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NPORS Landfill Compactor Training (N224)
A landfill compactor works on a surface that moves under it, on a slope, in the middle of tipping wagons, on ground that can be burning underneath. The N224 is the NPORS category for the machine, trained on your cell and your face rather than in a car park. Run on request.
Why candidates choose Acadame
What makes our N224 Landfill Compactor different
About this course
The NPORS N224 Landfill Compactor category covers the purpose built machines used on landfill sites: a heavy four wheeled machine with steel drum wheels fitted with lugs or teeth instead of tyres, a blade on the front and, on most modern machines, a sealed and pressurised cab. The wheels are the point of the machine, because they crush and shred the waste as they pass and give traction on a surface nothing else would grip.
The work is spreading and compacting waste on the working face in thin layers, running the passes needed to get the density the site is designed around, pushing up and trimming the face, working with the daily cover, and doing all of it while tipping vehicles come and go. Layer thickness and pass counts matter for airspace and for slope stability, and the operator is the person who controls both.
The risks are specific to the site rather than generic plant risks. The surface is unstable and changes hour by hour. Slopes on a face are steeper than most operators are used to. Landfill gas, hot spots and underground fires, sharp and hazardous items in the waste, dust, litter and birds, leachate and the cap or liner underneath all form part of the operator's awareness. So does the traffic: the working face is where wagons reverse, where drivers get out and where visibility is worst, and it is where most landfill incidents happen.
- The machine: steel drum wheels and lugs, blade, sealed cab, guarding and the manufacturer's handbook for your model
- Pre use checks, wheel and lug condition, greasing, daily maintenance and defect reporting
- Working the face: spreading in layers, pass counts, pushing up and trimming, and working across slopes safely
- Stability on waste: what the surface is doing underneath, edges, voids, and recognising when to stop
- Site specific hazards: landfill gas, hot spots and fires, sharps and hazardous items, leachate, dust, litter and birds
- Traffic on the face: tipping vehicles, reversing, drivers leaving cabs, segregation and signals
How completing this course helps you
- The NPORS N224 Landfill Compactor category, registered with NPORS and recognised nationally
- An NPORS Red Trained Operator card, or a Blue Competent Operator card where the operator holds the relevant NVQ, carrying the CSCS logo while the CITB Health, Safety and Environment test is in date
- Operators who compact in layers and passes rather than by driving over it once
- A safer working face, where the machine, the wagons and the people on foot are kept apart deliberately
Who should attend?
Landfill and waste management operators, restoration and capping contractors, and plant hire firms supplying compactors. It suits operators moving across from dozers and loading shovels, who find the face and the wheels take some learning, as well as complete newcomers on the novice route and long standing compactor drivers who now need a card. A crawler dozer is the separate N215 category, and a material handler working the transfer station is the N722.
Entry requirements. You should be at least eighteen, fit enough for a full shift on a large machine including climbing on and off in poor conditions, with eyesight and hearing good enough to keep track of vehicles and people around the face, and able to follow spoken and written English for the theory test and the handbook, with support available on request. Landfill operators normally set their own medical, vaccination and induction requirements, and those are for the site rather than for NPORS. For the version of the card that carries the CSCS logo you need a CITB Health, Safety and Environment test pass taken within the last two years, which we can book for you. Tell us at enquiry what machine you run and how your face and cover regime work.
Ready to take the next step?
Choose a delivery option, compare dates and book with confidence, or ask MB and get an answer straight away.
Course content
What you will cover
Classroom on the machine, the face and the site hazards, then the bulk of the course on the machine compacting, finishing with the NPORS theory and practical test.
