& 
NPORS Crawler Crane Training (N103)
A crawler crane does the work a wheeled crane cannot: soft ground, long duties, and travelling with the load on the hook. It is also a ten day NPORS category, the longest length they set, and there is no honest short version of that for a novice. Almost every novice on this course is employer funded, which is worth knowing before you enquire.
Why candidates choose Acadame
What makes our N103 Crawler Crane different
About this course
The NPORS N103 Crawler Crane category is the operator card for tracked lattice and telescopic boom crawler cranes. They are the machine of choice where the ground is poor, the duties are long and the job runs for weeks rather than hours: piling, civils, bridge works, wind farm construction, heavy steel erection and demolition. Unlike a wheeled crane they spread their weight through the tracks rather than through outriggers, and they can travel with a load on the hook when the configuration allows it.
Ten days covers the machine in detail: the carrier, the tracks and the undercarriage, the power unit and hydraulics, the slew ring, the winches and ropes, the boom, and on lattice machines the sections, the fly jib and the rigging up and down of the boom. Then the theory behind every lift: duties charts for the configuration you are actually in, radius and rated capacity, the rated capacity indicator, counterweight arrangements and the difference the rigging configuration makes to what the machine can take.
Ground gets more attention here than on any other crane category, because the whole machine sits on it. Bearing pressure under the tracks, ground preparation and mats, made ground, slopes and gradients, edges and excavations, and the behaviour of a machine that is travelling with a suspended load. On top of that sit the statutory duties under LOLER, PUWER and BS 7121, the operator's place in the lifting team, and the right to refuse a lift that does not fit the chart in front of you.
- The machine: undercarriage and tracks, power unit and hydraulics, slew ring, winches and ropes, boom and, on lattice machines, sections and fly jib
- Duties charts for the configuration you are rigged in, radius, rated capacity and what the rated capacity indicator is telling you
- Counterweight arrangements, rigging configurations and what each one changes about the machine's capability
- Ground bearing pressure under tracks, mats and ground preparation, slopes, gradients, edges and made ground
- Travelling the machine, including with a suspended load where the configuration allows it, and the extra risks that brings
- The operator's place in the lifting team under BS 7121, pre use checks, and the right to refuse an unsafe lift
How completing this course helps you
- The NPORS N103 Crawler Crane 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
- Enough hours on the machine to be useful on a heavy civils or piling job from the start
- A route into the rest of the lifting team, including the N405 Crane Lift Supervisor and the N401 Appointed Person
Who should attend?
Plant operators moving into cranes, piling and heavy civils crews, crane hire company employees, wind farm and bridge works contractors, and experienced crawler operators who have worked abroad or on a traditional card and need the NPORS category. The novice route is ten days, so it is almost entirely employer funded and most novices come through a crane hire firm, a piling contractor or a main contractor with its own fleet. If you already operate crawler cranes, ask us about the experienced worker route instead.
Entry requirements. You should be at least eighteen, in good general health with eyesight and hearing suitable for crane work, and able to follow spoken and written English for the theory test and the duties charts, though interpreters can be arranged for the training. Employers, site operators and insurers commonly require a medical fitness assessment before somebody works a crane, and we will tell you what your site asks for. For the version of the card that carries the CSCS logo you need a CITB Health, Safety and Environment test pass taken within the last two years, which we book for you. Tell us at enquiry which machines you have operated and for how long, because that decides which route you are on.
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 machine, the chart and the ground, then the bulk of the time on the crane rigging, travelling and lifting, with testing at the end.
The machine, the chart and the ground
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, LOLER 1998, PUWER 1998 and BS 7121 as they apply to crawler cranes
- The lifting team and the crane operator's place in it, including the right to refuse an unsafe lift
- Undercarriage and tracks, power unit, hydraulics, slew ring, winches and ropes
- Lattice and telescopic boom arrangements, fly jibs, counterweights and the configurations available
- Duties charts by configuration, radius and rated capacity, and rated capacity indicators
- Ground bearing pressure, ground preparation, mats, slopes, gradients, edges and made ground
- Travelling the machine with and without a suspended load, and the stability consequences
- Load assessment, slinging arrangements, exclusion zones and proximity hazards including overhead lines
Rigging, travelling and lifting
- Pre use checks, fluid levels, rope condition, defect reporting and machine documentation
- Rigging and de rigging the boom and fly jib to the configuration required, under supervision
- Positioning the machine, assessing the ground and using mats where needed
- Lifting and placing loads to the chart, controlling swing and working with a slinger signaller
- Travelling the machine, including on gradients and with a suspended load where permitted
- Securing and shutting down at the end of the shift, and preparing for transport
Method of assessment
How the N103 crawler crane test works
NPORS assess the category by theory test and practical test. On the novice route assessment runs across the ten days, with the practical covering pre use checks, set up, lifting to the chart and travelling.
