ASP Construction Exam study guide: key rules on all 12 topics

Free ASP Construction Exam study guide: 237 key points from the Safety Code for the construction industry (CSTC), chapter S-2.1, r. 4 in plain words, organised by topic, each topic linked to its practice questions.

By the Canada Exam Prep Editorial Team · Updated October 17, 2026

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This study guide collects our notes on every topic of the ASP Construction 30-Hour Course Exam – General Health and Safety on Construction Sites (Québec) on one page: 237 short points in our own words, grouped by topic and by handbook section. Read it from top to bottom before your first practice test, or jump to a topic from the list below.

Each topic ends with a link to its practice questions, so you can check what you just read straight away, and a link to the official chapter for the full wording. The notes summarise the Safety Code for the construction industry (CSTC), chapter S-2.1, r. 4 from the ASP Construction (sector-based joint association for construction health and safety), under Québec's Construction Safety Code and the CNESST; they do not replace it, and where our notes and the official source differ, the official source wins.

Study these notes as flashcards →

Prevention principles, rights and duties

Eliminating hazards at the source, the right to refuse dangerous work, protection against reprisals, and the duties of workers and employers under the OHS Act.

Practise Prevention principles, rights and duties questions Flashcards Official chapter

Object of the Act

The goal of Québec's Act respecting occupational health and safety (LSST) is to eliminate hazards to workers' health, safety and physical and psychological integrity at their very source.
The Act sets up participation by workers, employers and their associations in reaching that goal.
Supplying personal or collective protective equipment must not reduce the effort to eliminate the hazard at the source: protective equipment is a last resort.

Workers' rights

Workers have the right to working conditions that respect their health, safety and physical and psychological integrity.
They have the right to training, information and advice on health and safety, and to appropriate training, coaching and supervision.
They are paid during a health exam required by the Act; the employer pays for the exam and travel costs.

Right to refuse

A worker may refuse to do a job if they have reasonable grounds to believe it exposes them, or another person, to danger.
They may not refuse if refusing puts another person's life, health or safety in immediate danger, or if the conditions are normal for that kind of work.
They must notify their immediate supervisor, the employer or the employer's representative right away.
The supervisor calls in the health and safety representative (or, failing that, a union representative or a worker chosen by the person refusing) to examine the situation.
During the refusal the worker is deemed to be at work, and the employer may not have someone else do the job until a decision orders a return to work (except as allowed by sections 17 and 19).
If the disagreement continues, a CNESST inspector can be called in; the inspector decides quickly whether there is a danger and may order a return to work or corrections.

Protection against reprisals

The employer may not dismiss, suspend, transfer or otherwise penalize a worker for exercising the right to refuse.
Exception: within 10 days of a final decision, a penalty is possible if the right was used abusively.

Workers' duties

Learn the prevention program that applies to them.
Take the necessary steps to protect their own health and safety, and not endanger others at or near the workplace.
Undergo required health exams, help identify and eliminate risks, and cooperate with the health and safety committee or the site committee.
Not work when their condition is a risk, including impairment by alcohol, drugs or cannabis.
On a construction site, the Act itself states that impairment by alcohol, drugs or cannabis is a risk.

Employers' duties

Take the necessary steps to protect workers' health, safety and physical and psychological integrity.
Make sure work organization and methods are safe; supply safe equipment and keep it in good condition.
Use methods to identify, control and eliminate risks.
Inform workers properly about the risks of their job and provide appropriate training, coaching and supervision.
Supply the required personal protective equipment free of charge and make sure workers use it.
Take measures to protect workers exposed to physical or psychological violence, including domestic, family or sexual violence.

Construction sites: rules and organization

The principal contractor, notices of opening, prevention programs and site committees, the mandatory 30-hour course, public safety, housekeeping and working alone.

