contractor and contractor. Second, what gets written down, because the law keeps demanding a record. Where two answers both look responsible, pick the one that stops the work, brings in a competent person and leaves a record. The test is 50 questions in 45 minutes with a pass mark of 45.
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.
- hse.gov.uk/construction/cdm/faq/index.htm
- hse.gov.uk/construction/safetytopics/admin.htm
- legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/51/regulation/20/made
- hse.gov.uk/simple-health-safety/risk/steps-needed-to-manage-risk.htm
- hse.gov.uk/simple-health-safety/training/supervision.htm
- hse.gov.uk/humanfactors/topics/ptw.htm
- hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/hsg65.htm
- hse.gov.uk/leadership/plan-do-check-act/check.htm
- citb.co.uk/courses-tests/health-safety-and-environment-hse-test/managers-and-professionals-test
Topics that come up alongside leadership & management (map)
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