& 
The SMSTS course (Site Management Safety Training Scheme) is CITB’s five-day health and safety course for site managers and people moving into that role. It ends with a 35-minute exam, and the certificate is valid for five years, renewed by a two-day refresher taken before it expires.
That’s the short version. Below is what the week actually involves, who is usually sent on it, how the exam is marked under the current CITB scheme rules, and where it sits with the law.
What is the SMSTS course?
SMSTS is part of CITB’s Site Safety Plus scheme. It’s aimed at people who plan, organise, monitor and control work on a construction site, and who are responsible for the health, safety and welfare of the people doing it. The point is to get you managing safety: setting up the site, running the paperwork, leading the team and making the calls when something changes.
There are no formal entry requirements. CITB recommends some existing health and safety knowledge, but it isn’t compulsory, and the course is built for current site managers as well as those about to step up.
Who needs SMSTS training?
CITB describes it as a course for anyone who has, or is about to have, responsibility for planning, organising, monitoring, controlling and administering groups of staff, with the site manager as the obvious example. In practice the people we see on it include:
- Site managers and assistant site managers
- Agents and project managers who carry responsibility for how a site is run
- Owners of small building firms who manage their own jobs
- Experienced supervisors being promoted into a management role
Very often the reason someone books is simple: a principal contractor or client has asked for it before they’ll let you run a site. If that’s you, our CITB SMSTS course page has the dates.
What the five days cover
The current CITB standard splits the course into four modules. Each one is a fair chunk of material, so expect full days.
| Module | Topics include |
|---|---|
| 1. Legal and management | Health and safety law, the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act, CDM 2015, management systems, risk assessments and method statements, induction and training, communication, leadership and worker engagement, inspection and audit, statutory forms and registers, accident reporting and investigation |
| 2. Health and welfare | Managing health, welfare facilities, stress and mental health, drugs and alcohol, COSHH, lead, asbestos, dust and fumes, noise, vibration, manual handling |
| 3. General safety | Site organisation, fire and dangerous substances, electrical safety, temporary works, work equipment and hand tools, mobile plant, lifting operations, driver safety |
| 4. High risk activities | Work at height (including scaffolding, access equipment and fall arrest), excavations, underground and overhead services, confined spaces |
CITB sets a minimum of 37.5 hours of training for the five-day format, and you have to attend every day to be eligible for the certificate. If you miss a day, the scheme rules allow it to be made up within 30 days (longer with certified illness), so a missed day doesn’t have to mean starting again.
How the SMSTS exam works
Passing SMSTS isn’t only about the exam. Under the current CITB scheme rules there are three parts, and you need all of them:
- Four core exercises completed during the week, which let the trainer see how you work within the group.
- A trainer review, a pass or fail based on your performance and engagement across the course.
- The final exam: 25 questions set by CITB in 35 minutes. Eighteen are multiple choice worth one mark each, and seven are multi-response or short written answers worth two marks each, giving 32 marks in total.
The pass mark is 81%, which is 26 out of 32. For the last 15 minutes the exam becomes open book, and you can use the CITB publication Construction site safety: The comprehensive guide (GE700) and the course delegate workbook (XA6). Knowing your way around GE700 before that point is worth a lot.
If you complete the exercises, pass the trainer review and score between 72% and 78% (23 to 25 marks), you’re allowed one resit of the exam.
How long SMSTS lasts and the SMSTS refresher
An SMSTS certificate is valid for five years. To keep it, you take the two-day SMSTS refresher (SMSTS-R) before the expiry date on your certificate. CITB is clear that if you let it lapse, you’ll need to retake the full five-day course, so put the date in your diary well ahead of time.
Is SMSTS a legal requirement?
No. There is no law that says a site manager must hold SMSTS. It becomes a requirement because contractors and clients write it into their site rules and tenders, and on many sites you won’t get through the gate as a manager without it.
Where the law does come in is competence. Under regulation 8 of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, a contractor appointed to a project must have the skills, knowledge and experience needed to do the job in a way that secures health and safety, and anyone appointing a contractor must take reasonable steps to check that. Regulation 15 then requires contractors to plan, manage and monitor their work so that, as far as reasonably practicable, it’s carried out without risks to health and safety, and to provide appropriate supervision, instructions and information.
The regulations don’t name SMSTS or any other course. But when a firm has to show that the person running its site has the knowledge to do it safely, a current SMSTS certificate is one of the most widely recognised pieces of evidence in the industry. It sits alongside experience, not in place of it.
Classroom or live online
CITB allows SMSTS to be delivered in a classroom or remotely. We run it over five days at our centres and live online with a trainer, with the same content and assessment either way. See the SMSTS course dates and venues.
Supervisors: SSSTS is the one for you
If you run a gang or a section of work rather than the whole site, the two-day Site Supervision Safety Training Scheme (SSSTS) is usually the better fit. We’ve covered the differences between the two in a separate post, so we won’t repeat it here.
SMSTS FAQs
Does SMSTS get me a CSCS Black card?
Not on its own. The CSCS Manager card is based on a relevant construction management NVQ or SVQ plus the CITB Managers and Professionals HS&E test. SMSTS is a short course, not a qualification of that kind. If you need the card, look at the GQA Level 6 NVQ Diploma in Construction Site Management and our Black Manager card guide.
Is the SMSTS exam hard?
The 81% pass mark is high, so it deserves respect. People who listen during the week, do the exercises properly and get familiar with GE700 generally do fine. There’s also one resit available if you narrowly miss.
Can I do the refresher if my SMSTS has expired?
No. CITB requires the refresher to be taken before the expiry date. Once it has expired, you go back to the full five-day course.
Is there funding for SMSTS?
Funding may be available, particularly for employers registered with CITB. Give us a ring on 0330 124 2165 and we’ll talk you through whether it applies to you.
Training that covers this
- CITB Site Management Safety Training Scheme (SMSTS)
- CITB SMSTS Refresher (SMSTS-R)
- CITB Site Supervision Safety Training Scheme (SSSTS)
- Level 6 NVQ Diploma in Construction Site Management
- CSCS Black Manager card
Read the source
- CITB: Site Management Safety Training Scheme (SMSTS)
- CITB Site Safety Plus scheme rules, Appendix G: SMSTS
- legislation.gov.uk: CDM 2015 regulation 8
- legislation.gov.uk: CDM 2015 regulation 15
Upcoming CITB Site Safety dates
Straight from the booking system, so this block is never out of date.
Prices exclude VAT. Dates and places update automatically.
