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NPORS Plant Mover, Non Operational Duties Training (N132)
Fitters, yard staff and transport crews move machines every day without ever operating them for work: off a low loader, across a yard, onto a wash bay, into a workshop. It is still plant movement, it still hurts people, and it is the gap most fleets have never filled. This category fills it.
Why candidates choose Acadame
What makes our N132 Plant Mover different
About this course
The NPORS N132 category covers moving plant for non operational duties: taking a machine off or onto a transporter, moving it round a yard, into a workshop or onto a wash bay, repositioning it for storage, and moving it as part of maintenance, inspection or demonstration. It is about the movement, not the work the machine was built to do.
NPORS list it among their health and safety related courses rather than among the machine operating categories, which is exactly the right place for it. The people who need it are usually not operators: fitters and mechanics, yard and transport staff, hire desk and demonstration staff, and site support workers who end up shifting a machine because it is in the way.
The course covers the pre operational checks the manufacturer requires before a machine is moved at all, safe mounting and dismounting, starting and shutting down, controls and travel functions, and how to move a machine under control on flat ground, on gradients, on ramps and in the confined space of a yard or a workshop. It covers loading and unloading for transport, which is where most of the serious incidents in this job happen, and it covers the things around the machine: people on foot, other vehicles, overhead obstructions, doorways, wet surfaces and the visibility a strange machine gives you from a strange seat.
- What non operational movement means, and the clear line between moving a machine and operating it for work
- Industry hazards and the mover's responsibilities, and what the manufacturer's handbook requires before a machine moves
- Pre operational checks appropriate to the machine, and defect reporting when something is not right
- Safe mounting and dismounting, starting, setting to travel and shutting down
- Moving under control: flat ground, gradients, ramps, confined yards, workshops and wash bays
- Loading and unloading machines for transport, and the checks and communication that go with it
How completing this course helps you
- The NPORS N132 Plant Mover category, registered with NPORS and recognised nationally
- The traditional NPORS card for yard and workshop work, or the CSCS logo version where the same people go on site
- Recorded competence for staff who move plant daily and currently hold nothing at all
- A defensible answer to the question every auditor asks about who moved that machine and what they were trained on
Who should attend?
Plant hire depots, contractor yards and workshops, transport and haulage operations, dealerships and demonstration teams, and site support staff who move machines as part of their job rather than as operators. It also suits maintenance fitters who need to move a machine to work on it and inspectors who need to reposition one. If somebody is going to operate a machine for its working purpose, they need the machine operating category instead, and we will say so.
Entry requirements. You should be at least eighteen, fit enough to mount and dismount plant safely and repeatedly, and able to follow spoken and written English for the theory test, though an interpreter can be arranged on request. No prior card is required. For the version of the card that carries the CSCS logo you need a CITB Health, Safety and Environment test pass at Operatives level within the last two years, which we book for you. Tell us what machines your people move and where, because the practical is built around them and it also tells us how long the course needs to be.
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Course content
What you will cover
Classroom on the duties, the limits of the category and the checks, then practical movement of the machines your people actually handle, with testing at the end.
The duties, the limits and the checks
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and PUWER 1998 as they apply to moving plant
- What the category does and does not cover, and why a plant mover card is not an operating card
- The manufacturer's handbook and what it requires before a machine is started and moved
- Pre operational checks appropriate to the machines being moved, and defect reporting
- Controls and travel functions on the machine types your people handle
- Workplace transport risk: people on foot, other vehicles, routes, doorways and overhead obstructions
- Loading and unloading for transport: ramps, gradients, surfaces, communication and exclusion zones
- Parking, securing and leaving a machine safe, including keys, isolators and attachments
Moving machines safely
- Carrying out the pre operational checks and reporting anything found
- Safe mounting and dismounting, starting and setting the machine to travel
- Moving the machine under control on flat ground, on a gradient and in confined space
- Loading and unloading a machine for transport where that is part of the job
- Working with a second person on the ground, agreed signals and keeping others clear
- Shutting down, parking, securing and leaving the machine safe
Method of assessment
How the N132 plant mover, non operational duties test works
NPORS assess the category by theory test and practical test. The practical is built around the machines your people actually move, which is also what decides how long the course runs.
1. Enquiry and group
Tell us who needs it, where, and what machines they move. The length and the group size are confirmed when we quote, because both depend on the experience in the room and the range of machines involved.
2. Pre course check
We check nobody actually needs a machine operating category instead, agree whether the traditional NPORS card or the CSCS logo version fits your work, book the CITB test where it is needed and take the details NPORS need.
3. Training
Classroom on the duties, the limits of the category and the checks, then practical movement, ideally in your own yard with your own ramps, doorways and gradients.
4. Theory test
The NPORS theory test covering legislation, the scope of the category, checks, controls, workplace transport and safe movement.
5. Practical test
Checks, mounting and dismounting, moving the machine under control including on a gradient and in confined space, loading or unloading for transport where it applies, and leaving the machine safe.
6. Registration and card
We register the pass with NPORS and apply for the card, traditional or with the CSCS logo depending on where your people work.
After the course
Where the plant mover card stops
This is the important paragraph. N132 records competence at moving a machine. It does not record competence at operating one, and no site should read it that way. If a fitter moves an excavator out of a workshop, that is this card. If the same fitter then digs with it, that is the excavator category and nothing else will do. We put that in writing on the quote so nobody in your organisation is confused about what they bought.
The tasks either side of plant movement have their own categories too. Securing a machine to a trailer for the road is covered by the N120 Plant Loader Securer, and where machines and people share a yard, a trained marshal directing movements is worth more than another line in a procedure. Most depots end up putting the same small group of people through all three, because they are the ones doing all of it.
- N120 Plant Loader Securer for loading and securing machines for the road
- N133 Plant and Machinery Marshal where machines and people share the same yard
- The relevant machine operating category for anyone who will actually work a machine, not just move it
- CITB Health, Safety and Environment test booked with us only where the CSCS logo version of the card is needed
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.
N132 Plant Mover FAQs
Moving a machine for a reason other than the work it was built to do: off a transporter, across a yard, into a workshop or a wash bay, into storage, or to position it for maintenance, inspection or demonstration. The machine travels, but it does not dig, lift, load or lay anything.
No, and this is the whole point of the category. It records competence at moving a machine, not at working it. Anyone who is going to operate a machine for its working purpose needs that machine's operating category, and we will tell you so rather than sell you a cheaper card that does not cover the job.
We confirm it when we quote. The length depends on the experience of the people on the course and how many of them there are, along with the range of machines they move. An experienced fitter and a new yard hand do not need the same amount of time, and we would rather ask than print a single figure.
Fitters and mechanics, yard and transport staff, hire desk and demonstration staff, and site support workers who end up moving machines because they are in the way. In other words, the people who move plant every day and usually hold no plant card at all.
Moving the machine on and off transport is part of it, because that is where the serious incidents in this job happen. Securing the machine for the road, with chains, lashings and the right load distribution, is a separate category, the N120 Plant Loader Securer, and the two are usually taken together.
For yard and workshop 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 go onto construction sites, they need the CSCS logo version, which requires a current CITB Health, Safety and Environment test.
Yes, and it is much the best way. Your people train on the machines they actually move, on your ramps, in your workshop doorways and round the corner by the fuel point where everybody has a near miss. Nobody loses days travelling either.
We confirm that with the quote. The group size depends on the machines involved and the space available, and we would rather agree a number that gives everybody real time on the controls than fill a course.
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.
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