CSCS Manual Handling Questions
Safe lifting technique and the TILE assessment.
Manual Handling — practice questions (untimed, instant feedback)
- 9 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 9 Manual Handling questions and answers
These are the same 9 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. Which of the following counts as a manual handling task?
Answer: Any task involving pushing, pulling, lowering or lifting by hand
- A) Any task involving pushing, pulling, lowering or lifting by hand (correct answer)
- B) Going up ladders or stairs
- C) Getting into and out of a works vehicle
- D) Lifting materials using a crane
Why: Manual handling is moving a load by bodily force — pushing, pulling, lifting or lowering.
2. You have to carry a load down a steep slope. What should you do?
Answer: Check whether you can still move the load safely
- A) Check whether you can still move the load safely (correct answer)
- B) Rest the load on your shoulder
- C) Set it down and let it slide
- D) Reverse down the slope to keep your balance
Why: A slope changes the risk, so reassess whether the load can still be carried safely.
3. Your task means moving the same load several times each minute. Could that be a problem?
Answer: Yes — repeating the movement adds extra strain on the body
- A) No — a light load never needs an assessment
- B) Not while the load stays under the recommended weight
- C) Only if you can't keep up the required rate
- D) Yes — repeating the movement adds extra strain on the body (correct answer)
Why: Frequent repetition adds strain even with lighter loads, so it must be assessed.
4. What is the best way to reduce the risk of injury during manual handling?
Answer: Using lifting aids safely
- A) Getting a trained person to carry it instead
- B) Levelling the ground first
- C) Keeping heavy items off site altogether
- D) Using lifting aids safely (correct answer)
Why: Using mechanical lifting aids removes much of the manual effort and is the best control.
5. What does TILE stand for in a manual handling assessment?
Answer: Task, Individual, Load, Environment
- A) Task, Individual, Load, Environment (correct answer)
- B) Technique, Individual, Load, Environment
- C) Task, Inspection, Load, Environment
- D) Training, Individual, Load, Evaluation
Why: TILE = Task, Individual, Load and Environment — the four factors you weigh up.
6. What is the first step of a manual handling risk assessment?
Answer: Identify the task
- A) Identify who is at risk
- B) Identify the task (correct answer)
- C) Assess the load
- D) Plan the lift
Why: Start with the task; only then can you judge the load, the individual and the environment.
7. What is the maximum weight one person may legally lift alone?
Answer: There is no legal limit
- A) 25 kg
- B) There is no legal limit (correct answer)
- C) 50 kg
- D) 15 kg
Why: There is no legal maximum — the law requires you to assess and reduce the risk. HSE figures are screening guidance, not limits.
8. Which best reduces manual handling risk?
Answer: Using mechanical aids wherever possible
- A) Ignoring set techniques
- B) Using mechanical aids wherever possible (correct answer)
- C) Avoiding team lifts
- D) Carrying loads overhead
Why: Mechanical aids such as trolleys and hoists are the most effective control.
9. How can poor lighting affect manual handling?
Answer: It raises the risk of slips and trips
- A) It makes labels easier to read
- B) It raises the risk of slips and trips (correct answer)
- C) It improves coordination
- D) It reduces the load's weight
Why: Poor lighting hides trip hazards — the 'E' (environment) in TILE.
What this topic covers in the CSCS test
Manual handling means transporting or supporting a load by hand or bodily force, which covers lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling and carrying. The injuries it causes build up quietly over months rather than arriving in one dramatic moment, which is why the law focuses on designing the task rather than on lifting technique. The test checks that you know the legal order of priority and the four factors you weigh up before you move anything.
- What counts as manual handling, and what counts as a load
- The avoid, assess, reduce hierarchy in the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992
- TILE: task, individual, load and environment
- HSE's guideline filter weights, and why they are screening tools rather than limits
- Mechanical aids, and why they are the strongest control available
- Repetition, carrying distance, team lifts, slopes and lighting
- Worker duties: following the system of work, using the aids provided, reporting symptoms early
Key facts worth memorising
- There is no legal weight limit
- The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 set no maximum weight for one person. HSE's figures are screening filters used to sort low-risk tasks from ones needing a proper assessment.
- The legal order is avoid, assess, reduce
- Avoid hazardous manual handling so far as is reasonably practicable, assess what cannot be avoided, then reduce the risk to as low as reasonably practicable.
- The filter is a diagram, not a single number
- HSE's lifting and lowering filter gives a different value for each zone the hands pass through, and the value drops when the arms are extended or the load is high or low. If the hands cross more than one zone, the smallest value applies.
- TILE
- Task, Individual, Load and Environment are the four factors an assessment weighs up, and you start with the task because it decides everything else.
- When the simple filter stops working
- You need a fuller assessment if the handling involves torso twisting, happens more often than one lift every two minutes, is done by a team, or takes the hands outside the filter zones.
- The distances behind the filter
- The filter weights apply to carrying a load held against the body no further than about 10 metres without resting, or up to 20 metres if it rests on the shoulder without being lifted first. For pushing and pulling the distance is about 20 metres without a pause.
- Handling while seated
- HSE gives 5 kg for men and 3 kg for women when handling while seated, and only for two-handed lifting with the hands inside the zone shown in its diagram.
What people get wrong
There is a legal maximum weight one person may lift.
There is not. HSE states plainly that the law does not set specific weight limits and that its guidelines are not safe limits for lifting and carrying. They are broad screening values, and working outside them raises the risk rather than breaking a rule.
A light load does not need assessing.
Frequency and duration matter as much as weight. Handling more often than one lift every two minutes takes the task outside the simple filter no matter how light the load is.
Good lifting technique is the main control.
HSE is blunt about this. Training on its own cannot overcome a lack of mechanical aids, a badly designed task, an unsuitable load or a poor working environment. Designing the handling out comes first.
Once the lift is planned I can carry on regardless.
A change in conditions changes the risk. A steep slope, a wet surface or poor lighting means stopping and checking whether the load can still be moved safely.
Answering these questions in the test
The safest answer in this section is nearly always the one that takes the manual effort out of the job. If using a lifting aid or mechanical aid appears in the options, it is usually correct. Learn TILE as a phrase and remember that the T comes first, because more than one question turns on which factor you consider at the start. Treat any option that states a firm legal weight limit as wrong, because there is not one. When a question changes a single condition, such as adding a slope, a longer distance or more repetitions, it is testing whether you go back and reassess instead of pressing 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.
Topics that come up alongside manual handling
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.