General Responsibilities Questions
CITB general responsibilities questions test whether you know what your employer must do and what you must do, and the right answer usually matches each duty to the right person.
Many questions quote the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 or the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and ask what a section requires, while others set a scene on site and ask who is responsible. Our questions are built mainly on that Act and those Regulations, with HSE guidance on managing risk and on training. A common trap: the employer's main duty under the Act applies "so far as is reasonably practicable", which means weighing the risk against the money, time or trouble needed to control it. Take the timed quiz below, then read the 10 sample questions further down, each with a worked explanation. Practise general responsibilities before you sit the HS&E test for operatives or a Specialist test.
Start the general responsibilities quiz
The timed general responsibilities quiz draws from our full set on this topic 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
General Responsibilities practice quiz (timed)
- questions
- 20
- questions
- minutes
- 30
- minutes
- to pass (90%)
- 18
- to pass (90%)
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.
- Answers and explanations are shown at the end, with every question to review.
- A fresh set of questions every attempt, drawn from our General Responsibilities set.
- 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.
How do CITB general responsibilities questions usually ask it?
General responsibilities questions usually quote a section of the 1974 Act or a regulation from the 1999 Regulations, then ask what it requires or who it applies to.
| Question pattern | What it looks like, in our words | What the right answer usually does |
|---|---|---|
| What an employer must provide | A list of things an employer might give its staff, and you pick the set the law names | Picks the legal duty. Section 2 of the Act includes safe plant and systems of work, and the information, instruction, training and supervision needed for health and safety |
| What you must do as a worker | You spot a hazard, are given equipment, or see someone tamper with a guard | Takes reasonable care, cooperates, uses equipment as trained and reports serious dangers. Section 8 bars anyone from intentionally or recklessly interfering with or misusing anything provided for health, safety or welfare |
| Risk assessment and training | When a risk assessment is reviewed, who counts as competent, or when training must happen | Follows the regulation. A risk assessment must be suitable and sufficient, and reviewed when it may no longer be valid or the work has changed significantly. Training takes place during working hours |
Which law and guidance are general responsibilities questions based on?
Our general responsibilities questions are built mainly on the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, with HSE guidance on managing risk and training.
| Law or guidance | What the questions take from it |
|---|---|
| Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 | Employers' duties to employees (section 2) and to other people (section 3), duties on those who supply articles for use at work (section 6), employees' duties (section 7), interfering with safety equipment (section 8), no charge for safety measures (section 9) and when a director is personally guilty (section 37) |
| Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 | Risk assessment and its review (regulation 3), competent help (regulation 7), information for employees (regulation 10), training (regulation 13), and employees' duties to use equipment as trained and report dangers (regulation 14) |
| HSE, Managing risks and risk assessment at work | The five steps: identify hazards, assess the risks, control them, record your findings and review the controls, and what reasonably practicable means |
| HSE INDG345, Health and safety training: A brief guide (rev1, 2012) | Induction for new recruits, including first aid, fire and evacuation, and training for people who change jobs or take on more responsibility |
Regulation 14 has you tell your employer about serious dangers at work. Reporting certain injuries and dangerous occurrences falls to the "responsible person" under RIDDOR, which for an employee is their employer, and RIDDOR and Accident Reporting Questions covers what must be reported.
General responsibilities sample questions with worked explanations
Here are 10 general responsibilities practice questions, each with the answer and a worked explanation.
Sample question 1 · General Responsibilities & Risk Assessment
Whose health and safety must an employer protect under section 3(1) of the 1974 Act?
- Only workers directly supervised by the employer's own managers
- People who are not in its employment but could be affected by the workCorrect answer
- Employees named on that day's attendance register, who may be on site
- Only visitors who have signed in at the site office on arrival
Why B: Section 3(1) requires every employer to conduct its undertaking so that persons not in its employment who may be affected are not exposed to risks to their health or safety. That covers the public, visitors and other firms' workers, not just people on a register.
Sample question 2 · General Responsibilities & Risk Assessment
Section 40 of the 1974 Act refers to three different standards of duty. Which set of three is it?
- Mandatory, advisory, and optional depending on the size of the firm
- Possible, affordable, and convenient for the contractor to arrange
- Immediate, medium term, and long term depending on the risk rating
- Practicable, reasonably practicable, and best practicable meansCorrect answer
Why D: Section 40 applies where a duty is to do something so far as is practicable, or so far as is reasonably practicable, or to use the best practicable means. Those are the three qualified standards the Act uses, and they are not tiers of urgency or of advice.
Sample question 3 · General Responsibilities & Risk Assessment
Under regulation 13 of the Management Regulations 1999, when must employees be given adequate health and safety training?
- Only when the enforcing authority requires it after an inspection
- On recruitment, and again when they meet new or increased risksCorrect answer
- Only after they have successfully completed a probationary period
- On a fixed three year cycle, starting from their first day of work
Why B: Regulation 13(2) requires training on recruitment and on exposure to new or increased risks, for example a transfer, new work equipment, new technology or a new system of work. There is no three year cycle and no probation qualifying period.