Practise Construction sites: rules and organization questions Flashcards Official chapter

General health and safety on construction sites course (30-hour course)

The course has 19 modules taught over 30 hours, followed by a final exam; all 19 modules must be completed before the exam.
ASP Construction issues its card to learners who attended the entire course and passed the final exam.
The recognized training organization gives a provisional certificate valid 12 weeks; the official card arrives by mail within at most 12 weeks.
The 30-hour course card does not expire. A lost or unreadable card is replaced through a form, for $20 per card.
There are no prerequisites; ASP Construction suggests taking the course from age 16. It is offered in French and English, and the manual also exists in Spanish.
APSAM's "Travaux publics et construction" course is recognized as equivalent.

Employers' general duties

The employer makes sure that management and supervisory staff who mainly and usually work on a site, and workers who had no recognized certificate on July 18, 2019, have passed the General health and safety on construction sites course.
Every worker on a site wears clothing that fully covers the torso and back at all times.
Games and competitions during work are banned.
Each worker must know the Code, the equipment they are responsible for and the emergency measures for fire, explosion or accidents, and be warned of the risks of their own job.

Principal contractor, prevention program and site committee

On the site, the principal contractor (maître d'œuvre) has the same duties toward construction workers as an employer.
It sends the CNESST a written opening notice at least 10 days before work begins, and a closing notice (except for major sites).
It is responsible for general measures: traffic control, temporary electrical installation, housekeeping, toilets, public safety, site access, fire protection, permanent guardrails and temporary heating.
If at least 10 workers will be on site at once, a prevention program is drawn up with the employers before work starts.
If at least 20 workers will be on site at once, the program is sent to the CNESST before work starts, and a site committee is formed from the start.
The site committee monitors the prevention program and receives complaints and suggestions, accident notices and inspection reports; it meets at least once every two weeks.

Public safety

A covered walkway is required if work is on more than one storey and the sidewalk or road is less than 2 m from the site.
If the sidewalk is 2 m or more away and pedestrians are at risk, a protective wall separates the site from the public.

Housekeeping

The site, including access and exit routes, is kept in order; storage and waste must create no danger.
Waste is never thrown from one level to another; it is removed as work goes on (containers, a closed chute to a bin, hoisting equipment for large items).
Traffic routes are kept clear, free of snow, ice, oil and grease, and made slip-resistant.
Minimum lighting: 50 lux on traffic routes, 250 lux for structural work (formwork, concreting, framing).
Toilets are no more than 150 m from the work area and no more than 4 storeys above or below.

Demolition and working alone

The principal contractor sends the CNESST a demolition notice and the demolition method at least 7 days before demolishing a building.
When a worker works alone in an isolated place where they cannot ask for help, the employer sets up an effective monitoring method, continuous or intermittent.

Personal protective equipment

Hard hats, safety footwear, eye and face protection, gloves, clothing near moving parts, flotation devices and who pays for protective equipment.

Practise Personal protective equipment questions Flashcards Official chapter

Head protection

Everyone on a construction site wears a hard hat meeting CSA Z94.1.
The rule covers everyone present, not only workers who handle loads.

Foot protection

Everyone on a site wears Grade 1 protective footwear meeting CSA Z195.

Eye and face protection

Protection meeting CSA Z94.3 is mandatory when the eyes or face are exposed to moving particles, hazardous substances, intense light or heat, molten metal or similar risks.

Moving parts

Near moving parts, clothing is close-fitting with no loose parts.
Necklaces, bracelets and rings are banned, except a medical bracelet fixed firmly to the wrist.
Long hair is held in a cap under the hard hat.

Hands and other body parts

Gloves or mitts are supplied for handling sharp-edged or abrasive objects and corrosive or toxic substances.
Gloves or mitts are banned when operating mechanized equipment, unless there is a frostbite risk; they must then give a good grip and come off easily.
A worker exposed to molten metal splashes or hazardous substances wears protection such as a hood, apron, leggings and sleeves.

