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NPORS High Pressure Water Jetting Training (N038)
A high pressure water jet will cut through skin without leaving much of a mark, and the injury underneath is a surgical emergency that hospitals rarely see. A day on the equipment, the exclusion, the hose and the injuries, run on your own pump and lances.
Why candidates choose Acadame
What makes our N038 High Pressure Water Jetting different
About this course
The NPORS N038 High Pressure Water Jetting category covers the safe use of high pressure water jetting equipment for cleaning, cutting and clearing: drain and sewer jetting, surface preparation, tank and plant cleaning and general industrial work. It covers the pump and its controls, hoses, lances, guns and nozzles, setting up a safe working area, operating the equipment and shutting it down, along with the health and safety framework that sits around a technique that turns water into a cutting tool.
The energy is the point and the danger. Water at high pressure removes coatings, concrete and blockages, and it will do exactly the same to a hand or a leg. The characteristic jetting injury is fluid injection: a small entry wound, often almost invisible, with serious contamination and tissue damage inside that worsens rapidly. It needs immediate specialist hospital treatment and it is routinely under estimated at the scene, which is why every jetting crew should carry information explaining to medical staff what has happened. Hose failure, whip, reaction force at the gun, unexpected discharge, working in confined or below ground spaces and the water itself being contaminated all add to the picture.
A day covers the discipline that keeps it under control. Equipment inspection, including hose condition, end connections and pressure ratings that match the pump. Setting up: exclusion zones, barriers and signage, positioning of the pump and the hose runs, and communication between the operator and the pump attendant. Operating: the dead man control, the reaction force, working position, nozzle selection and never pointing a lance at anything you are not cleaning. Emergency procedures and the first aid response to an injection injury. Shutting down, depressurising, and the checks before anything is disconnected.
- The equipment: pumps and drives, hoses and end connections, guns, lances and nozzles, and the pressure and flow ratings that must match
- Pre use inspection: hose condition and rating, couplings, guards, pressure relief and the dead man or trigger control that stops the jet
- Setting up: exclusion zones, barriers and signage, pump siting, hose routing and restraint, and communication with the pump attendant
- Operating technique: reaction force, working position, nozzle selection and control, and the rule about never pointing a lance at a person
- Fluid injection injuries: how they present, why they are a surgical emergency, the information card that goes to hospital and the immediate response
- Drain, sewer and below ground work, contaminated water and where separate confined spaces competence is required, together with noise, vibration, PPE selected for the pressure being used, environmental control of run off and duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, PUWER 1998 and COSHH
How completing this course helps you
- The NPORS N038 High Pressure Water Jetting category, registered with NPORS and recognised nationally
- An NPORS Red Trained Operator card, or a Blue Competent Operator card where you hold the relevant NVQ, carrying the CSCS logo while your CITB Health, Safety and Environment test is in date
- Operators who set the exclusion zone before the pump starts and who carry the injury information card every day
- A record of training that a client, a principal contractor or an insurer will accept for jetting work
Who should attend?
Drainage and sewer contractors, utilities and water industry crews, industrial cleaning and maintenance teams, surface preparation and coatings contractors, demolition and refurbishment crews, and facilities and process plant maintenance staff. It suits both operatives new to jetting and experienced hands who need the category recorded properly.
Entry requirements. You should be at least eighteen, physically fit enough to handle a lance against its reaction force and to work in awkward positions, and able to follow spoken and written English well enough for the theory test, though an interpreter or a reader can be arranged on request. No prior card is required. Where the work involves entering chambers, tanks or other confined spaces, that is separate competence with its own training, and we will tell you what else your crews need. For the version of the card that carries the CSCS logo you need a CITB Health, Safety and Environment test pass at Operatives level taken within the last two years, which we book for you.
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Course content
What you will cover
Classroom on the equipment, the energy, the injuries and the duties, then practical set up and jetting on your own pump and lances, with theory and practical testing at the end.
The equipment, the energy and the duties
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, PUWER 1998 and COSHH as they apply to water jetting
- Pumps, drives, hoses, end connections, guns, lances and nozzles, and matching ratings across the system
- Pressure and flow, what they do to different materials and why a jet cuts tissue so easily
- Pre use inspection and the defects that take equipment out of service
- Exclusion zones, barriers, signage and the control of other people around a jetting operation
- Dead man and trigger controls, reaction force, working position and nozzle selection
- Fluid injection injuries: presentation, why they are a surgical emergency, the information card and the immediate response
- Drain, sewer and below ground work, contaminated water, confined space considerations, run off and environmental control
On the equipment
- Inspecting pump, hoses, couplings, gun, lance and nozzles before use
- Siting the pump, routing and restraining hoses and setting up the exclusion zone
- Donning the PPE appropriate to the pressure being used
- Starting up, proving the dead man control and confirming communication with the pump attendant
- Jetting under control with correct stance and working position
- Managing run off, debris and the working area during the operation
- Shutting down, depressurising the system and safely disconnecting and stowing the equipment
Method of assessment
How the N038 high pressure water jetting test works
NPORS assess the category by theory test and practical test. The practical is run at working pressure on your own equipment, with the exclusion zone and the pump attendant arrangements in place.
1. Enquiry and group
Tell us how many people, where, what pump and lances you run, what pressures you work at and what kind of jetting you do. Three sit the course with one instructor and one machine. We quote per group.
