NPORS Dragline Training (N116)

An excavator that digs with a bucket hung from a boom on ropes. The bucket is cast out away from the machine, dragged back through the material to fill, then hoisted and swung to discharge. It can dig well below the machine and out beyond ground that would not carry a machine, which is why it is still used in wet workings.

Ten days on the NPORS novice route, with three candidates to one instructor and one machine. Rope control is the reason for the length. An experienced operator sits a shorter test focused route with up to four candidates, and a refresher is shorter again.

These machines are uncommon and rarely travel, so we normally train and test on yours where it stands. If you do not have one, tell us at enquiry and we will look at what is available rather than promise a machine we cannot supply.

No. The N116 Dragline is a separate NPORS category from the N202 Excavator 360 and from the crane categories. Rope operated digging is a different skill and the card has to match the machine being operated.

Only where it is designed, equipped and examined for lifting, and only with an operator trained for it. Lifting brings LOLER and thorough examination with it, and if your machine is rigged as a crane the crane categories apply instead. We will tell you plainly which route fits your machine.

The NPORS N116 category on an NPORS card. 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.

No, that is the normal history with this machine and it is what the experienced worker route exists for. It is test focused rather than taught, and it puts a recognised category against skills that have never been written down anywhere.

Yes. We plan the course around the machine, the standing and the water, and the practical happens on the work the machine is actually doing. There are no scheduled dates: we run it when the machine and the people can be released.

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.