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NPORS All Terrain Vehicle Sit In Training (N608B)
The sit in all terrain vehicle, the side by side that has taken over from the quad on a lot of farms, estates and sites. It has a roll over protective structure and seat restraints, which is a genuine advantage, and it produces its own bad habits: more speed, more load, passengers and a false sense of being in a car. Run on request, on your own machines.
Why candidates choose Acadame
What makes our N608B ATV Sit In different
About this course
The NPORS N608B category covers the sit in all terrain vehicle: the side by side utility vehicle, the cabbed off road workhorse and similar machines where the driver sits in the vehicle with a steering wheel rather than astride it with handlebars. They are now standard on farms and estates, on golf courses and sports grounds, in forestry and conservation work, on large industrial and utility sites, and on construction and civils jobs where people and materials have to cross ground a van cannot manage.
The protective structure is the real difference from a quad. HSE expect these vehicles to be fitted with a roll over protective structure, and occupants to wear lap belts or seat restraints so they are not thrown out in an accident or an overturn. That combination genuinely works. It also creates the problem the course spends most of its time on, which is that a machine with a cage, a roof and a seat feels like a car, so people carry more, go faster, take slopes they would have walked around on a quad, and forget to fasten the restraint on a short trip.
The rest is terrain and load. Gradients and cross slopes, ruts, ditches and watercourses, mud and ice, ground bearing and where the vehicle will simply bog down. Load beds and the difference a full one makes to braking and stability, securing what is on them, towing and mounted equipment, and the rule that people ride in seats rather than on a load bed. Around that sit pre use checks, tyres and pressures, defect reporting, driving near people, livestock and the public, and leaving the vehicle safe and secure where others can reach it.
- The vehicle: chassis, roll over protective structure, seats and restraints, steering, brakes, drive selection and diff lock where fitted, load bed, tow hitch, tyres and pressures
- Restraints and occupant protection: why a roll over structure only protects an occupant who is belted in, and the rule on where people may and may not ride
- Terrain and gradients: climbing, descending, traversing, ruts, ditches, watercourses, soft ground, mud and ice, and ground to refuse
- Loads: load bed capacity, securing a load, the effect of a full bed on braking and stability, and towing and mounted equipment
- Speed and judgement: why a cab and a roof change how people drive, and the situations where a sit in machine still overturns
- Pre use checks, tyre condition and pressures, defect reporting, driving near people, livestock and the public, and duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and PUWER 1998
How completing this course helps you
- The NPORS N608B All Terrain Vehicle Sit In 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, or a traditional NPORS card for non construction work
- Drivers who belt in every trip and who load and secure the bed properly
- A record of training that satisfies an employer, an estate insurer or a principal contractor asking how your drivers were trained
Who should attend?
Farms and agricultural contractors, country estates and land management, shooting and sporting estates, forestry and conservation, grounds maintenance, golf courses and sports turf, equestrian yards, utilities, survey and environmental teams, large industrial sites and facilities, and construction and civils sites moving people and kit across rough ground. Also seasonal and casual staff who get handed the keys without any training. If the machine is a sit astride quad, the N608A category covers that, and multi wheel drive and tracked carriers are N608C.
Entry requirements. You should be at least eighteen, fit enough to get in and out of the vehicle and to handle loads and hitches, and able to follow spoken and written English well enough for the theory test, though we can arrange an interpreter or a reader on request. NPORS set no licence requirement for the category itself, which is about operating the vehicle on your own land, estate or site; use on a public road is a separate matter governed by registration and licence rules. 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. Tell us at enquiry what vehicles you run and what you carry or tow.
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 vehicle, occupant protection, terrain and the duties, then the rest of the time driving on real ground, on gradients and with loads and trailed equipment, with theory and practical testing at the end.
The vehicle, the occupants and the ground
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and PUWER 1998 as they apply to all terrain vehicle use at work
- The manufacturer's handbook, rated load bed capacity, towing limits and stated gradient capability
- Major components: roll over protective structure, seats and restraints, steering, brakes, drive selection, load bed, tow hitch, tyres and pressures
- Occupant protection: the roll over structure and the restraint together, and why the structure alone is not enough
- Where people may ride, and why nobody rides on a load bed
- Terrain assessment: gradients, cross slopes, ruts, ditches, watercourses, soft ground, mud, ice and ground to refuse
- Loads and towing: capacity, load security, the effect of a full bed on braking and stability, and mounted equipment
- Pre use checks, tyre condition and pressures, defect reporting, and driving near people, livestock and the public
On the vehicle
- Pre use checks of the vehicle, tyres and pressures, brakes, restraints, roll over structure, load bed and hitch, and reporting a defect
- Getting in safely, adjusting the seat, fastening the restraint and starting
- Driving on the level with correct control of speed for the ground
- Climbing, descending and traversing gradients under control
- Crossing ruts, rough ground and obstacles, and choosing a line
- Loading and securing a load on the bed, then noting the change in braking and stability
- Towing a trailer or working a mounted implement where that is part of your job
- Parking, securing the vehicle and leaving it safe
Method of assessment
How the N608B all terrain vehicle sit in test works
NPORS assess the category by theory test and practical test. Training and assessment run together, on your own vehicles and, wherever possible, on the ground your drivers actually cross.
