& 
NPORS MEWP Supervisor Awareness (N035)
If somebody is trapped in a MEWP basket, the plan cannot be to ring the hire company. Supervising MEWP work means the right machine for the ground, an operator who has been familiarised on that machine, and a rescue plan that somebody on site can actually carry out. Run on request, at your place.
Why candidates choose Acadame
What makes our N035 MEWP Supervisor Awareness different
About this course
The NPORS N035 MEWP Supervisor Awareness category is for the people who plan, authorise and oversee work carried out from mobile elevating work platforms: supervisors, site managers, facilities and maintenance coordinators and anybody who decides that a job will be done from a basket. It is not an operator category and it does not train anybody to operate a machine. It covers what a supervisor has to get right before the platform leaves the ground and while it is up there.
MEWP incidents cluster around a small number of causes and almost all of them are decided before the machine is used. The wrong machine for the task, so the operator overreaches or leans out. Ground conditions that will not take the outrigger loads, or a slab with a void or a service trench under it. An operator who holds a card but has never used that particular machine. Entrapment, where the platform pushes the occupant against a structure while they are still on the controls, which kills people in situations that look entirely routine. And the rescue question, which is that a person in a basket who cannot be lowered by the machine has to be brought down some other way, quickly, by people who are on site now.
The course works through all of it from the supervisor's side. Machine types and selection against the task and the environment. Ground assessment, spreader plates, outriggers, slabs, basements and buried structures. Operator cards, familiarisation on the specific machine and authorisation. Harness policy and the difference between a restraint system that keeps somebody in the basket and a fall arrest system that assumes they leave it. Exclusion below the machine. Weather and wind. Inspection and thorough examination records. And a rescue plan that names people, equipment and a method rather than a phone number.
- MEWP types and their characteristics, and selecting the right machine for the task, the reach required and the environment it will work in
- Ground conditions and loadings: outriggers, spreader plates, slabs, voids, basements, backfilled trenches and made up ground
- Operator competence: cards, familiarisation on the specific machine, authorisation, and the difference between the two
- Entrapment and crushing: the tasks and layouts where it happens, and the controls that reduce it
- Harness policy: restraint versus fall arrest, anchor points, lanyard length and when each is appropriate
- Rescue planning, covering who carries it out, with what equipment and how quickly, and testing that the plan works, together with exclusion below and around the machine, weather and wind limits, inspection and thorough examination records and the duty to stop work
How completing this course helps you
- The NPORS N035 MEWP Supervisor Awareness category, registered with NPORS and recognised nationally
- An NPORS card recording the category, carrying the CSCS logo while the holder's CITB Health, Safety and Environment test is in date
- Supervisors who will not let a platform go up until the rescue plan is real
- A clear and honest picture of what this awareness ticket covers and where a supervisory NVQ is the right next step
Who should attend?
Construction and civils site supervisors and managers, facilities and building maintenance supervisors, industrial and process plant supervisors, cladding, roofing, mechanical and electrical supervisors, event and venue teams, and anybody who plans or authorises work from a MEWP. It suits both people new to supervising height work and experienced supervisors who have never had the MEWP specific content set out properly.
Entry requirements. There is no formal entry requirement, but the course assumes some site experience because it is about planning and judgement. You should be able to follow spoken and written English well enough for the theory test, though support can be arranged on request. Tell us at enquiry what machines you use, what work they do and what your current rescue arrangements are, because the course is built around them. For the version of the card that carries the CSCS logo, the holder needs a CITB Health, Safety and Environment test pass at the level their role requires, normally the Supervisors test, which we book for you.
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
A course built around your machines and your work: selecting the machine, proving the ground, checking the operator, planning the rescue and monitoring the job.
Planning, selection and rescue
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, the Work at Height Regulations 2005, PUWER 1998 and LOLER 1998 as they apply to MEWPs
- MEWP types and characteristics, and selecting against reach, outreach, access, ground and the task itself
- Ground assessment and loadings, outriggers and spreader plates, and the hidden structures that catch people out
- Operator competence, cards, familiarisation on the specific machine and authorisation to use it
- Entrapment and crushing: the mechanisms, the tasks where it occurs and the controls that reduce it
- Harness policy: restraint and fall arrest, anchor points and lanyard selection
- Rescue planning: ground controls, emergency lowering, secondary means, and the people and equipment that must be on site
- Exclusion below the platform, weather and wind, inspection and thorough examination records, and stopping work
Applying it on site
- Selecting a machine for a described task and justifying the choice
- Assessing ground conditions for a proposed set up position
- Reviewing operator cards, familiarisation records and authorisation
- Reviewing a harness arrangement and deciding whether it is restraint or fall arrest
- Writing or reviewing a rescue plan for a specific machine and position, and identifying who carries it out
- Checking the exclusion arrangements below and around the machine
- Recognising an unsafe practice and stopping the work correctly
Method of assessment
How the N035 MEWP supervisor awareness test works
NPORS assess the category by theory test, supported by practical exercises using your own machines, your own ground and a rescue plan for a real position on your site.
