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NPORS Reach Truck Training (N003)
A reach truck puts a pallet into a beam six or eight metres up in an aisle barely wider than the truck, with the operator sitting sideways looking through the mast. The NPORS N003 is the ticket for it, and because a reach truck is a rider operated lift truck the training sits under the HSE Approved Code of Practice L117. We run it in your own aisles, on your own trucks.
Why candidates choose Acadame
What makes our N003 Reach Lift Truck different
About this course
The NPORS N003 Reach Lift Truck category covers the warehouse truck designed to work in narrow aisles: a moving mast or pantograph reach carriage that brings the load inside the wheelbase for travel and pushes it out over the front wheels to place it in a beam. The operator sits across the truck rather than facing forward, steers on the rear wheel, and places pallets at heights that a counterbalance truck could not reach in an aisle that width.
A reach truck is a rider operated lift truck, so operator training sits under the Approved Code of Practice L117, Rider operated lift trucks: operator training and safe use. L117 describes three elements. Basic training is the skills and knowledge to operate safely. Specific job training covers the actual truck, its attachments and the place it works. Familiarisation training is applying that on the job under supervision. The employer then authorises the operator. A card evidences the first of those and part of the second, and this is where most warehouses have a gap on paper.
The training itself concentrates on what makes a reach truck different. Stability changes as the reach carriage extends and as the mast rises, so the truck is stable travelling and vulnerable when it is reaching at height. Placement above four or five metres is effectively blind, so operators work to height selectors, laser pointers and camera systems where they are fitted, and to feel and discipline where they are not. Add the things that damage racking and people: clipping a frame on the way in, running with the load raised, wet or damaged floors, battery changing, and pedestrians who walk into an aisle because they assume the truck has seen them.
- The legal frame: the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, PUWER 1998 and the L117 Approved Code of Practice, and what authorisation by the employer means
- How a reach truck differs from a counterbalance truck in stability, steering and sight lines
- Reading the data plate and the capacity chart, and what happens to capacity as the mast rises and the carriage reaches
- Pre use checks, defect reporting, battery charging and changing, and thorough examination records
- Aisle discipline: entry and exit, clearances, pedestrians, damaged racking and reporting a strike
- Stacking and destacking at high level, including blind placement, mast deflection and using height selection aids
- Floor condition, ramps and the limits on travelling with a raised load
How completing this course helps you
- The NPORS N003 Reach Lift Truck category on the operator's NPORS record
- A traditional NPORS card for warehouse work, or a Red Trained Operator or Blue Competent Operator card carrying the CSCS logo where the operator also works on construction sites
- Operators who place at height without clipping the frame and who report a strike rather than hiding it
- A clear handover to the employer on the specific job training, familiarisation and written authorisation that L117 still expects
Who should attend?
Warehousing, third party logistics, distribution, cold store, food, retail supply and manufacturing stores. It suits new operators, counterbalance drivers moving onto a reach truck, agency and seasonal staff being brought up to standard, and cardholders coming up for renewal. A counterbalance ticket does not cover a reach truck and the reverse is also true, because the machines behave differently and are assessed separately. If the truck runs in a guided very narrow aisle with the operator rising with the load, that is the N007 Narrow Aisle Lift Truck.
Entry requirements. You should be above minimum school leaving age, which is what HSE set for lift truck operators outside ports, and most employers set eighteen. You need to be fit enough to work a shift in the seat, able to look up and behind comfortably, with eyesight and hearing adequate for the work, and able to follow spoken and written English well enough for the theory test, with reading support available on request. No prior card is needed for the novice route. Where the operator also works on construction sites and needs the CSCS logo version of the card, a CITB Health, Safety and Environment test pass taken within the last two years is needed, which we can book. Tell us at enquiry what trucks you run, your aisle width, your top beam height and whether height selection or camera systems are fitted.
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Course content
What you will cover
Classroom on the law, stability and the data plate, then practical operation in the racking, finishing with the NPORS theory and practical test.