1. Enquiry and group
Tell us how many drivers, where, what vehicles you run and what you carry or tow. Three sit the novice course with one instructor and one machine, six can sit the experienced worker test. We quote per group.
2. Pre course check
We work out who is a genuine novice, who is an experienced worker and who is due a refresher, establish whether you need the CSCS logo version of the card or the traditional NPORS card, check the CITB Health, Safety and Environment test where it applies, and take the details NPORS need.
3. Training
Classroom on the vehicle, occupant protection and terrain, then the rest of the time driving. On your own farm, estate or site we use your gradients, your tracks and the ground people actually get into trouble on.
4. Theory test
The NPORS theory test, open questions and multiple choice, covering legislation, vehicle components, roll over protection and restraints, terrain, loads and towing.
5. Practical test
You carry out pre use checks, drive on the level and on gradients, cross rough ground under control and handle a load or trailed equipment, assessed against the NPORS test specification.
6. Registration and card
We register the pass with NPORS and apply for your 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 if you hold the relevant NVQ. For farm and estate work a traditional NPORS card is often the better fit.
After the course
A cage is not a reason to go faster
The thing that comes out of nearly every sit in vehicle course is the same: the machine feels safe, so people treat it like a car. They take a slope they would have walked around on a quad, they load the bed to the roof line, they leave the restraint unfastened because it is only across the yard, and they let somebody ride on the back. The roll over structure and the restraint together are genuinely effective, which HSE recognise, but the structure on its own protects nobody who has been thrown out of the seat.
The practical follow up is worth doing at management level rather than only with drivers. Decide and write down who may ride and where, what the load bed limit actually is, and whether the restraint rule applies on every trip including the short ones. Then check the tyres and pressures, because underinflated or worn tyres on soft or sloping ground change the handling of these vehicles far more than people expect. Where your team also runs quads, tractors or telehandlers on the same holding, plan the categories into as few visits as you can.
- N608A All Terrain Vehicle Sit Astride where quads are used on the same holding or site
- N608C All Terrain Vehicle Multi Drive for multi wheel drive and tracked carriers
- N601 Agricultural Tractor, the other machine on almost every farm and estate
- CITB Health, Safety and Environment test booked with us where the work is on construction sites
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.
N608B ATV Sit In FAQs
A machine you sit in and steer with a wheel rather than sit astride with handlebars: side by side utility vehicles, cabbed off road workhorses and similar. They normally have a roll over protective structure, seats with restraints and a load bed. The sit astride quad is the separate N608A category, and multi wheel drive and tracked carriers are N608C.
Yes. HSE's expectation for these vehicles is a roll over protective structure together with lap belts or seat restraints so that occupants are not thrown out in an accident or overturn. The structure only protects somebody who stays in the seat, so an unbelted occupant in a cage is in a worse position than they might think. The course applies the rule to every trip, including short ones.
In the seats provided and wearing the restraints provided, yes, which is a real difference from a sit astride quad. Not on the load bed, not standing on the sills and not more people than there are seats. If your work needs to move more people than the vehicle seats, that is a different vehicle rather than a different rule.
NPORS publish a two day novice duration, with three candidates, one instructor and one machine. Someone already driving one at work usually takes the shorter experienced worker test, where NPORS allow six candidates in a session, and a refresher is around a day. We confirm the length when we quote.
In an overturn, a roll over structure and a fastened restraint make a real difference, so the protection is better. What is not better is what people do with it: the vehicle feels like a car, so it gets driven faster, loaded heavier and taken onto ground that would have been walked around on a quad. That is exactly why the course spends its time on terrain judgement and load rather than on the controls.
Yes. Load bed capacity and securing what is on it, the effect of a full bed on braking and stability, and towing and mounted equipment are all covered. Tell us at enquiry what you carry and tow and we will build it into the training and the assessment.
It depends where the vehicle works. For construction and civils, the CSCS logo version is what gets you through the gate and needs a CITB Health, Safety and Environment test pass within the last two years. For farm, estate, grounds and private land work the traditional NPORS card is usually the sensible choice. We will tell you which applies before you book.
Yes, and it is much the better option. Drivers train on your own vehicles, on your gradients, tracks and gateways, with the loads they actually carry. There are no scheduled dates: we run it when you can release people and machines.
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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