CSCS Mental Health & Wellbeing Questions
Stress, wellbeing and supporting others on site.
These questions cover mental health & wellbeing for the CITB Health, Safety and Environment (HS&E) test, the exam UK construction workers pass to get a CSCS card.
Mental Health & Wellbeing: practice quiz
- 20 questions · 30 minutes · pass mark 90%
- Answers and explanations are shown at the end, with every question to review.
- A fresh 20 questions every time, drawn from all 117 in this topic's bank. Includes 1 select-two question, as in the real test.
- About 90 seconds a question, against about 54 in the real test, so there is time to think.
10 sample Mental Health & Wellbeing questions and answers
These 10 come from the 117 questions the practice quiz above draws from, written out with the correct answer and the reasoning behind it. Read them through when you want to revise rather than test yourself.
1. How does HSE define work-related stress?
Answer: The adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures placed on them
- A) The adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures placed on them (correct answer)
- B) A recognised mental illness that a doctor must formally diagnose first
- C) Any pressure at all that a worker meets in the course of a normal shift
- D) Tiredness caused by working more than eight hours without a rest break
Why: HSE defines stress as the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed on them. Pressure on its own is normal at work. It becomes stress when a person cannot cope with it.
2. Which of these is listed by HSE as a sign of stress in a team?
Answer: More arguments, higher staff turnover and more sickness absence
- A) More overtime worked and more materials being ordered for the job
- B) More toolbox talks being held and more near miss reports being filed
- C) More new starters joining and more training courses being booked
- D) More arguments, higher staff turnover and more sickness absence (correct answer)
Why: Team level signs include arguments, higher staff turnover, more reports of stress, more sickness absence, decreased performance and more complaints and grievances.
3. HSE's construction Talking Toolkit ranks stress, depression and anxiety where among causes of work-related ill health in construction?
Answer: They are the second biggest cause of work-related ill health
- A) They are the single biggest cause of work-related ill health
- B) They are the smallest recorded cause of work-related ill health
- C) They are not counted as work-related ill health in construction
- D) They are the second biggest cause of work-related ill health (correct answer)
Why: HSE says stress, depression and anxiety are the second biggest cause of work-related ill health in the construction industry. Only musculoskeletal disorders account for more.
4. HSE quotes what proportion of people in the UK will have a mental health problem at some point?
Answer: One in four people, though most problems are mild and short term
- A) One in a thousand people, most of them needing hospital treatment
- B) One in two hundred people, mostly those who work in offices
- C) One in four people, though most problems are mild and short term (correct answer)
- D) One in fifty people, and most problems are severe and lasting
Why: HSE states that one in four people in the UK will have a mental health problem at some point. Most are mild, tend to be short term and are treated successfully by a GP.
5. According to HSE, what does fatigue do to a person at work?
Answer: It slows reactions, causes memory lapses and leads to risk being underestimated
- A) It affects mood but has no measurable effect on how people carry out work
- B) It reduces physical strength but leaves decision making completely intact
- C) It slows reactions, causes memory lapses and leads to risk being underestimated (correct answer)
- D) It sharpens concentration for short periods before any real tiredness sets in
Why: HSE says fatigue results in slower reactions, reduced ability to process information, memory lapses, decreased awareness, underestimation of risk and reduced coordination. It can lead to errors, accidents and ill health.
6. Does an employer have to use HSE's Management Standards approach to assess the risk of work-related stress?
Answer: No, but following it correctly counts as a suitable and sufficient approach
- A) No, because stress is not covered by health and safety law in any way
- B) No, but following it correctly counts as a suitable and sufficient approach (correct answer)
- C) Yes, it is the only method of stress risk assessment that the law will accept
- D) Yes, but only once the firm employs more than 250 people on its books
Why: The legal duty is to assess the risk of stress and act on it. HSE says that following the Management Standards approach correctly is considered suitable and sufficient, but it is not the only way.
7. Stress levels on a site have improved a lot since the employer acted on its risk assessment. What does HSE say should happen next?
Answer: Keep reviewing and reassessing the risk, as workplaces change and issues recur
- A) Stop consulting workers, as their views mattered at the start and not later
- B) Keep reviewing and reassessing the risk, as workplaces change and issues recur (correct answer)
- C) Close the risk assessment, because the problem has now been solved for good
- D) Remove the changes that were made, since the team no longer needs them
Why: HSE warns that things seldom stay the same, so even after a big improvement the employer still needs to review and reassess the risk so the problem does not recur.
8. A worker is off sick with depression. What does HSE warn can happen if their manager has no contact with them?
Answer: They can feel isolated, forgotten or unable to come back to work
- A) They can feel isolated, forgotten or unable to come back to work (correct answer)
- B) They will be treated as having resigned after four weeks off work
- C) They lose any right to reasonable adjustments when they return
- D) Their fit note becomes invalid and they must see a GP once more
Why: HSE warns that a lack of contact from the manager may leave the worker feeling isolated, forgotten or unable to return, and advises keeping them informed and reassured.
