CHST Certification: Requirements, Exam and Who It Fits
The Construction Health and Safety Technician (CHST) is one of the credentials you will see most often in construction safety job postings. It is issued by the Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP) and is built for people whose day-to-day work is keeping a construction site safe. This guide covers who it fits, the eligibility rules, what the exam tests, what it costs and how to keep it, using BCSP's own published information as of October 2026. Requirements and fees change, so confirm the current details with BCSP before you apply.
By EHS.now Editorial Team
Who the CHST is for
BCSP describes the CHST as a credential for construction workers who have safety, health and environmental (SH&E) responsibilities, whether that is their whole job or only part of it. Candidates can work for a project owner, a general contractor, a subcontractor, or an SH&E or construction firm.
In practice, that covers site safety coordinators, safety technicians, field safety representatives, superintendents and foremen who carry safety duties, and people who have moved from a trade into a full-time safety role. BCSP's October 2026 guide for construction professionals positions the CHST for people whose primary role is safety and whose focus is preventing injury and illness on the job.
If safety is only a part of your supervisory role, BCSP points to the Safety Trained Supervisor Construction (STSC) instead. If you are aiming for a professional-level role such as safety manager or corporate EHS, the Associate Safety Professional (ASP) and Certified Safety Professional (CSP) are the credentials built for that path. BCSP also notes that many practitioners use the CHST as a step toward larger SH&E roles.
CHST eligibility requirements
The CHST is an experience-based credential. BCSP lists no degree requirement, which is one of the main reasons it is popular with people who came up through the trades or field work. As of October 2026, BCSP lists these requirements:
- Experience: three years of construction safety experience in which at least 35% of your job duties required technical SH&E skills and knowledge.
- Exam: passing the CHST examination.
- Maintenance: paying the renewal fee and meeting BCSP's recertification requirements to keep the credential once you have it.
- Disclosure: the application asks about criminal convictions and any suspension, revocation or probation of a professional license or credential. BCSP reviews these confidentially and can deny an application based on them.
How to read the 35% experience rule
The 35% threshold is the part applicants most often get wrong. It does not mean safety must be your job title. It means a meaningful share of your actual duties required technical safety knowledge: running inspections, writing job hazard analyses, checking fall protection and excavation setups, delivering site training, investigating incidents and keeping safety records.
Before you apply, list your roles for the last three years and write down the specific safety tasks you performed in each. If a role was mostly production or scheduling with occasional toolbox talks, it may not meet the threshold on its own. A clear record of duties makes the application easier and also gives you strong material for your resume.
From a hiring manager's point of view, the experience rule is part of why the CHST carries weight. It tells the employer that someone has spent real time on active sites with safety responsibility, not just completed a training course.
What the CHST exam covers
The current exam follows BCSP's CHST5 Examination Blueprint (version dated April 12, 2022). BCSP's At-A-Glance page lists the exam time as 4 hours. The exam is computer delivered at Pearson test centers, and BCSP says official results are available as soon as you submit. If you need to retake it, you can schedule a new attempt at least six weeks after your last one.
The blueprint splits the exam into four domains:
- Hazard and Risk Identification and Control: 36.6%. Construction hazards such as excavations, work at heights and fall protection, electrical work, confined spaces, cranes, hoisting and rigging, tools and concrete work, plus health exposures such as silica, lead, asbestos, noise and heat or cold. It also covers the hierarchy of controls, job hazard analysis, PPE and monitoring instruments.
- Safety Program Development, Implementation, and Sustainment: 22.5%. Applicable standards, site-specific safety plans, inspections and audits, recordkeeping, incident causation and trend analysis, and evaluating construction means and methods.
- Leadership, Communication, and Training: 21%. Site-specific training, communication and motivation, document management, recognizing at-risk conditions and behaviors, and knowing when to bring in manufacturers or subject matter experts.
- Emergency Preparedness, Incident Investigation, and Response: 19.9%. Emergency action plans, fire prevention and protection, incident command, notifications, first aid, spill and contamination response, and running response drills.
Preparing for the exam
Start with the blueprint itself. Because the hazard and control domain makes up more than a third of the exam, most of your study time should go there, with the other three domains weighted roughly evenly.
BCSP also publishes a CHST blueprint reference list naming books that were frequently used to write exam questions. BCSP is clear that the list is not complete and is not a guarantee of passing, and it advises candidates to know industry regulations, standards and practices as well. For a construction candidate, that means being comfortable with the OSHA construction standards you apply on site, not only with textbook theory.
Field experience helps, but it can also narrow your view. If your work has been mostly on one type of project, such as residential or road work, spend extra time on hazards you see less often, such as crane operations, confined spaces or demolition, and on program topics such as audits and recordkeeping.
CHST certification cost and recertification
BCSP's Credentials At-A-Glance page lists these CHST fees as of October 2026:
- Application fee: $140
- Exam fee: $300
- Exam bundle: $550 (check BCSP's site for what the bundle includes before you buy)
- Eligibility extension fee: $100
- Renewal fee: $150
Keeping the CHST and where it leads
Once your application is approved, BCSP gives you one year to sit for any exam authorization you have purchased. After you pass, keeping the credential means paying the renewal fee and earning recertification points every five years. The At-A-Glance page lists 20 recertification points for the CHST, compared with 25 for the ASP and CSP. Points come from activities such as continuing education and professional development, under BCSP's recertification rules.
The CHST and the CSP are not alternatives on the same ladder. The CHST has no degree requirement and is focused on construction field practice. The CSP requires at least a bachelor's degree, four years of SH&E experience at a professional level and a qualifying credential, and it covers broader program and risk management. Many construction safety professionals hold the CHST first and add the ASP and CSP later if they move toward management and have the education to qualify.
When you read a construction safety posting, the credential named is a useful clue to the role's level. A posting that asks for the CHST or an OSHA construction background usually describes hands-on site work. A posting that asks for the CSP usually expects program ownership across sites or the company. Whichever you hold, connect it on your resume to the projects, crews and results you were responsible for.