Test length, pass standard, which version you sit, what to take with you, and how the behavioural questions are marked.
Almost every skills card depends on a current pass in the industry safety test, so this is the one assessment that sits under the whole scheme. CITB publishes the format: each test lasts 45 minutes and contains 50 questions. That is a steady rather than a rushed pace, but it does not leave room to sit and puzzle over every item.
Versions
You sit the version that matches your job, not a single universal paper.
- Operatives — the standard version for people doing the work.
- Managers and professionals — a higher-level version reflecting planning and supervision duties.
- Specialist versions for certain trades and activities, because those roles carry particular
risks. A specialist version does not replace general site safety knowledge, and it is not a shorter or easier route — it is additional ground on top of the same fundamentals.
Pass standard
The operatives test typically requires about 45 correct out of 50. That is a deliberately high bar: the subject is the set of things that keep people alive on site, so the scheme does not treat a bare majority as competent.
On the day
Take acceptable photographic identification. The test centre uses it to confirm who you are before you start, which is what stops anyone sitting the test on someone else’s behalf.
How the behavioural questions are marked
A large part of the test is case studies and behaviour rather than recall, and they are marked in one consistent direction: the safe, responsible action scores. Where a workmate is about to start a job unsafely, the credited answer stops or reports the work rather than ignoring it, working around it, or assuming someone else will deal with it. The same logic runs through the practical items — a damaged extension lead is taken out of use and reported; an unprotected floor opening is kept clear of and reported rather than covered with something improvised; a scaffold showing an out-of-service tag is not used, whatever it looks like from the ground; a near miss is reported, because it is a warning that the same weakness could injure someone next time.
If two answers both look defensible, pick the one that stops the risk now and tells somebody.
*Original revision guidance; confirm current test length, versions and pass standard against the published scheme information.*
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