1. Enquiry and group
Tell us how many operators, where the machine is and what each person has run. Three candidates sit it with one instructor and one machine; four are allowed on the experienced worker test. We quote per group.
2. Route decided honestly
Ten days is a serious commitment, so we establish whether each person is a true novice, an experienced worker or due a refresher before anything is booked rather than defaulting everybody to the long route.
3. Pre course check
We check the CITB Health, Safety and Environment test position if the CSCS logo version of the card is wanted, ask about medical fitness where your site or insurer requires it, and take the details NPORS need.
4. Training
Classroom on the machine, the chart and the ground, then the bulk of the time on the crane. On the novice route that is most of ten days on the controls.
5. Theory and practical test
The NPORS theory test, then the practical test: pre use checks, positioning and set up, lifting and placing loads to the chart and travelling the machine, 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
Ground, plans and the rest of the crew
A crawler crane puts its whole weight and its whole load through the ground it is standing on, which makes the lift plan and the ground assessment more than paperwork. That planning is the Appointed Person's job under BS 7121, and the lift is run on the day by a Crane Lift Supervisor. Operators who understand both do better work and get put on better jobs, which is why many go on to the N405 and then the N401. We run those for the same group and sequence them around your work.
On the card, the NPORS category is the qualification and the CSCS logo is separate. The logo version needs a CITB Health, Safety and Environment test pass taken within the last two years, which we book for you, and it expires independently of the card. Without an NVQ the card is a Red Trained Operator card, and with the relevant plant operations NVQ it becomes a Blue Competent Operator card.
- N401 Appointed Person for the ground assessment and the lift plan the crane works to
- N402 Slinger Signaller for the crew on the hook
- N405 Crane Lift Supervisor for operators moving into supervising lifts
- 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.
N103 Crawler Crane FAQs
Crawler crane sits at ten days, which is the longest novice length NPORS set. The machine is rigged rather than simply set up, the duties change with the configuration, and the ground under the tracks has to be understood as well as the chart. That takes hours on the machine, and NPORS allow three candidates with one instructor and one crane.
Only if you already operate crawler cranes. The experienced worker route is test focused and much shorter, with four candidates allowed rather than three, and the refresher is for a card coming up for renewal. We set the length against your logged hours and the machine you will be tested on, and confirm it before you commit.
Most novices do not. Ten days off the job with a crane and an instructor makes this an employer funded course in almost every case, usually through a crane hire firm, a piling contractor or a main contractor with its own fleet. We will talk to a self funding operator, but honestly first.
No. N101 Mobile Crane and N103 Crawler Crane are separate categories with separate tests, and the card has to match the machine. An operator who already holds one and is competent on the other is a strong candidate for the experienced worker route on the second.
Some configurations allow it and some do not, and it depends on the machine, the duties chart and the ground. It is covered properly on the course, because travelling under load changes the stability picture and it is one of the ways crawler crane incidents happen.
Rigging and de rigging the boom and fly jib are covered under supervision as part of the practical, because an operator has to understand the configuration they are working in. Major assembly and dismantling operations are planned in their own right under BS 7121 and are not something a ten day operator course signs you off for on its own.
The NPORS N103 category. Without an NVQ that is a Red Trained Operator card; with the relevant plant operations NVQ it is a Blue Competent Operator card. Either carries the CSCS logo only while you hold a CITB Health, Safety and Environment test pass taken within the last two years.
Yes, and for a ten day course it usually makes sense. Your operators learn on the machine they will be working, with your duties charts, your mats and your rigging arrangement, and the crane stays where it is. There are no scheduled dates: we run it when your work allows.
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.