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NPORS Concrete Cutting Chainsaw Training (N025)
A concrete chainsaw makes square openings in solid structure with a diamond chain running at the end of a bar. It kicks, it cuts anything including reinforcement, and it generates silica dust that has to be controlled at the blade. Two days, on your saw, with the structural side taken as seriously as the tool.
Why candidates choose Acadame
What makes our N025 Concrete Cutting Chainsaw different
About this course
The NPORS N025 Concrete Cutting Chainsaw category covers the hydraulic and petrol driven saws that use a diamond chain on a guide bar to cut square, corner to corner openings in concrete, masonry and stone. They are used in demolition and refurbishment, structural alteration, door and window openings, drainage and service penetrations, and wherever a ring saw or a wall saw cannot produce a clean corner without overcutting.
The tool combines the hazards of a chainsaw with the hazards of concrete cutting. Kickback is real and the machine is heavy. The chain cuts reinforcement as readily as concrete, and a bar that binds in a closing cut can snatch hard. Cutting releases respirable crystalline silica, which causes silicosis and lung cancer and which is controlled at source with water fed to the chain, not by standing upwind. Water brings slurry, slip risk and electrical considerations. And because the saw is usually cutting a structural element, the question of what the wall or slab is carrying has to be answered before anyone switches on.
Two days works through the job as it is really done. Machine and power pack checks, bar and chain condition, chain tension and sprocket wear. Setting up the water supply and proving flow at the chain. Assessing the element to be cut: structure, reinforcement, buried services, what is on the other side and where the cut piece will go when it is free. Marking and sequencing cuts. Plunge cutting, through cutting and corner work. Supporting or restraining the cut section so it does not drop on somebody. Slurry management. Then shut down, isolation and clearing up.
- The saw: hydraulic and petrol machines, power packs and hoses, guide bars, diamond chains, drive sprockets and the water feed
- Pre use checks: chain and bar condition and tension, sprocket wear, guards, hoses and couplings, and the water supply and flow at the chain
- Assessing the element before cutting: structure and load path, reinforcement, buried services and conduits, and what is on the far side of the cut
- Marking, sequencing and supporting: the order of cuts, restraining or supporting the section, and controlling where it goes when it is free
- Cutting technique: plunge cuts, through cuts, corner work, avoiding a pinched bar and controlling kickback
- Respirable crystalline silica and water suppression, slurry containment and disposal, noise, vibration and PPE, and duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, PUWER 1998 and COSHH including working to a permit or method statement where the structure requires it
How completing this course helps you
- The NPORS N025 Concrete Cutting Chainsaw 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
- Operators who prove water flow at the chain before a cut and who never cut dry to save time
- A record of training that a principal contractor, a structural engineer or an insurer will accept for cutting work on their structure
Who should attend?
Demolition and refurbishment contractors, concrete cutting and drilling specialists, structural alteration and remedial works teams, groundworks and drainage crews forming penetrations, rail, water and utilities contractors, and maintenance teams in industrial and process environments. It is a specialist ticket rather than a general site one, and it suits operatives who cut regularly rather than a general operative who might do it once a year.
Entry requirements. You should be at least eighteen, physically fit enough to handle and control a heavy saw in awkward positions, and able to follow spoken and written English well enough for the theory test, though an interpreter or a reader can be arranged on request. No prior card is required, but this is a specialist tool and it helps if candidates have some site experience behind them. Cutting a structural element is normally a designed operation: the method statement, temporary support and the structural check are your organisation's responsibility and we will expect them to be in place for the practical. 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.
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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 saw, the material, the structural questions and the health risks, then practical cutting with water suppression running, with theory and practical testing at the end.
The saw, the structure and the duties
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, PUWER 1998 and COSHH as they apply to concrete cutting
- Machine types, power packs, hoses and couplings, and matching the saw and bar to the job
- Diamond chains, bars, sprockets, chain tension and the effect of wear on control
- Water feed: why it is not optional, proving flow at the chain, and slurry containment and disposal
- Assessing the element: load path and structural significance, reinforcement, services, conduits and the far side of the cut
- Sequencing and supporting cuts so the section does not drop uncontrolled
- Kickback, pinching and binding, and the stance and bar position that keep the operator out of the line
- Respirable crystalline silica, noise, hand arm vibration, PPE and working from a permit or method statement
On the saw
- Pre use checks of saw, power pack, hoses, bar, chain and water supply, and reporting a defect
- Setting up the work area, exclusion, lighting, access and the water and slurry arrangements
- Marking the cut and confirming the sequence and support arrangements
- Plunge cutting into concrete and masonry under control
- Making through cuts and corner cuts, including cutting through reinforcement
- Controlling and removing the cut section safely
- Shutting down, isolating, cleaning the equipment and clearing the slurry and debris
Method of assessment
How the N025 concrete cutting chainsaw test works
NPORS assess the category by theory test and practical test. The practical is carried out with water suppression running on material that behaves like the concrete you actually cut.