The machine, the face and the site
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and PUWER 1998 as they apply to plant operators
- The manufacturer's handbook, machine layout, wheels and lugs, blade and cab systems
- Pre use checks, wheel and lug wear, greasing, defects and reporting
- Compaction principles: layer thickness, pass counts, density and airspace
- Working the face: pushing up, trimming, slope working and keeping a stable profile
- Landfill specific hazards: gas, hot spots and fires, sharps, hazardous items, leachate, dust, litter and birds
- Protecting the liner, the cap and the site infrastructure while working
- Traffic management on the face, reversing vehicles, segregation and communication
On the working face
- Pre use inspection and reporting defects before the machine is started
- Travelling to and from the face and over varied and unstable ground
- Spreading tipped waste into workable layers
- Compacting with a controlled number of passes and checking coverage
- Working across and along slopes safely
- Placing and trimming cover material where the site requires it
- Parking on stable ground, securing and shutting the machine down
Method of assessment
How the N224 landfill compactor test works
NPORS assess the category with a theory test of open and multiple choice questions and a practical test on the machine. Both run with us, because Acadame is an NPORS test centre as well as a training provider.
1. Enquiry and group
Tell us what machine you run, how your face works, how many operators need the category and what each has done before. Three sit the novice course with one instructor and one machine; four are allowed on the experienced worker test. We quote per group.
2. Pre course check
We sort novice from experienced worker from refresher, check whether the CITB Health, Safety and Environment test is in date for the CSCS logo version of the card, and take the details NPORS need.
3. Training
Classroom on the machine, compaction and the site hazards, then time on the machine working the face alongside your normal operation.
4. Theory test
The NPORS theory test covering legislation, machine knowledge, pre use checks, compaction, slope working, site hazards and safe practice.
5. Practical test
You carry out pre use checks, travel the machine, spread and compact waste in layers, work a slope safely and shut down, assessed against the NPORS test specification.
6. Registration and card
We register the pass with NPORS and apply for the card. With a valid CITB Health, Safety and Environment test it carries the CSCS logo, as a Red Trained Operator card or a Blue Competent Operator card with the relevant NVQ.
After the course
The rest of the plant on a landfill
A landfill runs on more than the compactor. A dozer places and pushes cover, an excavator or material handler works the transfer area, and a loading shovel keeps the haul roads and the cover stockpiles moving. Operators here usually cover several of those machines in a week, and each one is a separate NPORS category because the card has to match the machine. Training a group across the categories in one visit is normally the efficient way to do it.
It is also worth being clear about what the card does and does not cover. The NPORS category proves the operator can work the machine. Site licence and permit conditions, gas and fire procedures, cover regimes and the traffic plan for the face belong to your site management system, and the training works best where those are already written down and enforced. On the card, the NPORS category is the qualification and the CSCS logo is separate: the logo version needs a CITB Health, Safety and Environment test pass taken within the last two years, which we book for you.
- N215 Dozer for the machine placing and pushing cover material
- N722 Material Re-Handler for the transfer station and grab work
- N202 Excavator 360 for excavation, cell works and drainage
- CITB Health, Safety and Environment test booked with us for the CSCS logo version of the card
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.
N224 Landfill Compactor FAQs
No. They do similar looking work but they are different machines and different NPORS categories. A compactor runs on steel drum wheels with lugs designed to crush and shred waste, while a dozer runs on tracks and pushes with a blade. The compactor is the N224 and the dozer is the N215.
Five days for a novice, with three candidates to one instructor and one machine. Someone already operating sits a shorter test focused route with up to four candidates, and a refresher is shorter again. We confirm the length when we quote.
Usually yes, and it is the realistic way to do it, as long as your traffic plan and the face allow it. We agree the arrangement with your site manager before we arrive so the training does not get in the way of the wagons.
It covers them as operator awareness: what the hazards are, what the signs are and what the operator is expected to do and not do. The detailed procedures belong to your site management system, and we work to those rather than inventing our own.
The NPORS N224 category on an NPORS card. 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.
Probably not. The experienced worker route is test focused rather than taught and is much shorter. We will confirm which route each person needs before we quote rather than putting everybody through five days.
Yes, and it is one of the main reasons the machine needs its own category. Working across and along a face is trained and assessed within what your site safely allows.
Yes, and it is the sensible option. Training on your cell, your face and your machine means the operator is assessed on the job they actually do. There are no scheduled dates: we run it when your people and your machine 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.
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