Health and Welfare Questions
CITB health and welfare questions test whether you know what welfare a site must provide and how first aid and fitness for work are handled, and the right answer usually names the facility the law requires.
Many questions ask which welfare facility a construction site must have, when changing rooms are needed, or how a rest area must be furnished. Others cover first-aid equipment and first-aid rooms, or what a drug and alcohol policy can say. Our questions are built on Schedule 2 of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 and HSE guidance. A common trap: a headcount or a minimum job length sounds official, but According to HSE, everyone who works on a construction site must have access to welfare. Take the timed quiz below, then read the 10 sample questions further down, each with a worked explanation. Practise health and welfare before your Operatives health, safety and environment test or a Specialist test.
Start the health and welfare quiz
The timed health and welfare quiz draws from our full health and welfare 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
Health and Welfare 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 Health and Welfare 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 health and welfare questions usually ask it?
Health and welfare questions usually list facilities, describe what workers wear or do, or name a first-aid or drugs and alcohol arrangement, then ask what the law requires.
| Question pattern | What it looks like, in our words | What the right answer usually does |
|---|---|---|
| Which facility is required | A list of facilities, and you choose what a construction site must have | Names a Schedule 2 facility: toilets, washing facilities with hot and cold or warm water, drinking water, changing rooms where needed, and rest areas with tables and seats with backs |
| When a facility is triggered | You are told what workers wear or what the work involves, and you decide whether changing rooms or showers are needed | Applies the test in the law. Changing rooms are needed when a worker must wear special clothing and cannot be expected to change elsewhere, and showers when the nature of the work or health reasons require them |
| First aid and fitness for work | A first-aid kit, a first-aid room or a drug and alcohol policy is described | Matches the provision to the circumstances. The First-Aid Regulations require equipment and facilities that are adequate and appropriate, and HSE says a drug and alcohol policy should help a worker with a problem while making clear when action will be taken |
Which law and guidance are health and welfare questions based on?
Our health and welfare questions are built mainly on Schedule 2 of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, with the First-Aid Regulations 1981 and HSE guidance for first aid, washing and drugs and alcohol.
| Law or guidance | What the questions take from it |
|---|---|
| Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, Schedule 2 | The minimum welfare facilities for construction sites: toilets, washing facilities, drinking water, changing rooms and lockers, and rest facilities. Also the client's arrangements for welfare (regulation 4) and the principal contractor's duty to provide it throughout the construction phase (regulation 13) |
| Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 | First-aid equipment, facilities and people that are adequate and appropriate (regulation 3), and first-aid rooms that stretchers can reach and that are signposted (regulation 3(5)) |
| Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 | Rest facilities and somewhere to eat meals in workplaces generally (regulation 25). These rules do not cover a site where only construction work is going on, which follows CDM Schedule 2 instead |
| HSE construction welfare pages | Where to put welfare, toilet and washing standards, changing and rest areas, and drinking water |
| HSE, Managing drug and alcohol misuse at work | What misuse means, the warning signs, and what a policy should say |
HSE says the warning signs of drug or alcohol misuse can also be signs of stress, and Mental Health Questions covers stress and where to get support.
Health and welfare sample questions with worked explanations
Here are 10 health and welfare practice questions, each with the answer and a worked explanation.
Sample question 1 · Health & Welfare
Apart from next to the toilets, where else does Schedule 2 require washing facilities on site?
- Beside the main site gate, so that workers can wash before they sign in for work
- Inside the site office, next to the first-aid kit and accident book
- In the vicinity of any changing rooms that Schedule 2 requires on siteCorrect answer
- Next to the drinking water point, so one supply serves both of them
Why C: Paragraph 2(2)(b) requires washing facilities in the vicinity of any changing rooms required by paragraph 4, whether or not provided elsewhere as well. Workers changing out of contaminated clothing need to wash at that point, which is why the duty is tied to the changing room rather than the gate or the office.
Sample question 2 · Health & Welfare
What secure storage does Schedule 2 require on a construction site where it is necessary?
- Lockable space for special clothing, everyday clothing and personal effectsCorrect answer
- A safe for the site petty cash and for the keys to plant left on site
- A locked skip for contaminated waste and used personal protection kit
- A sealed store for the hazardous substances brought onto the site
Why A: Paragraph 4(4) requires facilities to lock away special clothing not taken home, workers' own clothing not worn during working hours, and their personal effects. All three categories are listed. Petty cash, waste and hazardous substances are handled under other rules entirely.
Sample question 3 · Health & Welfare
What must a client's arrangements for managing a project ensure about welfare facilities?
- That the welfare units on site are owned by the client rather than being hired
- That welfare costs are excluded from the contractor's tender price
- That Schedule 2 facilities are provided for those carrying out the workCorrect answer
- That the client inspects the welfare units in person before work starts
Why C: Regulation 4(2)(b) states that a client's arrangements are only suitable if they ensure the facilities required by Schedule 2 are provided for anyone carrying out construction work. That is why welfare has to be priced and programmed in, not squeezed out of a tender or left to chance.
