CSCS Lifts and escalators Specialist Test
LAEELift and escalator installation and maintenance engineers.
Sitting the LAEE test soon? Practise under exam conditions on our timed paper: 50 questions in 45 minutes, 20 on Lifts and escalators and 30 from the core.
50
questions
45
minutes
45/50
to pass (90%)
£23.50
test fee
What the Lifts and escalators test covers
The Specialist test combines the five core Operatives knowledge areas with questions specific to Lifts and escalators, which is what CITB calls this specialism. Expect the specialist section to focus on:
- Working in lift shafts and machine rooms
- Isolation and lock-off procedures
- Confined space and pit working
- Entrapment and rescue procedures
- Lifting operations for heavy components
Practise Lifts and escalators questions
A practice quiz of 20, drawn fresh each time from 101 exam-style questions with worked explanations, written for the LAEE specialist section from the regulations and HSE guidance that govern this work.
Lifts and escalators (LAEE): 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 101 in this bank.
- About 90 seconds a question, against about 54 in the real test, so there is time to think.
10 sample Lifts and escalators questions and answers
These 10 come from the 101 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. A passenger lift in an office block carries people every day. If no examination scheme has been drawn up, how often must it be thoroughly examined under the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998?
Answer: At least every 6 months
- A) At least every 3 months
- B) At least every 6 months (correct answer)
- C) At least every 12 months
- D) At least every 24 months
Why: LOLER regulation 9(3)(a)(i) requires lifting equipment for lifting persons to be thoroughly examined at least every 6 months. The 12 month interval in regulation 9(3)(a)(ii) applies to other lifting equipment, such as a goods only lift. An examination scheme drawn up by a competent person is the alternative to both.
2. You have made an escalator drive dead so that you can work on it. What do the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 require while that work goes on?
Answer: Adequate precautions must be taken to prevent the equipment becoming electrically charged again
- A) A second operative must stand at the machine room isolator and keep watch on it for the whole of the work
- B) The supply must be restored every hour so the escalator drive can be run and tested
- C) A written permit to work must be signed off by the supervisor on site and then renewed every 4 hours
- D) Adequate precautions must be taken to prevent the equipment becoming electrically charged again (correct answer)
Why: Regulation 13 requires adequate precautions to prevent electrical equipment which has been made dead, in order to prevent danger while work is carried out on or near it, from becoming electrically charged during that work if danger may arise. Locking off the isolator and keeping the key is the usual way of meeting this.
3. Work inside an escalator truss involves a specific risk to health or safety. Under PUWER regulation 7, who may carry out repairs, modifications, maintenance or servicing on it?
Answer: Only persons who have been specifically designated to perform operations of that description
- A) Any operative on site who has sat through a toolbox talk about escalator truss work
- B) Only persons who have been specifically designated to perform operations of that description (correct answer)
- C) Anyone directly employed by the shopping centre's own maintenance department
- D) Only the firm that originally manufactured and installed the escalator
Why: PUWER regulation 7(1)(b) restricts repairs, modifications, maintenance or servicing of work equipment involving a specific risk to persons specifically designated to perform operations of that description. Regulation 7(2) requires those designated persons to have received adequate training for the operations they are designated for.
4. A load bearing part of a lift installation fails during a maintenance visit. Nobody is hurt. How does RIDDOR 2013 treat this?
Answer: It is a dangerous occurrence, which the responsible person must report
- A) Nothing is reportable, because nobody was injured by the failure
- B) It counts as a reportable occupational disease under RIDDOR
- C) It counts as a specified injury to one of the engineers on site
- D) It is a dangerous occurrence, which the responsible person must report (correct answer)
Why: Schedule 2 of RIDDOR 2013 lists the collapse, overturning or failure of any load bearing part of any lifting equipment, other than an accessory for lifting, as a dangerous occurrence. Regulation 7 requires the responsible person to follow the reporting procedure when a dangerous occurrence happens, whether or not anyone was injured.
5. A building owner finds that intruders have been getting into the lift machine room and riding on lift car tops. Which measure does LEIA guidance list as suitable?
Answer: Keeping the lift machine room securely locked and keeping all lift release keys in a safe, secure location
- A) Leaving the lift car parked at the top floor overnight with its doors closed and the car light left switched off
- B) Painting the machine room door the same colour as the surrounding wall so that intruders do not notice it is there
- C) Turning the lift car lighting off at night so that the car top is unattractive to climb on
- D) Keeping the lift machine room securely locked and keeping all lift release keys in a safe, secure location (correct answer)
Why: LEIA guidance on trespassers lists a visible security presence, CCTV, keeping lift machine rooms securely locked and keeping all lift release keys in a safe, secure location as suitable security measures. It also says any unauthorised access should be reported to the police and the maintenance provider told so the lift can be checked for damage or unauthorised changes.
6. An escalator carries staff between floors of an office. Which law does HSE's LOLER guidance say covers it instead of LOLER?