The law, the truck and stability
- The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and PUWER 1998 duties on employer and operator
- The L117 Approved Code of Practice: basic training, specific job training, familiarisation and authorisation
- Reach truck types, the reach carriage or moving mast, controls and safety devices
- Stability with the carriage retracted and extended, the load centre and the data plate
- Capacity at height and the effect of mast deflection on placement
- Pre use checks, defect reporting, battery charging and changing, and cold store considerations
- Thorough examination under LOLER and inspection under PUWER, and the records
- Racking: damage, rack end protection, reporting a strike and why a hidden strike is dangerous
Operating the truck
- Pre use inspection and reporting on the actual truck
- Moving off, steering on the rear wheel and getting used to sitting across the truck
- Entering and leaving an aisle cleanly with correct clearances
- Travelling laden and unladen with the load in the correct position
- Stacking and destacking at low, medium and top beam height
- Blind placement using height selection, camera or laser aids where fitted
- Working around pedestrians and other trucks in a live warehouse
- Parking, charging, shutting down and end of shift checks
Method of assessment
How the N003 reach lift truck test works
NPORS assess the category with a theory test and a practical test on the truck. Both run with us, because Acadame is an NPORS test centre as well as a training provider, and the pass goes onto the operator's record without a second booking.
1. Enquiry and group
Tell us how many operators you have and what each one has already done. NPORS allow three candidates with one instructor and one truck on the training routes and four on the experienced worker test. We quote per group, because the length follows the numbers.
2. Pre course check
We confirm the route each operator needs, check any existing cards, look at the truck and its thorough examination record, agree which aisles we can use and take the details NPORS need.
3. Training
Classroom on the law, stability and the data plate, then practical operation in your racking at the heights you actually work to.
4. Theory test
The NPORS theory test covering legislation, truck knowledge, stability, capacity at height, racking and warehouse safety.
5. Practical test
You carry out pre use checks, work an aisle, stack and destack at height and shut down, assessed against the NPORS test specification for the category.
6. Registration and card
We register the pass with NPORS and the N003 category goes on the card, as a traditional NPORS card for warehouse work or a CSCS logo card where the operator also works on construction sites.
After the course
The card is the start of the employer's job, not the end of it
L117 treats basic training as one of three parts. Once the operator holds the N003, the employer still owes them specific job training on the actual truck and the actual warehouse, familiarisation under supervision on the job, and a written authorisation to operate. In a warehouse that runs agency labour this is usually the weakest paperwork in the building. We leave you a plain summary of what is outstanding so it can be closed off.
There is no legal interval for refresher training. HSE say there is no specific requirement to retrain after set intervals, but that operators need reassessing from time to time, and three to five years is the usual practice. Reassess sooner after a racking strike, a near miss, a long absence, a change of truck or a change of layout. Racking damage is worth a separate mention: a struck frame that nobody reports is how a collapse starts, and the course is blunt about that.
- A written record of what specific job training and familiarisation still sits with the employer
- N036 FLT Supervisor Awareness for the person who authorises and monitors operators
- N001 Industrial Counterbalanced Lift Truck where the same operators also use a counterbalance truck
- N704 Manual Handling for pickers and warehouse staff working alongside the trucks
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.
N003 Reach Lift Truck FAQs
No. They are separate NPORS categories because the trucks behave differently: the reach truck steers on the rear wheel, the operator sits across the machine, and stability changes as the carriage reaches and the mast rises. An operator who holds the N001 and now needs the reach truck still needs the N003, although their experience usually shortens the route.
Five days for a novice on the NPORS test sheet, one day for a refresher, and one to two days for an experienced worker test. NPORS also publish a three day basic timetable for operators with some experience but not enough to go straight to test. We ask what each operator has actually done before we quote.
There is no forklift licence as such. The legal duty is adequate training under PUWER 1998, and the Approved Code of Practice L117 sets out how that is done for rider operated lift trucks. The NPORS card evidences the basic training element, and an audit or an inspection will ask to see it.
Not quite. L117 describes basic training, specific job training and familiarisation. The card covers the first and part of the second. The employer still has to familiarise the operator with the actual truck and the actual warehouse under supervision, and authorise them in writing. We tell you what is left.
Usually not. The CSCS logo version exists for construction sites and needs a CITB Health, Safety and Environment test pass taken within the last two years. For warehouse, cold store and distribution work the traditional NPORS card covers the same category to the same standard. We issue whichever your operators need.
There is no legal interval. HSE say there is no specific requirement to retrain after set intervals but that operators need reassessing from time to time, and three to five years is common practice. In a busy racked warehouse we would also reassess after any racking strike or near miss, and after a long absence from the truck.
Yes. We work around your shifts, including evenings and weekends, and we can use a quieter aisle or a goods in area rather than shutting a run of racking down. We need a truck with a current thorough examination, pallets to work with and enough space to assess properly.
Both are covered by the same category, but they change the specific job training. Tell us the top beam height, whether the truck is a cold store model and whether height selection or camera systems are fitted, and we will make sure the training is done on the configuration your operators will actually use.
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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