NPORS Overhead Crane Training (N104)

Yes. N104 covers overhead travelling and gantry cranes whether they are operated from a cab, from a pendant or from a radio remote control. Tell us which arrangement you have and we train and test on that, because where the operator is standing changes the risks considerably.

Three days for a novice, with three candidates, one instructor and one crane. If your people already operate the crane daily, the experienced worker route is shorter and test focused, and NPORS allow four candidates on it. The refresher is one day.

Usually the experienced worker route, which is test focused rather than taught. We will ask what they lift, how often and how they were shown, and be straight if the three days would serve them better. Being shown by the last person to hold the pendant is not the same as being trained.

Only if your people also work on construction sites. For a factory, workshop or depot the traditional NPORS card without the logo is usually the right one and avoids tying the card to a CITB test that expires separately. We will tell you which one fits rather than put your people on a route they do not need.

It covers assessing the load, checking accessories and slinging it so it hangs level, at the level an operator needs. If your people are the ones selecting accessories and rigging awkward loads, the N402 Slinger Signaller goes into sling angles, mode factors and accessory selection in much more depth.

Under LOLER, lifting accessories need a thorough examination at least every six months and other lifting equipment at least every twelve months, or in line with a written examination scheme drawn up by a competent person. That is separate from the daily pre use checks the operator does, and it needs a competent person and a written report.

The NPORS N104 category. Without an NVQ that is a Red Trained Operator card; with the relevant NVQ it is a Blue Competent Operator card. Either carries the CSCS logo only while a CITB Health, Safety and Environment test pass taken within the last two years is held, and a traditional NPORS card is available where the logo is not needed.

Yes, and for this category it is much the better option. People are trained in the bay they work in, on the crane they use, with the obstructions and the floor markings they deal with every day. There are no scheduled dates: we run it when production 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.