NPORS Asphalt Chipper Spreader Training (N244)

No, and the name causes that confusion regularly. NPORS list this category as Chipper, and it is the asphalt chipping spreader used in surface dressing. A wood chipper or shredder is the separate N603 category.

It spreads chippings onto sprayed bitumen binder during surface dressing, taking material from a tipper lorry and laying it across the sprayed width at a controlled rate, so the rollers can bed the chippings in before the road is reopened.

Two days for a novice, with three candidates to one instructor and one machine. An experienced operator sits a shorter test focused route with up to six candidates, and a refresher is shorter again. We confirm the length when we quote.

We train on the machine you run. Towed and self propelled spreaders differ in how they are hitched, driven and set up, so tell us which you use and the practical will match it.

Yes, where the work is in the public highway. Street works and traffic management requirements apply in their own right and the NPORS category does not replace them.

The NPORS N244 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.

We can train a crew across several categories in the same visit, but each category has its own ratio and its own test, so the numbers per machine still apply. Tell us who needs what and we will build the plan around your programme.

Yes. Surface dressing is seasonal work and the quiet months are the sensible time to train and test, which is one advantage of running on request rather than to a fixed timetable. We run it when your machine and your people are available.

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.