Personal flotation device

A worker over or near water wears a personal flotation device or life jacket, including when carried on water in an open (undecked) boat.
It must be the right size, keep the head and face out of the water, be a bright colour and have reflective strips.

Where protective equipment fits

The employer supplies personal protective equipment free of charge and makes sure it is used.
Protective equipment does not replace eliminating the hazard at the source.

Manual handling and noise

Preventing musculoskeletal injuries when lifting and carrying loads, and the noise limits, control measures and hearing protection rules.

Practise Manual handling and noise questions Flashcards Official chapter

Material handling

Materials are moved, carried or unloaded in a way that does not endanger workers or the public.
The load stored on a structure must not exceed its allowable load.
When moving a load by hand is dangerous, mechanical devices are made available to workers.
Material handlers are taught how to lift and carry loads.
On a slope, avoid standing on the downhill side and guide the object with ropes, chocks or wedges.
To move objects on rollers, use tools made for the job, never hands or feet to reposition moving rollers.
Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are the subject of module 3 of the 30-hour course; the basic rule is to reduce manual effort with mechanical aids and good methods.

Noise exposure limits

Daily noise exposure level: 85 dBA, normalized to an 8-hour day.
Peak sound pressure: 140 dBC.

Reducing noise

When planning work, the employer identifies situations at risk and uses reasonable means: reduce noise at the source, limit its spread (enclosure), isolate the workstation, maintain equipment.
While those means are being put in place, during repairs or when the limits cannot be met, the employer reduces exposure time or supplies hearing protectors.

Hearing protectors

Hearing protectors are mandatory when measured noise exceeds the limits.
They are also mandatory when you cannot talk in a normal voice, without raising it, at about one metre (an arm's length), or when there is impulse noise.
Protectors must cut noise enough that the worker is not exposed beyond the limits.
The employer gives theory and hands-on training: choice, fit, inspection, maintenance, noise risks and the importance of wearing protectors for the whole exposure.

Electricity and lockout

Grounded or double-insulated tools, extension cords, and the lockout and energy-control rules for working in a machine's danger zone.

Practise Electricity and lockout questions Flashcards Official chapter

Electricity

Electrical equipment, tools and conductors are used only for the purpose they were designed for.
An electric tool is grounded through bonding continuity or is double-insulated.
An extension cord has a grounding conductor, is designed for outdoor use, is extra-hard usage (circuits of 300 V or less) or hard usage (600 V or less), and is rated at least as high as the circuit's overcurrent protection.

Lockout definitions

Lockout: installing a single-key padlock on the isolating device of an energy source (or on a lockout box).
Single-key: a padlock that only one key opens.
An energy-control method keeps the machine unable to run until every person with access to the danger zone acts deliberately.

When to lock out

Before any work in a machine's danger zone (repair, maintenance, cleaning, unjamming, adjustment, installation and so on), lockout or a method with equivalent safety is applied.
Each person with access to the danger zone installs their own padlock.
Exception: a machine unplugged within reach, under the user's exclusive control, with a single energy source and no residual energy.
The same rules apply, with adaptations, to any work on an electrical installation.

Procedure and steps

The principal contractor makes sure a written energy-control procedure exists for each machine on site and is easy to consult.
Before the method is applied, the people involved are trained and informed about the risks and prevention measures.

Equipment, authorization and cutting a lock

An employer gets the principal contractor's written authorization before working in a machine's danger zone.
The principal contractor supplies lockout equipment, and the name of the person who installs a padlock is shown on it (or a register is kept for unnamed padlocks).
If a padlock is forgotten or a key lost, the principal contractor may authorize cutting it with the consent of the person who locked out, after making sure there is no danger to them.
Without that consent, it first inspects the danger zone with a union representative or a designated worker.
Each lock cut is recorded in writing and kept for at least one year.

Tools, machines and fire prevention

Machine guards, grinding wheels, engines indoors, repairs on raised parts, temporary heating, welding and cutting, and fire extinguishers on site.

