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NPORS Refuse Collection Vehicle Training (N029)
The refuse collection vehicle is worked by a crew, not a driver, and almost everything that goes badly wrong on a round happens behind it. Two days covers the bin lift, the hopper and the compaction plate, and the reversing and moving off discipline that keeps loaders alive. NPORS allow six on this one, so a whole crew trains together. Run on request, on your own vehicles.
Why candidates choose Acadame
What makes our N029 Refuse Collection Vehicle different
About this course
The NPORS N029 Refuse Collection Vehicle category covers the collection vehicle and the way it is operated: the bin lift on the back, the hopper and the compaction plate, the body and the ejection system, and the crew working around all of it on a live street. It applies to domestic rounds, trade and commercial collections, and to the vehicles that work construction, demolition and industrial sites.
Two days is spent where the harm happens, and on a refuse round that is almost entirely at the rear of the vehicle and on the move between stops. Reversing on residential streets with parked cars, blind spots and pedestrians who assume the lorry has seen them. Moving off while a loader is still at the hopper. A crew member caught between the back of the vehicle and a wall, a gate or a parked car. Working the bin lift with people close to it, and the hopper and compaction plate with hands and bodies near a moving ram.
Around that sits the ordinary operational knowledge: pre use and running checks on the vehicle and the lifting and compaction equipment, controls and safety devices and what they do and do not protect against, correct bin presentation and lifting, overloading and load distribution, contaminated and hazardous waste in a bin, discharging at a transfer station or tip with the body raised, environmental and spillage controls, defect reporting, and shutting down and leaving the vehicle safe.
- The vehicle: chassis and body, bin lift mechanism, hopper, compaction plate and rams, ejection system, controls and safety devices
- Working at the rear: exclusion around the lift and hopper, where a loader can and cannot stand, signals between crew and driver, and never moving off unsighted
- Reversing on a round: blind spots, cameras and mirrors, parked cars and pedestrians, and the use of a banksman where the route requires one
- Bin presentation and lifting: correct engagement, overloaded and damaged bins, contaminated or hazardous waste and what to do with it
- Discharging: tipping or ejecting at a transfer station, stability with the body raised, overhead clearance, and lowering before moving
- Pre use and running checks, defect reporting, spills and environmental controls, and duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and PUWER 1998
How completing this course helps you
- The NPORS N029 Refuse Collection Vehicle 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
- Crews who work to a fixed set of signals and do not move the vehicle until everyone is accounted for
- A record of training and assessment covering a whole crew, which is what a client or an inspector will ask to see
Who should attend?
Local authority and contracted waste collection crews, commercial and trade waste operators, recycling collections, facilities and estates teams running their own collection vehicles, and construction, demolition and industrial sites with refuse vehicles on them. Drivers and loaders both, because the risks on a round are shared between the cab and the back step. If the vehicle you run carries roll on roll off containers or builders' skips instead, those are the N225 and N219 categories.
Entry requirements. You should be at least eighteen, fit enough for repeated manual handling, walking a round and climbing on and off a vehicle, 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. A driving licence for the vehicle class is a matter for whoever drives on the public road rather than a requirement of the NPORS category itself, and loaders who never drive still need the category. 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 how many crew, what vehicles and whether the work is domestic, trade or site based.
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Course content
What you will cover
Classroom on the vehicle, the crew operation and the duties, then the rest of the time on the vehicle working the lift, the hopper and the reversing and moving off routine, with theory and practical testing at the end.
The vehicle, the crew and the duties
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and PUWER 1998 as they apply to a refuse collection operation
- The operator handbook, vehicle capacity, weight and axle limits and the effect of compaction on load distribution
- Major components: bin lift, hopper, compaction plate and rams, ejection system, controls and safety devices
- Safe working at the rear: exclusion zones, standing positions, hand signals and the rule on moving off
- Reversing: blind spots, mirrors and cameras, banksman use, residential streets, parked cars and pedestrians
- Bin presentation, overloaded and damaged bins, contamination and hazardous items in the waste stream
- Discharging at a transfer station or tip, stability with a raised body and overhead clearance
- Pre use and running checks, defect reporting, spills and environmental controls
On the vehicle
- Pre use checks of the vehicle, hydraulics, bin lift, hopper, compaction system and safety devices, and reporting a defect
- Setting up at a collection point and establishing the working area at the rear
- Presenting and lifting bins correctly, including awkward, overloaded and damaged ones
- Operating the compaction cycle safely with crew in the correct positions
- Signals between loader and driver, and the routine for moving off between stops
- Reversing under control using mirrors, cameras and a banksman where required
- Discharging the body at a tipping point and lowering fully before moving
- Parking, securing the vehicle and leaving it safe
Method of assessment
How the N029 refuse collection vehicle test works
NPORS assess the category by theory test and practical test. Training and assessment run together, and because NPORS set this category at a six to one ratio, a whole crew can be trained and tested in the same session on your own vehicle.
