Key construction health and safety test revised and improved

As part of the Industrial Training Board and Sector Skills Council’s commitment to increasing competence in the construction workforce CITB-ConstructionSkills is launching its improved Health, Safety and Environment Test from 2 April.

Anyone taking the test after this date will need to familiarise themselves with the updated question bank and the new features of the test, which include:

• A fully refreshed and updated question bank, including the new universal hazard symbols;
• More questions on respiratory risks and hazards;
• Knowledge questions on the environment; and
• Behavioural case studies, which assess how a candidate responds to working practices on site.

CITB-ConstructionSkills adds that new revision information is also available, including the video ‘Setting Out’, which it describes as a unique training tool highlighting the required behaviours of both site management and workers. Watching this training video will be a must before taking the new test and it will be available to view free of charge.

The test has been running for more than a decade and is taken by some 500,000 candidates a year. Of the revised version, Kevin Fear, head of health and safety strategy at CITB-ConstructionSkills, said: “‘Setting Out’ and the behavioural case studies are the most important features of the new test. While construction workers need good awareness of the health, safety and environmental issues that affect construction sites, further improvements to the industry’s accident record will only be made once we have workers responding appropriately to the conditions that they will find on site.”

The organisation’s head of testing and card services, Braden Connolly, added: “It is absolutely crucial that anyone taking the test gets up to speed with the new elements, and ensures they are as well prepared for the test as they can be. We pride ourselves on making the test accessible to anyone who wants to take it, via a range of methods, including voice-overs, readers, sign and foreign-language interpreters, but these can only work if candidates get themselves fully familiar with the test’s content.”

For further information about the new test, and revision materials available, visit
www.cskills.org/supportbusiness/healthsafety/Health-Safety-Environment-Test/index.aspx