Practise Tools, machines and fire prevention questions Flashcards Official chapter

Machine guards

Moving parts of machines are protected by safety devices that prevent access to the danger zone during operation.
Guards must be firmly attached, not hinder the operator, allow maintenance and not create hazards themselves.

Grinding wheels

A wheel 50 mm in diameter or more has a guard suited to the work.
The tool rest is no more than 3 mm from the wheel.
The wheel is inspected before mounting for cracks and defects, and run below the manufacturer's maximum speed.

Engines and repairs

No internal combustion engine is used near flammable or explosive dust or vapours.
Inside a closed structure, exhaust is removed at the source; if mechanical ventilation stops, the engine is shut down at once and restarted only when ventilation is back.
Before a repair, raised parts are securely blocked.

Temporary heating

Gasoline or naphtha heaters are banned.
A combustion heater is placed so it cannot set tarps or combustible materials on fire, is protected against tipping and must not block exits.
In a confined area, there must be enough air for combustion and adequate ventilation.

Pressurized gas, welding and cutting

Compressed air or gas piping is protected against impact and clearly identified.
Welding and cutting are banned near combustible materials or where there are flammable dust, gases or vapours, unless precautions prevent fire or explosion.
No welding, cutting or open flame on a container that may hold a flammable substance, unless air samples show it is safe (or CSA W117.2 is followed).

Fire protection

Fire-fighting equipment is approved, easy to reach, clearly marked, protected from damage and freezing, and accessible to firefighters at all times.
Portable extinguishers are ULC-listed ABC units, charged, and show the name of the person responsible for maintenance and the date of the last check.

Stilts

Working on stilts or similar devices is banned at all times.

Site traffic and vehicles

The traffic plan, reversing manoeuvres and back-up areas, the site signaller, driver permits, horns and back-up alarms, and riding on equipment.

Practise Site traffic and vehicles questions Flashcards Official chapter

Principal contractor's duties and the traffic plan

Traffic of self-propelled vehicles is controlled to protect everyone on the site.
The principal contractor plans traffic to limit reversing, installs signs (including speed limits), marks routes and backing areas and has dust controlled.
The traffic plan sets out the measures to limit reversing and protect pedestrians, the communication method (two-way radio or hand signals) and a diagram: traffic routes, backing areas, signs, speed limits and signaller positions.
The plan is available on site at all times and updated when things change.

Site signaller and reversing

The site signaller directs drivers, especially when reversing, and takes training given by an instructor (risks, the plan's rules, equipment, blind spots, communication).
They wear fluorescent yellow-green high-visibility clothing, Class 2 or 3, Level 2 (CSA Z96).
They stay visible to the driver and out of the vehicle's path.
Reversing that could endanger people is done in a backing area closed to pedestrians, or guided all the way by a signaller.
The signaller uses a two-way radio; for reversing under 10 m, they may use the hand signals set out in the plan.

Vehicles and equipment

A self-propelled vehicle has working brakes and a horn used near pedestrians, doors, corners and dangerous spots.
No one but the driver rides on a vehicle without a seat provided for that purpose; no unauthorized person climbs on construction equipment.
No worker stays on or in a vehicle if they could be in danger during loading or unloading.
To drive a vehicle on site, you need the licence required on public roads or a document proving you can drive it off-road (except a trainee who is accompanied).
If the view of a crane, excavator or other equipment operator is blocked (other than when reversing), a worker guides them by hand signals or telecommunication.

Cabs and alarms

A cab or protective frame is required if the driver could be hurt by projectiles or falling objects.
Every vehicle has a horn within the driver's reach, with a distinct sound loud enough to be heard over site noise.
A self-resetting back-up alarm is required on earthmoving machines, trucks rated 2,250 kg or more and vehicles with a blocked rear view.

Contaminants, asbestos and WHMIS

Controlling airborne contaminants at the source, respirators, asbestos work categories, dust control, and WHMIS 2015 labels, safety data sheets and training.