1. Enquiry and group
Tell us how many crew, where, what vehicles and what kind of round. Six sit the course with one instructor and one vehicle, which is more than the usual three and means a full crew trains together. 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, 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 to register.
3. Training
Classroom on the vehicle, the crew operation and the duties, then the rest of the time on the vehicle. Where we are at your depot we use your own fleet and the sort of streets and collection points your crews actually work.
4. Theory test
The NPORS theory test, open questions and multiple choice, covering legislation, vehicle components and safety devices, working at the rear, reversing, bin handling and discharging.
5. Practical test
You carry out pre use checks, work the bin lift and compaction cycle with the crew correctly positioned, use signals, reverse under control and discharge the body, 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.
After the course
Rounds are designed, and bad rounds injure people
A trained crew can only work as safely as the round allows. Reversing is the single biggest hazard in refuse collection, and the way to control it is to design it out of the route wherever possible rather than to rely on a banksman every time. Cul de sacs with no turning head, narrow lanes, blocked access and collection points that force a long reverse are round design problems, and they are worth reviewing alongside the training rather than after an incident.
The second thing is crew consistency. Signals only work if everybody uses the same ones, and the rule about never moving off until the loaders are accounted for only works if it applies to every driver on every round, including agency cover and the person who normally drives something else. Training the whole crew together, which the six to one ratio on this category makes practical, is the cheapest way to get that consistency.
- N403 Vehicle Marshal for depots, transfer stations and sites where vehicles are directed and turned
- N225 Multi Lift and Drop Hook Loader Vehicle where the fleet also runs roll on roll off containers
- N704 Manual Handling for crews pulling, pushing and presenting bins all day
- 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.
N029 Refuse Collection Vehicle FAQs
Six, with one instructor and one vehicle. NPORS set this category at a maximum ratio of 6:1:1, which is double the three allowed on most plant categories. It reflects the fact that a refuse collection vehicle is worked by a crew, and it means a full round crew can be trained and tested together.
NPORS publish a two day novice duration. Crew already working the rounds usually take the shorter experienced worker test route, and a refresher is around a day. Six can be tested in a session on any of the three routes. We confirm the length when we quote, because it follows who is on the course.
Both are worth training, and the ratio is set the way it is precisely because the operation is a crew one. The hazards on a round are shared between the cab and the back step: signals, standing positions, the rule on moving off and the hopper and compaction cycle all involve the loaders directly. A driver trained alone is working with a crew who have not been taught the same routine.
Not for the NPORS category itself, which is about operating the vehicle and its equipment rather than driving on the public road. The licence for road driving is a separate matter entirely. Loaders who never drive the vehicle still need the category.
Working behind the vehicle. Reversing, and moving off between stops while a loader is still at the hopper, are the situations that recur in serious incidents, along with a crew member being caught between the back of the vehicle and a wall, gate or parked car. The course builds a fixed routine of signals and accounting for the crew before the vehicle moves at all.
Yes. The category covers the vehicle and its operation, and we build the practical around the work you actually do, whether that is domestic wheelie bins, trade bins, split body recycling collections or site based collections. Tell us at enquiry what your rounds look like.
The NPORS N029 category. Without a relevant NVQ that is a Red Trained Operator card, valid two years. With the relevant NVQ it is a Blue Competent Operator card, valid five years. Either carries the CSCS logo only while you hold a CITB Health, Safety and Environment test pass taken within the last two years. A traditional NPORS card without the logo suits municipal and commercial waste work outside construction.
Yes, and it is the better option. Crews train on your own vehicles, with your bin lift arrangement, your signals and the sort of collection points they actually work. There are no scheduled dates: we run it around the rounds, when you can release a vehicle and a crew.
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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