CSP exam blueprint (CSP11): the 7 domains, their weights and what they cover

Short answerThe CSP exam follows BCSP's CSP11 blueprint, in use for all candidates since 1 August 2025. It has seven domains. Advanced Application of Safety Principles and Program Management are 25% each, so half the exam sits there. The table below gives every domain and weight.

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The seven CSP11 domains at a glance

BCSP publishes the blueprint as a list of domains, each with a weight and a set of knowledge areas. The weight is the share of the exam that domain represents, so it is the best single guide to where your study hours should go. The summary below is ours; the domains and weights are BCSP's (CSP11 blueprint, version V.2024.04.24).

Domain	Weight	What it covers
1. Advanced Application of Safety Principles	25%	Prevention through design, process safety, common workplace hazards, life safety, fleet, materials handling, tools and machines
2. Program Management	25%	Benchmarks and gap analysis, safety culture, incident investigation, management of change, system safety analysis, indicators, management systems, records, budgets, leadership, projects, data analysis
3. Risk Management	15%	The risk process, hazard analysis and the hierarchy of controls, financial risk strategies, ranking and monitoring risk
4. Emergency Management	9%	Emergency response plans, incident command and business continuity, fire protection, hazmat transport and security, workplace violence
5. Environmental Management	6%	Pollution prevention, hazardous materials and waste, sustainability, environmental issues such as asbestos, air pollution and ESG
6. Occupational Health and Applied Science	10%	Exposure assessment and control, public health, toxicology, ergonomics and human factors, chemistry and physics calculations
7. Training	10%	Needs assessment, programme design, continuous improvement, evaluating training, delivery methods, adult learning

Domain 1: Advanced Application of Safety Principles (25%)

The largest domain, together with Program Management. It tests whether you can apply controls to real hazards, not just name them.

Designing hazards out: avoidance, elimination, substitution and safe design criteria for facilities, machines and practices
Process safety: pressure relief, chemical compatibility, management of change, materials of construction, process flow diagrams
Evaluating common hazards such as electrical work, falls, confined spaces, lockout, work near water, caught-in, struck-by and excavation
Life safety features of facilities: public spaces, floor loading and occupancy loads
Fleet safety: drivers and vehicles, maintenance, telematics, fuel systems, impairment and fatigue
Materials handling: forklifts, aerial lifts, cranes, hoists, rigging, manual handling and drones
Tools, machines and equipment, from hand and power tools and ladders to hydraulics and robotics

Domain 2: Program Management (25%)

The other quarter of the exam, and the broadest domain. Expect management-system and leadership questions alongside numbers: statistics, probabilities and cost-benefit work all sit here.

Comparing performance with benchmarks (gap analysis) and turning standards into an action plan
Measuring and improving safety culture
Incident investigation techniques, root causes and corrective actions
Management of change before, during and after a change
System safety analysis: fault tree analysis, FMEA, the safety case approach
Leading and lagging indicators
Management and audit systems such as ISO 45001, ISO 14001, ISO 19011 and ANSI Z10
What plans, systems and policies must contain, and how records are kept and protected
Budgets, return on investment and cost-benefit analysis
Leadership and management theory, motivation, accountability and communication
Project management tools such as RACI charts and timelines
Analysing data: mean, median, mode, confidence intervals, probabilities and Pareto analysis

Domain 3: Risk Management (15%)

The full risk process: identify, analyse, evaluate, monitor and communicate
Risk tools such as job hazard analysis and process hazard analysis, and the hierarchy of controls
Financial strategies: avoid, retain, share or transfer risk, and loss prevention and reduction
Ranking and monitoring risks across emergencies, fire, occupational health and environmental compliance

Domain 4: Emergency Management (9%)

Building and maintaining an emergency response plan for fire, severe weather, natural disasters, chemical spills, utility failures and cyber events
Disaster response and recovery: incident command, business continuity and contingency plans
Fire prevention, protection and suppression systems
Safe transport and security of hazardous materials
Workplace violence prevention

Domain 5: Environmental Management (6%)

The smallest domain, but the questions are specific: classification, storage and waste rules are easy marks to lose.

Environmental protection and pollution prevention, including spill containment
Managing hazardous materials: GHS classification, storage, handling, security and hazardous waste
Managing waste: universal waste, recycling, spill clean-up, labelling and remediation
Sustainability across the supply chain
Environmental issues such as aging infrastructure, asbestos, air pollution, climate change and ESG

Domain 6: Occupational Health and Applied Science (10%)

This is where most of the science and calculation sits: industrial hygiene, toxicology, chemistry and physics.