Practise Contaminants, asbestos and WHMIS questions Flashcards Official chapter

Airborne contaminants and respiratory protection

Airborne contaminants are eliminated at their point of origin to meet the limits in the Regulation respecting occupational health and safety.
When those limits cannot be met, the employer supplies a compliant respirator.
The logical order: control at the source first, then protect the worker.

Dust

A rock drill has water fed into the holes or a mechanical dust extraction system.
A worker doing abrasive blasting wears an air-supplied hood, gloves and protective clothing, unless isolated from the process.

Asbestos

A material contains asbestos when its concentration is at least 0.1%.
Before work that may release asbestos dust, the employer identifies the types of asbestos present.
Sites are classed by risk: low, moderate or high.
Examples of low-risk work: handling non-friable manufactured items (vinyl tiles, asbestos-cement products) or drilling them with tools fitted with a high-efficiency (HEPA) filter vacuum.
Before demolition, materials that may release asbestos dust are removed.
A friable material can be crumbled or powdered by hand.

Hazardous products (WHMIS)

An employer may not allow a hazardous product to be used without a compliant label and safety data sheet (SDS), and without the exposed worker having received the required training and information.
In Québec, the label, placard and SDS must be in French; a translation may be added but must not prevail over the French text.
The employer runs a training and information program on hazardous products.
The employer keeps the SDS easy for workers to consult at the workplace.

WHMIS 2015 pictograms, labels and SDS

Pictograms are usually a black symbol inside a red diamond-shaped border.
Flame: fire hazard. Flame over circle: oxidizer. Gas cylinder: gas under pressure. Corrosion: damage to skin, eyes or metals. Skull and crossbones: acute toxicity. Health hazard: serious effects such as cancer or respiratory sensitization. Exclamation mark: less serious effects such as irritation.
The supplier label includes the product identifier, supplier identifier, pictograms, signal word, hazard statements and precautionary statements.
A workplace label is required when a product is transferred to another container, made on site, or when the supplier label is illegible.
The SDS has 16 sections in a set order; section 8 covers exposure controls and personal protection, section 4 first aid.

Fall protection

When protection is required, the order of protection measures, guardrails, warning lines, safety nets, harnesses, lanyards and anchors.

Practise Fall protection questions Flashcards Official chapter

When fall protection is required

Every worker is protected if they could fall more than 3 m.
At any height, they are protected if they could fall into a liquid or hazardous substance, onto moving parts or onto dangerous equipment or materials.
They are protected from 1.2 m when using a wheelbarrow or a vehicle.

Order of measures

1) Change the work position so the work is done from the ground or a surface with no fall risk.
2) Install a guardrail or a system that limits travel so the worker is no longer exposed.
3) Use collective protection, such as a safety net.
4) Have the worker wear a safety harness connected to an anchor system by a fall-arrest connection.

Guardrails

A guardrail is placed at the edge of a drop (floor, roof, platform, scaffold, stairs, excavation) using the same height thresholds.
If a guardrail that gets in the way is removed temporarily, the harness becomes mandatory and the area is marked off: a barrier or trestles at least 0.7 m high placed 0.9 m to 1.2 m from the edge, or a warning line.
A guardrail is 1 m to 1.2 m high.
Wooden guardrail: top rail, mid-rail at half height, toe board at least 90 mm, posts no more than 1.8 m apart. Steel cable: posts no more than 3 m apart.

Warning line

It is continuous and placed 2 m or more from any spot a worker could fall from.
It carries high-visibility flags no more than 2 m apart.

Safety net

The net prevents a free fall of more than 6 m.
It holds a 115 kg mass falling 6 m, with a safety factor of 3.
Mesh about 150 mm × 150 mm; it is kept free of debris.