Sample question 4 · General Responsibilities & Risk Assessment
A supervisor is writing a safe system of work for using and maintaining a machine. What does HSE say must be included in it?
- The purchase price of the machine and the date its warranty runs out
- A promise from the operators that they trust the others on the gang
- The residual risks named by the manufacturer in the machine's instructionsCorrect answer
- The names of the workers who have used the same machine at their previous jobs
Why C: HSE advises producing a safe system of work for using and maintaining the machine, looking at the residual risks identified by the manufacturer in the information provided, and making sure they are included in the safe system of work.
Sample question 5 · General Responsibilities & Risk Assessment
An improvement notice gives a period for putting things right. What limit does section 21 place on that period?
- It must end within 7 days of the notice being handed over
- It has no limit and may be left open until the firm is ready
- It cannot end before the time allowed for appealing against the noticeCorrect answer
- It must be put right within 24 hours of the notice being served on the site
Why C: Section 21 requires the contravention to be remedied within a period ending not earlier than the period within which an appeal against the notice can be brought under section 24.
Sample question 6 · General Responsibilities & Risk Assessment
Workers have evacuated because of a serious and imminent danger. The danger is still there. What must the procedures require?
- That they may go back if they put on extra protective clothing
- That they return straight away if the job is on the critical path
- That they are prevented from going back to work while it remainsCorrect answer
- That they return once they have been away for thirty minutes
Why C: Regulation 8(2)(c) requires the persons concerned to be prevented from resuming work in any situation where there is still a serious and imminent danger, save in exceptional cases for reasons duly substantiated.
Sample question 7 · General Responsibilities & Risk Assessment
A firm takes on its first ever young worker. What does HSE say the employer should do before they start?
- Ask the young person's school to carry out a site inspection
- Do nothing extra, as the adult risk assessment covers them
- Review the risk assessment before the young person startsCorrect answer
- Write a new policy statement and send it to the local council
Why C: HSE says that if you are employing a young person for the first time, or one with particular needs, you should review your risk assessment before they start.
Sample question 8 · General Responsibilities & Risk Assessment
A spanner is not long enough to shift a stiff nut. What does HSE advise against?
- Scrapping a spanner whose jaws have started to splay
- Asking a supervisor how the nut should be released
- Improvising with a length of pipe as an extension handleCorrect answer
- Fetching a spanner of the correct size from the store
Why C: HSE's hand tool advice says to avoid splayed jaws, scrap spanners that show signs of slipping, have enough of the right size, and not improvise by using pipes as extension handles.
Sample question 9 · General Responsibilities & Risk Assessment
Gas is needed for burning work inside a confined space. What does HSE say about the oxygen cylinders?
- Take the cylinders inside but stand them close to the entry hatch
- Take one cylinder inside at a time and swap it over at lunchtime
- Keep cylinders outside and feed the gas in by hose, removing hoses after workCorrect answer
- Take the cylinders inside so that the hoses can be kept as short as possible
Why C: HSE says gas cylinders should not be taken into confined spaces. Hoses should feed the gas in and be removed when work is finished or suspended, or disconnected at the cylinder if removal is not practical.
Sample question 10 · General Responsibilities & Risk Assessment
A contractor hires workers through an employment agency. What must it give the agency under regulation 15(3) of the Management Regulations 1999?
- A list of the contractor's own employees and their home addresses
- The client's name and the full commercial value of the contract
- Skills needed for safe work and the job features likely to affect safetyCorrect answer
- The agency workers' rates of pay and the hours of overtime available
Why C: Regulation 15(3) requires information on any special occupational qualifications or skills required and the specific features of the jobs to be filled in so far as they are likely to affect health and safety, which the agency must pass to its workers.
Which general responsibilities answers catch people out?
The traps are answers that make the employer's duty absolute, leave out part of what an employer must provide, or put off the training a new starter needs.
Under section 2(1), every employer has a duty to ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of all its employees, so far as is reasonably practicable. HSE explains that this means balancing the level of risk against the money, time or trouble needed to control it. An answer saying no employee may ever be harmed overstates the duty.
Section 2(2)(c) names four things together: information, instruction, training and supervision, as far as needed for health and safety at work. Answers built around pay, pensions, lockers or parking describe terms of employment or site amenities, and this part of the Act does not deal with them.
Training is due when you start. Regulation 13 requires adequate health and safety training when a worker is recruited and when new or increased risks arise, and it must take place during working hours. New recruits need basic induction training, according to HSE's training guide, in how to work safely, including the arrangements for first aid, fire and evacuation.
Where does general responsibilities sit in the CITB test?
General responsibilities are 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.
General responsibilities FAQs
What must an employer give you so you can work safely?
The 1974 Act requires safe plant and systems of work, and the information, instruction, training and supervision needed for your health and safety at work. The 1999 Regulations add training when you start and whenever your work brings new or increased risks.
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.