The Associate Safety Professional (ASP®) exam is designed to assess your fundamental safety, health, and environmental knowledge and skills as you pursue ASP certification.
This page covers everything you need to know about the ASP exam, such as what information the examination covers, the number and type of questions you can expect, and what score you need to pass.
ASP Eligibility
To be eligible for the exam, you must meet all of the following requirements:
- You must have at least a bachelor’s degree in any field, OR you must have an associate degree in health, safety, or the environment
- You must have at least one year of safety experience
ASP Exam Outline
The ASP exam contains 200 multiple-choice questions and has a time limit of 5 hours.
The exam is split into nine domains:
1. Mathematical Calculations (10%)
The questions in this domain evaluate your ability to do the following:
- Calculate storage capacity
- Perform rigging and load calculations
- Calculate noise hazards
- Calculate financial indicators
- Calculate lagging indicators
- Calculate climate and environmental conditions
- Calculate flow rates
- Perform general physics calculations
- Conduct exposure assessments
- Calculate manual lift parameters
- Perform unit conversions
- Calculate radiation exposure
- Calculate probability of failure mode
2. Safety Programs and Concepts (25%)
The questions in this domain evaluate your knowledge of the following:
- Safety management systems for development of programs
- Hierarchy of hazard controls
- Key safety fundamentals of various processes
- Incident investigations
- Hazard and risk analysis methods
- Key concepts regarding change management
- Lagging and leading indicators
- Emerging technologies
- Risk matrix methodology for ranking and mitigation of risks
- General electrical principles
3. Ergonomics (8%)
The questions in this domain evaluate your knowledge of the following:
- Ergonomic risk factors
- Elements of an ergonomics program
- Ergonomic principles as related to workspace design and manual material handling
- Ergonomic qualitative and quantitative analysis methods
- Work-related musculoskeletal ergonomic injuries
- Ergonomic work practice controls
4. Fire Prevention and Protection (12%)
The questions in this domain evaluate your knowledge of the following:
- Fundamentals of fire science
- Hazards during hot work operations
- Fire extinguisher types, use, and requirements
- Flammable and combustible materials
- Fire detection and suppression systems
- Combustible dust hazards
- Segregation and separation
- Fire prevention signs and labels
- Electrical hazards and applicable hazard controls
- Effective housekeeping practices
5. Emergency Preparedness and Response (10%)
The questions in this domain evaluate your knowledge of the following:
- Key elements of emergency preparation
- Safety considerations for lone workers
- Risks associated with natural, human, and biological emergencies and disasters
- Elements of an emergency response plan
- Elements of disaster response and recovery
- Key elements of a workplace violence prevention program
6. Industrial Hygiene and Occupational Health (12%)
The questions in this domain evaluate your knowledge of the following:
- Types of occupational exposure limits
- General ionizing radiation principles
- General chemistry concepts
- Routes of entry for hazardous substances
- Key aspects of Total Worker Health
- General human anatomy and physiology pertaining to occupational exposures
- Acute and chronic exposures
- Universal precautions for the control of pathogens
- Requirements for fitness for duty and return to work
- Fundamental requirements of industrial hygiene programs
7. Environmental Management (7%)
The questions in this domain evaluate your knowledge of the following:
- Environmental hazards, impacts, and best practices
- Environmental management system standards for program development
- The EHS role in ESG
- The hierarchy of conservation
- Waste removal, treatment, classification, labeling, certification, and disposal
8. Training, Education, and Communication (11%)
The questions in this domain evaluate your knowledge of the following:
- Learning theory and techniques
- Data collection, needs analysis, gap analysis, and feedback
- Requirements for competent and qualified persons
- Creating a positive safety culture
- Appropriate training tools
- Baseline competency
- Human risk factors affecting performance
9. Legal (5%)
The questions in this domain evaluate your knowledge of the following:
- Legal liability regarding contractor management and multi-employer worksites
- Liabilities relating to worker impairment
- Contract terminology and contract management lifecycle
- Principles of risk transfer
- Compliance requirements and legal liability of safety professional practices
- Appropriate actions based on knowledge and scope limitations
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Registration
To register for the ASP exam, you must first create an online BCSP account. Through your account, you can then select “ASP” as your certification of choice and fill out the application. You will be asked to provide your contact information, proof of your BSCP-qualified credential, and your experience and education information.
Once the ASP application is filled out, you will need to submit it along with the $160 application fee.
Once your application is approved, you will have a full year from the date of approval to register and sit for the exam. During registration, you will need to pay the exam fee of $350. You can schedule your exam at any time with Pearson VUE.
ASP Online Prep Course
If you want to be fully prepared, Mometrix offers an online ASP prep course designed to give you everything you need to succeed!
Here’s what you’ll find in the ASP course:
Everyone learns differently, so we’ve tailored the ASP online prep course to ensure every learner has what they need to prepare for the ASP exam.
Click below to check it out!
Test Day
You should arrive at the Pearson VUE testing center about 30 minutes earlier than the exam appointment time. After you arrive, you will be asked to sign in and present your photo ID to the proctor. You will be photographed and asked to sign a roster and other rule forms.
Personal items are not allowed in the testing room, so they should be left at home or in your car. This includes your phone, wallet, keys, bags, books, notes, and accessories.
Just before the exam starts, you will be given a brief tutorial on the testing system. You will also be given everything you need to work out any calculations by hand (no calculator will be provided).
Scoring
BCSP uses the modified-Angoff method and the Bookmark Standard Setting method to establish the scores for the ASP exam. These methods are used to ensure that your score is based entirely on your testing performance and does not rely on how well other test-takers performed.
As long as you achieve the minimum cumulative score for the entire test, you will have passed, even if you did not pass all six domains individually.
Even though you don’t need to pass each individual domain, your score report will show you how you performed on each one. This is useful for understanding your strengths and weaknesses, especially if you did not pass and need to retake the exam. Currently, the minimum passing score is 61%.
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ASP is a registered trademark of Board of Certified Safety Professionals, Inc., which is not affiliated with Mometrix Test Preparation and does not endorse this page.