Sample question 4 · Health & Welfare
Which factors decide whether an appointed person will do instead of a trained first-aider?
- The employer's insurance premium and the overall length of the contract term
- Distance to the nearest A&E, not the type of work or the headcount
- The nature of the work, the number of employees and where the site isCorrect answer
- The number of accidents recorded in the book over the previous year
Why C: Regulation 3(4) lists exactly three matters: the nature of the undertaking, the number of employees at work and the location of the establishment. Distance to hospital is only part of the location question, and premiums and past accident counts are not in the regulation at all.
Sample question 5 · Health & Welfare
When does HSE CIS59 say portable chemical toilets are acceptable on a construction site?
- On any site at all, as they are the preferred type of construction toilet
- Only on sites where more than 50 people are working at any one time
- Only where the site is already connected to mains water and drainage
- Only if it is not reasonably practicable to make other adequate provisionCorrect answer
Why D: CIS59 says flushing toilets connected to mains water and drainage should be provided so far as reasonably practicable, then units with built-in water and tanks, and portable chemical toilets only if other adequate provision is not reasonably practicable.
Sample question 6 · Health & Welfare
Workers on a large linear site are a long way from the main welfare compound. What does HSE suggest?
- Nothing, if the main compound has enough toilets
- A hand sanitiser in the work vans instead
- Satellite compounds for the more remote workersCorrect answer
- Letting them leave site to find their own toilets
Why C: HSE says workers should be able to reach the central compound quickly, and that satellite compounds may be needed for more remote workers. Mobile welfare units are another option.
Sample question 7 · Health & Welfare
Mains tap water is not readily available on a site for washing out eyes. What does HSE guidance say to provide?
- Eye drops bought from a pharmacy and kept in the first-aid box
- At least one litre of sterile water or saline in sealed containersCorrect answer
- A bucket of clean water topped up with fresh water from the site bowser
- A bottle of drinking water taken from the rest area fridge
Why B: L74 says that where mains tap water is not readily available for wound and eye irrigation, at least one litre of sterile water or sterile saline in sealed, disposable containers should be provided.
Sample question 8 · Health & Welfare
What does HSE give as a common cause of contact urticaria at work?
- Standing on hard concrete floors daily
- Latex protein in single-use latex glovesCorrect answer
- Long hours spent looking at a computer screen
- Breathing fine silica dust from cutting
Why B: HSE lists latex protein in single-use latex gloves, some foods, and cold or heat as common causes of contact urticaria, which usually appears quickly after contact and fades within hours.
Sample question 9 · Health & Welfare
On a very hot day, which of these does HSE suggest for people working outdoors?
- Rescheduling work to cooler times of the dayCorrect answer
- Banning drinking water on site to cut toilet breaks
- Keeping full PPE on during rest breaks
- Working through breaks to finish sooner
Why A: HSE suggests rescheduling work to cooler times of the day, more frequent breaks, shade, free access to cool drinking water and removing PPE when resting.
Sample question 10 · Health & Welfare
What does HSE name as the most significant cause of occupational cancers from construction?
- Wood dust
- Diesel exhaust
- Sunlight
- AsbestosCorrect answer
Why D: HSE says asbestos is the most significant cause of construction occupational cancers at about 70%, followed by silica at 17%, with painting and diesel exhaust at 6 to 7% each.
Which health and welfare answers catch people out?
The traps are answers that miss one of the two changing room conditions, accept a hand sanitiser as washing, and treat drug and alcohol misuse as dependence only.
Changing rooms depend on two conditions together. Schedule 2 requires them when a worker has to wear special clothing for the work and cannot, for reasons of health or propriety, be expected to change elsewhere. They must have seating and, where necessary, a way to dry clothing. Where propriety requires it, men and women need separate changing rooms or separate use of them.
A hand sanitiser on its own does not meet the washing rule. Schedule 2 requires washing facilities next to every toilet and near any changing rooms, with clean hot and cold, or warm, water, soap or another way of cleaning, and towels or another way of drying. A portable toilet with only a hand sanitiser and a small sink is inadequate, HSE says, unless other suitable washing facilities are nearby.
Misuse covers more than dependence. HSE defines drug and alcohol misuse as the use of illegal drugs and the misuse of alcohol, medicines and substances such as solvents. It says a policy should aim to help a worker who has a problem, but should also make clear when disciplinary or other action will be taken, such as reporting drug possession or dealing at work to the police straight away.
Where does health and welfare sit in the CITB test?
Health and welfare 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.
Health and welfare FAQs
What welfare facilities must a construction site have?
Schedule 2 of CDM 2015 lists toilets, washing facilities, drinking water, changing rooms and lockers where needed, and rest areas where meals can be prepared and eaten. The principal contractor must make sure they are provided throughout the construction phase.
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.