Harness, fall-arrest connection and anchor

The harness meets CSA Z259.10.
The fall-arrest connection limits arrest force to 6 kN or free fall to 1.8 m.
The lanyard, energy absorber included, is no longer than 2 m.
A safety belt is only for limiting travel or work positioning; it may never be used to arrest a fall.
A single anchor point has a breaking strength of at least 18 kN (or is engineer-designed).
A steel-cable horizontal lifeline (at least 12 mm diameter, no more than 12 m between anchors) is used by no more than 2 workers at a time.

Ladders and scaffolds

Setting up and using ladders and stepladders, when scaffolds are required, platforms and planks, erection, inspection, tying and use in bad weather.

Practise Ladders and scaffolds questions Flashcards Official chapter

Using a ladder

Where there is no stair, ramp, scaffold or platform, a ladder is used to reach a work area.
The ladder stands on a solid base and rests at the top on both side rails.
Angle: the distance from the foot to the top support is about 1/4 to 1/3 of the ladder's length.
Used as access, it is firmly secured and extends at least 900 mm above the upper landing.
An unsecured ladder 9 m or longer is held firmly by one or more people.
Two ladders are never spliced end to end.

Stepladders and defective ladders

A stepladder is fully opened and locked; the platform and pail shelf are not used as steps.
A metal or metal-reinforced stepladder is not used near an exposed electrical circuit.
A broken or defective ladder is taken out of service until repaired; it is never repaired with a splint or lashing.
Ladders are stored dry and sheltered from the weather.

When and how to erect a scaffold

A scaffold is required where workers cannot work safely from the ground or a solid base; a ladder is allowed for jobs under one hour.
It rests on strong enough ground or footing and resists loads and wind.
Erection and dismantling are done under the supervision of a qualified person, who also checks every part before it goes in place.
Scaffolds set on ladders are banned.

Platform

Minimum clear width 470 mm.
Stamped planks at least 50 mm × 250 mm, extending at least 150 mm and at most 300 mm past their supports.
Platform parts must neither tip nor slide.

Tying, access, examinations and use

A scaffold taller than 3 times the smallest dimension of its base is tied to the building or guyed.
Above 1.5 m, it offers safe access, with landings every 6 m, and a stair from 18 m.
An experienced person examines it at least every 3 months, after a failure or incident, and before reuse after a long stop.
No one stands on a scaffold during a storm or high winds, or on an icy or snowy platform without non-slip material.
Work on different levels needs protection against falling objects.

Suspended and mobile scaffolds

Suspended scaffolds and bosun's chairs are banned for anyone under 18; a suspended scaffold is used with a harness connected to an anchor.
A mobile scaffold is locked in place during use and moved with a worker on it only if the worker is warned and the base is at least 1/3 of the height.

Lifting equipment for loads and workers

Rated loads, daily checks, rigging and tag lines, working under loads, signallers, minimum age, people lifts and mobile elevating work platforms (MEWPs).

Practise Lifting equipment for loads and workers questions Flashcards Official chapter

General conditions

A lifting device is kept in good condition, checked by a competent person before first use (purchase, rental or loan) and inspected periodically as the manufacturer specifies.
Every day it is used, the operator does a visual inspection and an operating test following the manufacturer's instructions.
The rated load is clearly posted on the device.
The device is never loaded beyond its rated load or subjected to sudden movements.
A crane's load chart is placed and lit so the operator can read it easily.

Handling loads

Before a lift, the signaller makes sure slings, cables and chains are properly attached and the lift is safe.
Loads are lifted vertically; an angled lift requires precautions and an employer's representative present.
If a load could rotate or move dangerously, tag lines are used.

Under loads and signallers

No load passes over workers' heads, and no one stands under a load or a part of a device that could fall.
The operator does not leave the controls while a bucket, blade, crane or forklift load, or pile-driver hammer is raised.
When the crane operator's view is blocked, a worker watches the load and communicates by hand signals or telecommunication.

