Electrical Safety Questions
CITB electrical safety questions test whether you know how to deal with faulty kit, wet conditions and live services, and the right answer usually takes faulty equipment out of use at once.
The most common question finds a damaged lead, plug or tool and asks what you do next. Others put you outside in the rain and ask which tool or supply is safer, or ask when work near a live part is allowed. Our questions are built on the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 and HSE guidance, including GS6 on overhead power lines. A common trap: taping up a damaged lead does not make it safe to use. Start with the 10 free questions below, each with a worked explanation, then take the timed quiz. Practise electrical safety before your CITB Operatives Test or Specialist test, and check yourself with a free Operatives mock test.
Start the electrical safety quiz
The timed electrical safety quiz draws from our full electrical safety set and explains every answer. The quiz is free: 1 quiz every 7 days without an account, or 30 a day with a free account. A paid plan gives you unlimited quizzes.
Free practice quiz
Electrical Safety practice quiz (timed)
- questions
- 20
- questions
- minutes
- 30
- minutes
- to pass (90%)
- 18
- to pass (90%)
- Answers and explanations are shown at the end, with every question to review.
- A fresh set of questions every attempt, drawn across CITB's five core knowledge areas.
- About 90 seconds a question, against about 54 in the real test, so there is time to think.
- Every answer comes with a worked explanation.
Ready when you are
Find a quiet 30 minutes. The clock starts when you press start, and you see your score the moment you submit.
How do CITB electrical safety questions usually ask it?
Electrical safety questions usually give you a site problem, such as a damaged lead, wet weather or a live part, and ask what you do next.
| Question pattern | What it looks like, in our words | What the right answer usually does |
|---|---|---|
| Damaged or faulty kit | A lead, plug or power tool is found damaged, and you choose what happens to it | Takes it out of use straight away and reports it |
| Wet or harsh conditions | You work outdoors in the rain or on wet ground and pick a tool or a supply | Picks the lower-voltage option. HSE's INDG231 says battery tools are safest and lists tools run from a 110 volt centre-tapped-to-earth supply as another way to cut the voltage |
| Working near live parts | Someone wants to work on or near a live part because switching off would slow the job | Says no unless all three conditions in regulation 14 are met, and convenience is not one of them |
Which law and guidance are electrical safety questions based on?
Our electrical safety questions are built mainly on the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, with HSE guidance for overhead lines, portable tools and safe isolation.
| Law or guidance | What the questions take from it |
|---|---|
| Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 | Keeping systems maintained (regulation 4), protecting kit from weather and wet (regulation 6), making equipment dead and keeping it dead (regulations 12 and 13), the conditions for live work (regulation 14) and the knowledge needed to do electrical work (regulation 16) |
| HSE GS6, Avoiding danger from overhead power lines (fourth edition) | Treating every line as live until its owner confirms it is dead, and what to do if plant touches a line |
| HSE HSG107, Maintaining portable electrical equipment (third edition, 2013) | User checks before a tool is used, and taking faulty equipment out of use until a competent person repairs it |
| HSE INDG231, Electrical safety and you (rev1, 2012) | Reducing the voltage, battery tools and what a tripped RCD means |
| HSE HSG85, Electricity at work: Safe working practices (third edition, 2013) | Isolating a circuit, locking it off and proving it dead before work starts |
Cables under the ground are the other live service you can hit on site, and Buried Services Questions covers how they are found and dug around safely.
Electrical safety sample questions with worked explanations
Here are 10 electrical safety practice questions, each with the answer and a worked explanation.
Sample question 1 · Electrical Safety
What does regulation 4(4) require of protective equipment provided for electrical work?
- That it is replaced with a new item at the start of the working week
- That it is stored in a locked cabinet whenever it is not being used
- That it is marked with the name of the person to whom it was issued
- That it is suitable, maintained in a suitable condition, and properly usedCorrect answer
Why D: Regulation 4(4) sets three tests together: suitable for the use provided, maintained in a condition suitable for that use, and properly used. Failing any one of the three breaches it.
Sample question 2 · Electrical Safety
What is the purpose of earthing under regulation 8?
- To reduce the electricity bill by returning unused current to the supply
- To improve the performance of the equipment connected to the circuit
- To allow the supply to be switched off remotely in an emergency only
- To prevent danger where a conductor may foreseeably become chargedCorrect answer
Why D: Regulation 8 requires precautions, by earthing or other suitable means, to prevent danger where a conductor other than a circuit conductor may foreseeably become charged through use or a fault.
Sample question 3 · Electrical Safety
Why does regulation 12 refer to methods of identifying circuits?