Anticipating, recognising, evaluating and controlling exposures: chemicals, radiation, noise, heat and cold, biological hazards, ventilation, silica, combustible dust and more
Public health basics: epidemiology, infectious disease and the statistics behind them
Toxicology for exposure control plans: LD50, LC50, carcinogens, mutagens, teratogens and ototoxins
Ergonomics and human factors: body mechanics, lifting, vibration, anthropometrics and fatigue
Chemistry calculations for containment volumes and storage
Physics: forms of energy, weights, forces and stresses

Domain 7: Training (10%)

Training needs assessment and competency
Designing programmes and materials for different learning styles
Running training on a continuous improvement model
Measuring whether training worked: observation, feedback, assessments and demonstrations
Delivery methods: classroom, online, simulation, computer-based, AI, coaching and on-the-job training
Adult learning principles

How to use the weights to plan your study

Split your study time roughly in proportion to the weights, then adjust for your weak areas. Domains 1 and 2 together are half the exam, so they deserve about half of your hours. Do not skip the small domains: Environmental Management at 6% still carries real questions, and its rules are quick to learn.

Calculations are spread across the blueprint rather than kept in one place. Expect statistics and finance in Program Management, and chemistry, physics, toxicology and exposure maths in Occupational Health and Applied Science.

Practise by domain and keep a score for each one. A domain where you are well below your average is where the next week of study should go. HSE HUB scores every practice set and the full mock exam by CSP11 domain for exactly this reason.

What the blueprint does not tell you

BCSP's CSP page gives the exam time (5.5 hours), says the exam is taken by computer at a test centre and that results are available as soon as you submit. It does not publish a passing percentage on that page, and the blueprint does not say how many questions come from each knowledge area. Treat any site that quotes an exact cut score or per-topic question count as a guess, and check BCSP's candidate information before you sit.

Important note

HSE HUB is an unofficial study tool and is not affiliated with BCSP. ASP and CSP are BCSP trademarks. The CSP11 domains and weights are BCSP's, shown with attribution; the summaries and sample questions on this page are HSE HUB's own.

Try one question from each domain

Seven original HSE HUB practice questions written to the CSP11 blueprint, one per domain. Pick an answer to see the explanation.

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Domain 1. A roofing crew on a 120-foot-wide low-slope roof will run a mechanical felt-laying machine that travels north and south. The foreman sets the warning line 6 feet from all four edges and assigns a safety monitor for anyone working between the line and the edge. What is the minimum compliant warning line layout?

Answer: 10 feet from the north and south edges and 6 feet from the east and west edges. When mechanical equipment is used, the warning line must be at least 6 feet from edges parallel to the direction of equipment travel and at least 10 feet from edges perpendicular to it. A machine moving north and south runs parallel to the east and west edges and heads straight at the north and south edges, so those two need 10 feet. Swapping the edges is the tempting error, because it is easy to read 'perpendicular' as describing the line rather than the edge. Keeping 6 feet everywhere ignores the stopping distance the extra setback provides.

Domain 2. A press safety system is called on 50 times a year. Its light curtain fails on demand with probability 0.05, and the backup two-hand control fails on demand with probability 0.2, independently. Both must fail for an injury to occur. How many injury events are expected per year?

Answer: 0.5 a year, from 50 demands times a joint failure probability of 0.01. When both independent safeguards must fail, the events combine through an AND gate and their probabilities multiply: 0.05 x 0.2 = 0.01 per demand. Expected events are demands times that probability: 50 x 0.01 = 0.5 a year, about one every two years. Adding the probabilities is the OR gate rule and overstates the risk, and using either safeguard alone ignores the other layer.

Domain 3. Grinding steel castings in a fabrication shop produces 98 dBA at the operator's position. The plant can fund one main noise project this year. Which choice best applies the hierarchy of controls?

Answer: Fit damped work fixtures and low-noise grinding discs to cut the noise at its source. The hierarchy puts control at the source first. Much grinding noise comes from the casting ringing, so damped fixtures, clamping on damped tables and quieter discs or tools lower the level the operator hears. Screens protect people nearby but not the operator, rotation lowers each person's dose without removing the noise, and hearing protection is the last line of defense, relying on correct fit and constant use.