1. Enquiry and group
Tell us how many people, where, and whether your saws are hydraulic or petrol. Four sit the course with one instructor and one machine. We will also ask what kind of elements your crews cut, because that shapes the structural content. We quote per group.
2. Pre course check
We confirm who is new to the tool and who needs a refresher, check the water supply and slurry arrangements available for the practical, agree whether you need the CSCS logo version of the card, book the CITB test where it applies, and take the details NPORS need.
3. Training
Classroom on the saw, the material, the structural questions and the health risks, then practical cutting. On your own site we use your saw, your power pack and your water supply.
4. Theory test
The NPORS theory test covering legislation, machine components, chains and bars, water suppression, structural assessment, sequencing, kickback and silica.
5. Practical test
You carry out the checks, set up the work area and water supply, plunge and through cut to a marked line, control the cut section and shut down safely, assessed against the NPORS test specification.
6. Registration and card
We register the pass with NPORS and apply for your card, carrying the CSCS logo where you hold a current CITB Health, Safety and Environment test.
After the course
Cutting the structure is a designed operation
The saw is the easy part. The hard part is knowing that the panel you are about to cut an opening in is carrying load, that the section will weigh more than two people can hold, and that there is a cable chase running exactly where the corner cut goes. Concrete cutting on a live structure should come with a method statement, a structural check where it is needed, temporary support where it is needed, and a plan for how the cut piece leaves the opening. The operator's training supports that process; it does not substitute for it.
The health side deserves the same seriousness. Wet cutting exists because dry cutting concrete fills the operator's lungs with silica. Water at the chain, every cut, is the rule, and slurry then has to be contained and disposed of rather than washed into a drain. Both of those need to be planned before the crew turns up with a saw and a bowser.
- N017 Abrasive Wheels Hand Held Cut Off Saw for the petrol disc saw the same crews carry
- N048 Powered Hand Held Breaker for breaking out once the cuts are made
- N304 Cable Avoidance Tool where cutting and breaking happen near buried or chased services
- CITB Health, Safety and Environment test booked with us where the CSCS logo version of the card is needed
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.
N025 Concrete Cutting Chainsaw FAQs
The NPORS test sheet gives a two day novice duration with four candidates, one instructor and one machine. A refresher for an existing cardholder is shorter and we confirm it when we quote.
Not on the NPORS test sheet we work from. N025 shows a novice course and a refresher, each with a maximum of four tests, and no experienced worker figure. Experienced cutters therefore take the course or the refresher rather than a test only route.
No. Cutting concrete dry releases respirable crystalline silica, which causes silicosis and lung cancer, and the water feed is also what keeps the chain and bar cool. Proving water flow at the chain is part of the practical, and planning a water supply and slurry containment is part of planning the job.
It covers what the operator needs to ask and check before cutting: what the element is carrying, where the reinforcement and services are, what is on the far side and where the cut section will go. It does not make anybody a structural engineer. Cutting a load bearing element needs a designed method statement and, where appropriate, temporary support.
A diamond chain will cut reinforcement, and that changes the feel of the cut, the speed and the risk of binding. The course deals with recognising when you are into steel, how the saw behaves and how to keep control rather than forcing it.
Both. Tell us at enquiry which you run, because the set up, hoses, isolation and checks differ. If you use both, we will cover both in the training and note what the assessment was carried out on.
Four, with one instructor and one machine, on both the novice course and a refresher. It is a specialist tool and the practical needs real time on the saw for each candidate, so the small group size is there for a reason.
Yes, provided there is somewhere suitable to cut, a water supply and a way of containing slurry. Training on your own saw and power pack is worth considerably more than training on ours, and there are no scheduled dates to work around.
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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