- Because circuits must be numbered for the purposes of billing the client
- Because the enforcing authority requires a circuit schedule to be kept
- Because circuits must be identified before the building can be occupied
- Because isolating the wrong circuit leaves the work equipment still liveCorrect answer
Why D: Regulation 12(1) requires suitable means, including where appropriate methods of identifying circuits, precisely so that the right supply is the one that gets cut off.
Sample question 4 · Electrical Safety
A conductor is suitably covered with insulating material so danger cannot arise. Does regulation 14 apply?
- Yes, regulation 14 applies to every conductor regardless of its covering
- Yes, but only where the work will last for longer than one whole shift
- No. The regulation excludes conductors suitably covered to prevent dangerCorrect answer
- No, unless the work is being carried out in a wet or dusty environment
Why C: Regulation 14 expressly carves out a live conductor that is suitably covered with insulating material so as to prevent danger, which is why working near insulated cable is not live working.
Sample question 5 · Electrical Safety
Why is reduced low voltage commonly used for site tools?
- Because it makes the tools noticeably lighter and easier to handle
- Because it lowers the severity of shock if a fault or damage occursCorrect answer
- Because the regulations set out a maximum voltage for portable tools
- Because it allows longer extension leads to be used without any drum
Why B: The Regulations are goal-setting and do not name a voltage, but reducing voltage is a recognised way of meeting regulation 4(1) by preventing danger so far as reasonably practicable.
Sample question 6 · Electrical Safety
What does regulation 4(3) cover?
- The design of the electrical systems that are installed on construction sites
- The way work activities, including work near a system, are carried outCorrect answer
- The qualifications required by anyone who works on electrical systems
- The records that must be kept of electrical inspection and testing
Why B: Regulation 4(3) reaches beyond the equipment to the activity: every work activity, including operation, use, maintenance, and work near a system, must not give rise to danger.
Sample question 7 · Electrical Safety
Why is proving a circuit dead before touching it important?
- Because the Regulations require a written record of every proving test
- Because switching off does not by itself prove the conductor is deadCorrect answer
- Because the supply company must be notified before any work can start
- Because proving dead removes the need to isolate the supply at all
Why B: Regulations 12 and 13 turn on secure disconnection and on preventing re-energisation. A switch may be mislabelled or faulty, so the state has to be verified rather than assumed.
Sample question 8 · Electrical Safety
What does regulation 12(1) require to be available where necessary to prevent danger?
- Means of cutting off the supply and of isolating electrical equipmentCorrect answer
- A written permit to work issued before any item of equipment is switched off
- A residual current device fitted to the socket outlets on the site
- An emergency lighting system covering the whole of the working area
Why A: Regulation 12(1) requires suitable means for cutting off the supply of electrical energy to any equipment and for the isolation of any equipment.
Sample question 9 · Electrical Safety
When did the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 come into force?
- On the first of April 1990, as stated in the commencement informationCorrect answer
- On the first of January 1989, immediately after they were first made
- On the sixth of April 2022, when they were most recently amended again
- On the first of January 1993, alongside the six pack regulations
Why A: The commencement information against each regulation records that it came into force on 1 April 1990.
Sample question 10 · Electrical Safety
Work near a live conductor is convenient rather than necessary. Does regulation 14 permit it?
- Yes, provided suitable protective equipment is worn during the work
- Yes, provided that the worker is competent under regulation 16 as well
- No. It must be unreasonable in all the circumstances for it to be deadCorrect answer
- No, unless a second person is present to act as a safety observer
Why C: Convenience does not satisfy regulation 14(a). All three limbs must be met, and the first asks whether it is unreasonable for the conductor to be dead at all.
Which electrical safety answers catch people out?
The traps are answers that sound practical but leave the danger in place: using damaged kit, trusting a line that looks dead and resetting a tripped RCD.
Take a damaged lead out of use now, not when a replacement turns up. The law says electrical systems must be maintained to prevent danger, and a lead with damaged insulation no longer does that. Wrapping it in insulating tape does not put it right.
Treat a damaged overhead line as live, even if it looks dead. HSE's GS6 warns that a dead line can be switched back on automatically after a few seconds, or remotely minutes or even hours later, if its owner does not know it is damaged.
A tripped RCD is a warning, not a nuisance. HSE says a trip is a sign of a fault, so the system should be checked before anyone uses it again, and an RCD should never be bypassed.
Where does electrical safety sit in the CITB test?
Electrical safety is part of the core knowledge you practise for the CITB Operatives test. The Specialist tests include the core questions too, so the same knowledge counts there.
Electrical safety FAQs
What should you do with a damaged power tool?
Stop using it, report it and take it out of use at once. HSE's guidance says it should not be used again until a competent person has repaired it.
Are these the real CITB test questions?
No. These are practice questions written for this site, each tied to the law or HSE guidance it tests; CITB does not publish its test questions.