NPORS Plant Loader Securer Training (N120)

Anyone who loads plant onto a transporting vehicle and secures it for the road: drivers, yard staff, fitters and the supervisors who sign it off. It is a task card rather than a machine card, so it covers the operation rather than a particular machine.

Two days for a novice, with three candidates to one instructor. Somebody already loading and securing daily takes the shorter test focused route, where NPORS allow six candidates, and the refresher is short as well. We confirm the length when we quote.

It covers what the operator needs to know: how much restraint a load needs and why, rated lashing equipment and markings, lashing points, and the expectations set out in the DVSA guidance for vehicle operators. The vehicle operator's own licensing and roadworthiness duties sit outside this card.

No. This is about getting the machine on, secured and checked, and getting it off again. Driving the vehicle on the road needs the right licence entitlement, which is a separate legal requirement and not something an NPORS category covers.

Because a badly prepared machine moves even when the lashings hold. Attachments not lowered or secured, hydraulics left up, a quick hitch nobody proved, a door left swinging or something loose in the cab all cause problems at speed, and they are simple to get right.

Yes, and it is much the best way. Beavertails, low loaders and step frames all secure differently, and so does every machine you carry, so training on your own combinations means the training transfers straight to Monday morning.

For haulage and depot work the traditional NPORS card is normally the right one and does not depend on a CITB test that expires separately. Where the same people also work on construction sites they need the CSCS logo version, which requires a current CITB Health, Safety and Environment test.

Three on the novice course and the refresher, six on the experienced worker test. Bigger groups get sequenced across more than one course, because everybody needs to do the loading and the securing themselves rather than watch it.

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.