Answer: Regulation 19 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992
- A) Regulation 19 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 (correct answer)
- B) LOLER regulation 9, because the escalator lifts people from one level to another
- C) The Lifts Regulations 2016, because the escalator serves fixed levels in a building
- D) The Confined Spaces Regulations 1997, because the truss is an enclosed space
Why: L113 states that LOLER does not apply to escalators, which are covered by more specific legislation: regulation 19 of the Workplace Regulations 1992.
7. Under LOLER, lifting operations must be appropriately supervised. Does the occupier of an office block have to provide someone to supervise people using the passenger lift?
Answer: No. HSE's guidance says appropriate supervision does not mean this for a passenger lift
- A) No. HSE's guidance says appropriate supervision does not mean this for a passenger lift (correct answer)
- B) Yes. Someone must ride in the car whenever members of staff are using it
- C) Yes. A person must stand at the ground floor landing during working hours
- D) Yes, once the lift has been running for more than a year since its last thorough examination
Why: L113 paragraph 229 explains that appropriate supervision is proportionate to the risk and does not mean an office block occupier has to provide a person to supervise the operation of a passenger lift.
8. Between thorough examinations, a trained member of the building's staff carries out inspections of a passenger lift. What does HSE's guidance for lift owners say those inspections would normally include?
Answer: Visual and functional checks, such as that the alarm and interlocks work and the doors cannot be opened from the landing
- A) Taking apart the governor and the safety gear to check them for wear and damage
- B) Signing a declaration of conformity for the lift to cover the following six months
- C) Visual and functional checks, such as that the alarm and interlocks work and the doors cannot be opened from the landing (correct answer)
- D) Load testing the lift with test weights up to its rated load, and then again at 125 per cent of that rated load
Why: INDG339 says inspections may be done in-house by a competent, trained employee and would normally include visual and functional checks, for example of the alarm, interlocks and landing doors.
9. Too many people crowd into a lift car and the rated load is exceeded. What do the Lifts Regulations 2016 require the lift to be designed to do?
Answer: Prevent normal starting
- A) Prevent normal starting (correct answer)
- B) Run at a reduced speed
- C) Travel to the top floor
- D) Open the car roof hatch
Why: Schedule 1 paragraph 2(7) requires lifts to be designed, constructed and installed so as to prevent normal starting if the rated load is exceeded.
10. Some lifts may be used in the event of a fire. What do the Lifts Regulations 2016 require of their control circuits?
Answer: They allow the lift to be kept from stopping at certain levels and give rescue teams priority control
- A) They switch the lift off completely, wherever the car is, as soon as the fire alarm sounds anywhere in the building
- B) They let any passenger override the controls with a key kept inside the car
- C) They allow the lift to be kept from stopping at certain levels and give rescue teams priority control (correct answer)
- D) They send the lift to the top floor so that passengers can climb out and escape across the roof of the building
Why: Schedule 1 paragraph 5(10) requires the control circuits of lifts which may be used in a fire to let the lift be prevented from stopping at certain levels and to allow priority control by rescue teams.
How the Lifts and escalators test is structured
CITB builds every Specialist test the same way: the five core knowledge areas from the Operatives test, plus questions specific to your specialism. Those core areas are working environment, occupational health, safety, high risk activities and specialist, and they account for the larger share of the 50 questions. The practical consequence is that most of your revision for the LAEE test is the same revision every operative on site does, so start there and add the specialist material on top.
Same format as every HS&E test
50 questions in 45 minutes with a 45 out of 50 pass mark. Five wrong answers are allowed and a sixth fails you.
Booked as one exam
The core and specialist questions come in one 45-minute appointment costing £23.50, not as two separate sittings.
Your card decides it
The specialism follows from the CSCS card you are applying for. Confirm with the official Card Finder before booking.
Revising for Lifts and escalators: fix the core first
Because the core is shared, the fastest way to raise your score on any specialist test is to fix weaknesses in the core knowledge first. Sit a full CSCS mock test for Operatives cold, read the per-topic breakdown, then drill whichever of the CSCS test questions and answers cost you the most marks. Come back to the specialist material once the core is reliable, because a specialist section cannot rescue a weak core: the core is simply the bigger half of the paper.
When you are clearing 45 out of 50 consistently rather than once, read what ID to bring and how to book the CSCS test. Turning up without the right identification means no test and no refund, which is the commonest avoidable way to lose the £23.50.
Related specialist tests
These sit closest to Lifts and escalators in trade and in hazard. If you are unsure which specialism your card requires, compare them before you book.
Next steps
Confirm this is the right test with the official CSCS Card Finder, then book your Specialist test. Compare the other 11 specialist tests if you are unsure.
Sit a timed 50-question LAEE paper, 20 Lifts and escalators questions and 30 from the core, on the CSCS Specialist mock test.
Topic name and code verified against citb.co.uk, July 2026.