9. A night worker's job involves heavy physical or mental strain. What limit does regulation 6(7) of the Working Time Regulations 1998 set on their hours?
Answer: No more than eight hours in any 24-hour period in which they do night work
- A) No more than eight hours in any 24-hour period in which they do night work (correct answer)
- B) No more than 12 hours in any 24-hour period, averaged over a 17 week period
- C) No more than 48 hours of night work in total in any calendar month
- D) No limit, provided the worker has opted out of the limit in writing
Why: Regulation 6(7) says a night worker whose work involves special hazards or heavy physical or mental strain must not work more than eight hours in any 24-hour period in which they do night work.
10. A workmate has taken an overdose. What does the NHS say to do?
Answer: Call 999 or go to A&E now, as their life is at risk
- A) Call 111 and wait for a call back within the next day
- B) Book them an urgent appointment with their own GP
- C) Text a helpline and let them rest until they feel better
- D) Call 999 or go to A&E now, as their life is at risk (correct answer)
Why: The NHS says to call 999 or go to A&E now if someone's life is at risk, for example if they have taken an overdose. A mental health emergency is as serious as a physical one.
What this topic covers in the CSCS test
Mental health sits alongside physical health in the HS&E test because someone who is struggling is at greater risk on site. HSE requires employers to assess the risk of work-related stress and act on it, like any other health risk. Questions here test whether you would talk, listen and point someone towards help.
- HSE's six Management Standards: demands, control, support, relationships, role and change
- Spotting change in a workmate, such as pulling away from the team or uncharacteristic mistakes
- Where help comes from: manager, GP, occupational health, union rep or helpline
- Peer support, mental health first aiders and wellbeing toolbox talks
- The employer's duty to assess work-related stress and act on the findings
- Reasonable adjustments and planning a return to work after time off
- Why HSE treats this as a health and safety risk, assessed like any other
Key facts worth memorising
- 964,000 workers
- HSE estimates 964,000 workers in Great Britain had work-related stress, depression or anxiety in 2024/25, the largest single cause of work-related ill health.
- 22.1 million days lost
- Stress, depression or anxiety caused 22.1 million of the 40.1 million working days lost in 2024/25, an average of 22.9 days off per case.
- Six causes, not one
- The Management Standards cover six areas of work design that cause stress if managed badly: demands, control, support, relationships, role and change.
- Write it down at five
- Employers must assess the risk of work-related stress, and with five or more workers that assessment must be written down.
- A measured risk
- For deaths registered in England from 2011 to 2015, ONS found low-skilled male construction labourers had a suicide risk around three times the male national average.
- Free help, day or night
- Samaritans is free on 116 123, 24 hours a day. The Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity runs a free 24/7 helpline for construction workers and their families on 0345 605 1956.
What people get wrong
Mental health is personal, not a site safety issue.
HSE says to assess the risk of stress, and its impact on mental and physical ill-health, in the same way as any other work-related health and safety risk, and there is a legal duty to act on that assessment.
Leave people alone until they raise it themselves.
The test rewards the opposite. Ask, listen and encourage them to speak to a manager, GP or helpline. HSE says the earlier a problem is tackled, the less impact it has.
Talking to a workmate replaces professional help.
Peer support matters because a workmate understands the job, but it sits alongside professional help rather than instead of it.
Stress is an illness you either have or you do not.
HSE says stress is not an illness, but it can make you ill. It comes from how work is designed and managed, so it can be changed.
Answering these questions in the test
Answers here favour talking, listening or getting help, and reject isolation, silence or piling on more work. Where two options look reasonable, choose the one where the person is supported and a manager or professional is brought in. Options that punish someone for speaking up are never right. Remember the duty is to change the work, not just the worker. If you need to talk today, Samaritans is free on 116 123.
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/stress/overview.htm
- hse.gov.uk/stress/standards/overview.htm
- hse.gov.uk/stress/risk-assessment.htm
- hse.gov.uk/stress/mental-health-overview.htm
- hse.gov.uk/statistics/dayslost.htm
- press.hse.gov.uk/2025/11/20/hse-publishes-annual-workplace-health-and-safety-statistics/
- workright.campaign.gov.uk/working-minds/
- ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/articles/suicidebyoccupation/england2011to2015
- samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/
- lighthousecharity.org/free-24-7-support/
Topics that come up alongside mental health & wellbeing
Ready for the real thing?
When you are scoring 90% or better here, take a CSCS mock test for Operatives under exam conditions, then how to book the CSCS test. Still under 90%? Try a CSCS practice quiz on another topic.