Domain 4. During a chemical release at a plant, the corporate EOC starts calling the on-scene Incident Commander's team leads directly and telling them where to move hose lines. What is wrong?

Answer: The EOC should support with resources and policy, not direct the on-scene tactics. Under NIMS, the Incident Commander directs tactics at the scene through the ICS structure, while an Emergency Operations Center coordinates support: resources, information, policy direction and links with other organizations. When the EOC bypasses the IC and directs crews, it breaks unity of command and can put responders at risk. The Safety Officer has authority to stop unsafe acts but does not set tactics.

Domain 5. At a research campus, staff can order any chemical on a purchasing card. An inventory audit found 14 chemicals not on the inventory, two of them peroxide formers past their dates. Which control best fixes the root cause?

Answer: A pre-purchase EHS review of new chemicals, checking SDS, storage and disposal first. The root cause is an uncontrolled entry point: chemicals arrive without anyone checking hazards, storage, quantity or disposal. Prudent Practices in the Laboratory recommends managing chemicals from acquisition, so a pre-purchase review that confirms the SDS, compatible storage, minimum quantity and a disposal route stops the problem before it starts. Audits, spending limits and date labels are useful but catch the problem only after the chemical is on site.

Domain 6. A solvent with an 8-hour TLV of 100 ppm is handled by operators who now work 12-hour shifts. The hygienist adjusts the limit using the Brief and Scala model. What adjusted limit applies?

Answer: About 50 ppm, from a reduction factor of (8/12) x (12/16) = 0.5. The Brief and Scala model lowers a limit for longer shifts because exposure lasts longer and recovery time is shorter: RF = (8/h) x ((24 - h)/16). For a 12-hour shift, RF = (8/12) x (12/16) = 0.5, so 100 ppm becomes about 50 ppm. Using only one of the two terms gives 67 or 75 ppm, and such adjustments are meant mainly for substances with cumulative, systemic effects rather than irritants.

Domain 7. A hospital's bloodborne pathogens training is an English video followed by a written test. Several housekeeping staff read English poorly and mainly speak Spanish or Tagalog. What does 1910.1030 require?

Answer: Training material suited to the staff's educational level, literacy and language. The bloodborne pathogens standard requires that material appropriate in content and vocabulary to the educational level, literacy and language of employees be used. Staff who cannot follow an English video and written test have not been trained in a way the standard accepts, so the hospital needs materials or delivery in Spanish and Tagalog, plus the chance for questions with a knowledgeable person.

Questions people ask

What is the CSP exam blueprint?

It is BCSP's outline of what the CSP exam covers: seven domains, the weight of each and the knowledge areas inside them. The current version is CSP11, and it is the best guide to where your study time should go.

When did the CSP11 blueprint start?

BCSP's 2025 changes index says the CSP exam was updated for all candidates on 1 August 2025, with details in the CSP exam blueprint on bcsp.org. The blueprint version is V.2024.04.24.

Which CSP domains carry the most weight?

Advanced Application of Safety Principles and Program Management, at 25% each. Risk Management follows at 15%, then Occupational Health and Applied Science and Training at 10% each, Emergency Management at 9% and Environmental Management at 6%.

How many questions are on the CSP exam?

BCSP's CSP page lists the exam time, 5.5 hours, but not the number of questions. Candidates and prep providers describe a 200-question multiple-choice exam, which is why HSE HUB's mock exam has 200 questions. Confirm the current format in BCSP's candidate information before you sit.

Is there math on the CSP exam?

Yes. The blueprint asks for data analysis (means, confidence intervals, probabilities), budgets and return on investment, chemistry for containment volumes, physics for forces and stresses, and toxicology values such as LD50. Most of it sits in Program Management and Occupational Health and Applied Science.

What score do I need to pass the CSP?

BCSP's CSP page does not publish a passing percentage. Rather than chase a number, aim for steady scores across all seven domains on timed practice.

Is HSE HUB affiliated with BCSP?

No. HSE HUB is an unofficial study tool. Its questions are written by HSE professionals to BCSP's published blueprint, with a full explanation for every answer.

Sources

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HSE HUB is an unofficial study tool and is not affiliated with BCSP. ASP and CSP are BCSP trademarks. Facts about eligibility, the exam and fees are summarised from bcsp.org; check BCSP for the current rules.