NPORS Lorry Loader Training (N107)

Yes. The NPORS category N107 Lorry Loader covers vehicle mounted cranes, and BS 7121 Part 4 is the code of practice written specifically for them. Most sites call them by a manufacturer's name, but the category and the standard both treat them as cranes.

Two days for a novice, with three candidates, one instructor and one machine. A driver already operating a loader regularly usually takes the shorter test focused route, with four candidates allowed. The refresher is shorter again and we confirm the length when we quote.

For the NPORS category itself, no: it is about operating the crane. In practice almost everybody who takes it drives the vehicle as well, and the licence for that is a separate matter entirely. If a yard operative works the crane while somebody else drives, that is fine and they still need this card.

Yes, at the level the job needs, because a lorry loader driver is usually their own slinger. You cover assessing the load and its lifting points, selecting slings and chains, checking them and rigging the load. If your drivers also sling to a separate site crane, the N402 Slinger Signaller goes deeper into sling angles and accessory selection.

Then you are on a different duties chart, and that is one of the most important things the course teaches. A kerb, a parked car or a narrow road forcing one leg in reduces what the crane can lift, sometimes dramatically. Working to the full spread chart on reduced spread is one of the main ways these machines overturn.

Under LOLER, lifting accessories at least every six months and other lifting equipment at least every twelve months, or in line with a written examination scheme, with a report each time. The chains and slings carried on a vehicle are often the part that gets missed.

The NPORS N107 category. Without an NVQ that is a Red Trained Operator card; with the relevant NVQ it is a Blue Competent Operator card. Either carries the CSCS logo only while you hold a CITB Health, Safety and Environment test pass taken within the last two years. A traditional NPORS card without the logo suits work outside construction.

Yes, and it is the better option. Drivers learn on their own vehicle, their own crane and their own loads, and we can build the practical around the sort of deliveries you actually make. There are no scheduled dates: we run it when vehicles and drivers can be released.

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.