1. Enquiry and group
Tell us how many people, where, what machines you use, what work they do and what your current rescue arrangements look like. The length and group size are confirmed when we quote.
2. Pre course check
We establish the group's experience, agree whether the CSCS logo version of the card is needed and at what CITB test level, book the test where it applies, and take the details NPORS need.
3. Training
Selection, ground, operator competence, harnesses, entrapment and rescue, worked through against your own machines and your own positions.
4. Theory test
The NPORS theory test covering the regulations, machine selection, ground assessment, operator competence, entrapment, harness policy, rescue and monitoring.
5. Practical exercises
You select a machine for a task, assess a set up position, review competence records and produce or review a rescue plan, against the NPORS criteria for the category.
6. Registration and card
We register the pass with NPORS and apply for your card, carrying the CSCS logo where the holder's CITB Health, Safety and Environment test is in date.
After the course
A rescue plan with a phone number on it is not a rescue plan
The single most common gap on MEWP jobs is rescue. Ask who would get a casualty down from that basket, with what, and in how long, and the honest answer on many sites is that nobody has thought about it since the risk assessment was written. A person suspended in a harness or trapped against a structure does not have long. A workable plan names the people who are on site today, the ground controls or the secondary means they would use, where the equipment is kept, and how they would raise the alarm. It also gets rehearsed, because a plan nobody has practised is a document rather than a control.
The other thing worth fixing is familiarisation. An operator card says somebody has been trained and tested on a type of machine. It does not say they have used the specific machine that has just been delivered, with its own control layout, its own emergency lowering position and its own quirks. Ten minutes of familiarisation with the handbook, recorded, is a cheap control and it is the supervisor's to arrange.
- Level 3 NVQ Diploma in Occupational Work Supervision, the qualification behind the Gold Supervisor CSCS card
- N108 MEWP Boom and N109 MEWP Scissor for the operators themselves
- N723 Harness and Fall Arrest for the people relying on a harness in the basket
- CITB Health, Safety and Environment test at Supervisors level booked with us
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.
N035 MEWP Supervisor Awareness FAQs
We confirm it when we quote. NPORS do not publish a set length for this category, so we set it from the group's experience and the machines and work involved, and we confirm it in the quote.
No, and it is important to be clear about it. N035 is an awareness category. It records that the holder has been trained and tested on what supervising this kind of work involves. The qualification that evidences the supervisory role itself is a supervisory NVQ: the Level 3 NVQ Diploma in Occupational Work Supervision, or the Level 4 NVQ Diploma in Construction Site Supervision for a wider site role. Those are assessed in the workplace over time and they lead to the Gold Supervisor CSCS card, which this awareness ticket does not. Plenty of people hold both, and they do different jobs.
Not for this category, and this course does not train anybody to operate a machine. Many supervisors do hold an operator category and it helps, but the supervisory job is selection, ground, competence, rescue and monitoring rather than driving the machine.
A great deal, because it is where most MEWP planning falls down. Ground controls and emergency lowering, secondary means where the machine cannot be lowered, who on site carries it out, where the equipment is, how quickly it can happen and why the plan has to be rehearsed. A plan that consists of calling the hire company is not a plan.
Because it kills people doing ordinary work. The platform pushes the occupant against a beam, a soffit or a structure while they are still operating the controls, and it can happen in a second. Supervisors need to recognise the tasks and layouts where it is a risk and change the method or the machine rather than rely on care.
It depends on the machine and the work, and the distinction that matters is between a restraint system, which keeps the person inside the basket, and a fall arrest system, which assumes they will leave it. The course covers how to make that decision and how to record it, rather than giving a single blanket answer that will be wrong somewhere.
Yes, and it makes the difference. Assessing your ground, your set up positions and your actual rescue arrangements is far more useful than working through a generic scenario, and supervisors leave with decisions they can apply immediately.
Normally the Supervisors level Health, Safety and Environment test for a supervisory role. We will confirm what your role and your client require and book it for you.
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.
From the blog
Course guides and news
The latest plain-English guides to choosing the right course, card or qualification.
Training for a team?
One contact for all your workforce training
Book this course for a group at your site or ours, roll it into a managed training plan and let us handle the scheduling, certificates and renewals.