Alerts and Updates for CITB Health, Safety and Environment Test (UK)

CITB HS&E test at a glance

The Operatives test covers five knowledge areas: working environment, occupational health, safety, high risk activities and specialist content. The Managers and Professionals paper covers the same ground reorganised into sections A to E, with legal and management in place of the operative-level specialist block. A CITB smartphone app offers test simulations with voiceover in 14 languages, and a 13-question sample test for the Managers and Professionals paper is available online. The fee is identical across all three versions.

Dates and windows

This is an on-demand test, so there is no examination season to plan around and no results day. The only dates that bind a candidate are the 72-hour change deadline and whatever expiry date the CSCS card scheme attaches to the test result when the card is applied for. CITB does not state a validity period for the result on the pages reviewed here, so confirm the currency requirement with the card scheme rather than assuming an indefinite pass.

What this means for your preparation

Two things trip candidates up, and neither is the difficulty of the material. The first is booking the wrong version of the test, because the card you need dictates the paper you sit and CITB will not convert one into the other. The second is the pass mark: 45 out of 50 is 90 per cent, so the test tolerates five errors in total, and a candidate revising to a comfortable seventy per cent standard will fail. Both mistakes cost the same 23.50 pounds and the same trip to a Pearson Professional Centre, and both are avoidable in an evening of preparation with the card finder and the official revision set.

Check the card before booking the test

The HS&E test is a prerequisite for a CSCS card, not a qualification in its own right, so the card determines the version. CITB points candidates at the CSCS card finder rather than trying to map occupations itself, because the Specialists route alone splits into supervisory, demolition, highway works, work at height, lifts and escalators, tunnelling, several HVACR trades and JIB plumbing. Sitting Operatives when the card requires a Specialist paper means paying 23.50 pounds again. Run the card finder first, note the exact test name it returns, and book that name in the Pearson VUE system rather than a similar-sounding one.

Ninety per cent is the real design constraint

Fifty questions, 45 minutes, 45 correct to pass. That is under a minute a question with five errors of headroom across the entire paper, and it changes how revision should work. Broad familiarity is not enough; the marginal gain comes from eliminating the specific areas where you are guessing. Work through the official question set until you can identify which of the five knowledge areas you lose marks in, then revise that area to near-certainty rather than doing another general pass. The time limit is generous relative to the reading load, so accuracy, not speed, is what fails people.

Use the official material, and check its version

CITB's shop describes GT100 version 14.1 as the current and only official revision material for the Operatives and Specialists test, available as a 12.50 pound paperback, a download, a DVD and a mobile app. For Managers and Professionals the equivalents are the GT200 book, a 7.29 pound app and a 12.75 pound PC download, with a 13-question sample test online. Third-party mock tests circulate widely and are not maintained against the live question bank. Where a free mock and the official set disagree, the official set is the one the examiner wrote from.

The Managers and Professionals paper moved in 2023

CITB updated the Managers and Professionals test in June 2023 to reflect changes to legislation, working practices and new technology, and restructured it into five sections: legal and management, occupational health, wellbeing and welfare, general safety, high risk activities, and environment. The legal and management section is the clearest difference from the operative-level paper, which substitutes specialist trade content. Anyone revising from pre-2023 notes or from an older colleague's book is working against a superseded structure, even where individual facts still hold. Confirm the edition on the cover before relying on it.

Booking logistics and the 72-hour rule

Tests are booked through Pearson VUE, online or on 0344 994 4488, and sat at Pearson Professional Centres; a mobile testing service exists for sites without convenient centre access. Employers putting four or more people through at once should use CITB's Navigator group booking system rather than making individual bookings. Any change to a booked test must be made at least 72 hours in advance or the fee is charged or forfeited, which matters on sites where shift patterns move at short notice. Buying vouchers in advance separates the payment from the scheduling and avoids repeated card transactions.

Common questions

How much does the CITB HS&E test cost in 2026?

CITB lists the test at 23.50 pounds. Vouchers to that value can be bought in advance and redeemed when booking at a Pearson Professional Centre, which is the usual arrangement where an employer is paying for several candidates. Revision material is priced separately: the GT100 paperback for Operatives and Specialists is 12.50 pounds, the Managers and Professionals app is 7.29 pounds and the PC download is 12.75 pounds.

What is the pass mark for the CITB test?

Ninety per cent. The test is 50 questions in 45 minutes and you must answer at least 45 of them correctly. That allows five wrong answers across the whole paper. The same question count, duration and pass mark apply to the Managers and Professionals version, so moving up from the Operatives paper does not change the scoring tolerance, only the content you are examined on.

Which version of the HS&E test do I need?

There are three: Operatives, Specialists, and Managers and Professionals. CITB does not map occupations itself and instead directs candidates to the CSCS card finder at cscsonline.uk.com, because the card you are applying for determines the test. The Specialists route subdivides further into supervisory, demolition, highway works, work at height, lifts and escalators, tunnelling, HVACR trades and JIB plumbing. Confirm the exact test name before booking, since a wrong booking is a wasted fee.

How do I book the test and can I change the date?

Booking is through Pearson VUE, either online or by telephone on 0344 994 4488, and tests are sat at Pearson Professional Centres. Groups of four or more should use CITB's Navigator group booking system. A mobile testing service is available where a centre is impractical. Any reschedule or cancellation must be made at least 72 hours before the booked test, otherwise the fee is charged or the voucher forfeited.

Has the question bank changed recently?

The Managers and Professionals test was updated in June 2023 to reflect changes to legislation, working practices and new technology, and its content is now organised into five sections from legal and management through to environment. For the Operatives and Specialists test, CITB's shop still lists GT100 version 14.1 as the current and only official revision material. CITB has not published a separate revision date for those versions on the pages reviewed here.

What subjects does the Operatives test cover?

Five knowledge areas: working environment, occupational health, safety, high risk activities and specialist content. The official GT100 revision set covers all five alongside learning content rather than bare questions and answers, and a CITB smartphone app provides test simulations with voiceover in 14 languages, which is useful where English is a second language. The Managers and Professionals paper covers comparable ground but replaces the specialist block with legal and management content.