2. Pre course check
We confirm the equipment and the working area for the practical, establish whether anybody also needs confined spaces competence, agree whether you need the CSCS logo version of the card, book the CITB test where it applies, and take the details NPORS need.
3. Training
Classroom on the equipment, the energy, the injuries and the duties, then practical set up and jetting on your own pump and lances.
4. Theory test
The NPORS theory test covering legislation, equipment and ratings, inspection, exclusion, controls, technique, injection injuries and environmental control.
5. Practical test
You inspect the equipment, set up the pump, hoses and exclusion zone, jet under control with the correct technique, and shut down and depressurise safely, assessed against the NPORS test specification.
6. Registration and card
We register the pass with NPORS and apply for your card, carrying the CSCS logo where you hold a current CITB Health, Safety and Environment test.
After the course
Know what your client actually requires
Water jetting has a long established industry scheme run by the Water Jetting Association, built round a Safety Awareness module followed by one or more practical application modules covering drain and sewer, surface preparation, tube and pipe cleaning or hydrodemolition, with a three year refresher cycle and codes of practice covering high and ultra high pressure jetting, drain and sewer cleaning and pressure washing. A good many clients, particularly in the water industry and heavy industrial sectors, specify that scheme by name. The NPORS N038 category is a recognised card for jetting competence, but it is not the WJA scheme, and we will tell you straight which one your client is asking for rather than sell you the wrong one.
The other thing to sort out after the course is the injury card. Every jetting crew should carry a card explaining fluid injection injury to medical staff, because an accident and emergency department may see one every few years and the wound looks trivial. Keeping one in every vehicle and in every operative's pocket costs nothing and can change the outcome completely.
- N702 Confined Spaces where jetting crews enter chambers, tanks or below ground structures
- N704 Manual Handling for the hoses, reels and equipment handled all day
- N714 Safety at Street and Road Works where jetting happens in the carriageway or the footway
- CITB Health, Safety and Environment test booked with us where the CSCS logo version of the card is needed
Build your course
Who is coming, and how many
We do not run these to a timetable. The course is built around your people: how experienced they are and how many of them there are, which is what sets the length and the cost. Pick the mix and we will come back with a date and a price.
The course builder needs JavaScript. Without it, tell us how many people and what experience they have and we will price it up.
N038 High Pressure Water Jetting FAQs
The NPORS test sheet gives a one day novice duration with three candidates, one instructor and one machine, and the same maximum of three on a refresher. We confirm the length when we quote.
Not on the NPORS test sheet we work from. N038 shows a novice course and a refresher, each with a maximum of three tests, and no experienced worker figure. Experienced jetting operatives therefore take the course or the refresher rather than a test only route.
No, and it is worth being clear about it. The WJA run their own scheme, with a Safety Awareness module followed by practical application modules such as drain and sewer or surface preparation, and a three year refresher cycle. Many water industry and heavy industrial clients specify that scheme. The NPORS category is a recognised jetting card but it is not the WJA scheme, and we will tell you which one your client is actually asking for.
A jet that penetrates the skin injects water and contamination into the tissue underneath. The entry wound can look like a pinprick and the person may not feel it as a serious injury, while damage and infection progress quickly inside. It needs immediate specialist hospital treatment, and every jetting crew should carry a card explaining this to medical staff.
Because NPORS set the ratio at three candidates to one instructor and one machine, and because this is a high energy operation where each candidate needs real supervised time on the equipment. It is not a category that works as a large classroom session.
It covers the jetting considerations that arise below ground, including contaminated water and where a separate confined spaces competence is needed. Entering a chamber or a tank is a confined spaces matter in its own right, with its own training and its own emergency arrangements, and we will tell you what your crews need.
Yes, and we would rather. Pressures, flows, hoses, guns and nozzles vary a great deal, and people should be trained on the kit they will use. Tell us what you run and what pressures you work at when you enquire.
An NPORS Red Trained Operator card, or a Blue Competent Operator card where the holder has the relevant NVQ. Either carries the CSCS logo while a CITB Health, Safety and Environment test pass is in date.
NPORS courses are priced per course, not per person. What you are paying for is the instructor, the registered tester and the machine time, so the figure turns on four things: the category, which route your operators need (novice, experienced, conversion or refresher), how many people are coming, and whether we run it on your site or at one of ours. It is also why a squad works out considerably cheaper per head than sending operators out one at a time. Use the course builder on this page: tell it who is coming and it works out how many days the course takes and how many times it has to run, which is what the price is built from. Then ask us and you will get a figure for that exact group rather than a list price with conditions attached.
We run NPORS courses across the UK rather than out of one fixed centre, and for most categories the better answer is that we come to you: your operators are assessed on the machine they will be using anyway, nobody loses a day travelling, and for a group it costs less. If you would rather come to us, we have centres at Trent House in Stoke, Pride Park in Derby, Europa House in Manchester and Kingsway House in Liverpool. Tell us where the work is and we will say honestly which way round makes more sense.
There is no fixed timetable to wait for. NPORS courses here are run to order, which means the dates are built around your programme rather than ours, and a single operator or a full squad can normally be booked in within a couple of weeks. If you have a card about to expire or a start date to hit, say so when you enquire and we will work to it.
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