People and age

Qualified person: trained through recognized instruction confirmed by a diploma. Experienced person: knowledge gained through practice. Competent person: both qualified and experienced.
Lifting devices are erected, maintained and dismantled under the supervision of experienced workers, following the manufacturer.
No work with a powered lifting device may be done by a worker under 18.

Lifting people

A personnel lifting device has dead-man controls, an emergency stop within reach and a device that prevents the platform from dropping if power fails.
It is used only to move people with the tools and materials for their work, without exceeding the rated load.
Lifting workers with a device designed for materials is allowed only under strict conditions (a platform, no more than 5 workers, and so on).

Mobile elevating work platforms (MEWPs)

A MEWP gets a structural inspection 10 years after manufacture, then every 5 years.
Only an operator properly trained and familiar with the type of equipment may use it; initial training includes a hands-on part.
According to ASP Construction, the MEWP certificate must be updated every 5 years, with at least a practical exam.

Excavations and confined spaces

Locating utilities, shoring, spoil and vehicle setbacks, ladders and watchers in trenches, and the air-testing, ventilation and entry rules for confined spaces.

Practise Excavations and confined spaces questions Flashcards Official chapter

Before digging

Before digging, the employer checks for underground utilities and locates them exactly on the ground.
A utility line may stay in place or be moved only if the service concerned approved the method, with a method that prevents damage and temporary supports.
If digging threatens a neighbouring structure, underpinning or shoring is done.

Shoring

The walls of an excavation or trench are shored to an engineer's plans.
Exceptions: sound rock (which can only be dug with explosives) or no worker goes down; stable walls sloped at less than 45° from less than 1.2 m above the bottom; or an engineer certifies in writing that shoring is not needed.
Shoring extends 300 mm above the excavation and is installed as the work progresses.
Banned: placing materials within 1.2 m of the top of the walls; driving or parking vehicles within 3 m (without reinforced shoring).
Shores are removed from the bottom up, by or under an experienced person, where workers no longer have access.

Access, watching and age

A ladder every 15 m of trench (or part of 15 m), moving with the work, resting on the bottom and rising at least 1 m above ground.
When workers are in a trench, an experienced person watches from the surface for cracks and cave-ins.
Barriers at least 0.7 m high or a warning line are installed at the top of any excavation deeper than 3 m or otherwise dangerous.
The excavation is kept reasonably dry.
All work in excavations and trenches is banned for workers under 18.

Confined space: definition and preparation

The Code defines a confined space as a space not designed to be occupied by a person, such as a tank, silo, vat, caisson, foundation pile, chimney or access shaft.
Before work, the principal contractor and the employer identify in writing the tools, equipment, pipes and lines, risks, possible contaminants and rescue and emergency means.

Air, ventilation and entry

No worker, even with a respirator, enters if oxygen is below 19.5% or above 23%.
Nor if a flammable gas or vapour exceeds 25% of the lower explosive limit, or if a contaminant exceeds its exposure limit.
Readings are taken every 2 hours, at the riskiest spots, by a trained person, and recorded in a register (unless continuous-reading instruments with alarms are used).
The employer installs adequate ventilation and keeps out workers not assigned to the job.
In an emergency, only a worker with special training who is informed of the risk may enter despite the conditions.

Written in our own words from: Safety Code for the construction industry (CSTC), chapter S-2.1, r. 4

FAQ

ASP Construction Exam study guide: common questions

What is the best way to use this ASP Construction Exam study guide?

Read one topic, then answer that topic's practice questions while the rules are fresh. Note the questions you miss, re-read those notes, and finish with a full practice test across all 12 topics.

Is this the official ASP Construction Exam handbook?

No. It is our own summary of the Safety Code for the construction industry (CSTC), chapter S-2.1, r. 4. Use it to review, and use the official handbook when you need the exact wording of a rule.

Can I print the study guide?

Yes, with your browser's print command. For practice questions on paper with an answer key, use our printable questions and answers page instead.