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NPORS Excavator 360° Training (N202)
The 360 excavator is the machine most groundworks depend on and the one most likely to hurt somebody, which is why NPORS give it the longest novice route in the earthmoving list. We train and test the N202 on tracked or wheeled machines, above or below ten tonnes, on your site or at a venue near you. Run on request, never to a fixed timetable.
Why candidates choose Acadame
What makes our N202 Excavator 360 different
About this course
The NPORS N202 Excavator 360 category covers full slew hydraulic excavators, tracked or wheeled, working with a bucket on general excavation. It is the ticket groundworkers, civils contractors, drainage gangs, quarries and utilities all ask for, and it is the one category where the gap between a trained operator and an untrained one shows up fastest in the ground.
The novice route is ten days for a reason. Getting the machine to dig a trench is a couple of days of it; understanding the machine over the load, the tracks over soft ground, the batter on the trench side, the stability envelope as the boom comes round, and the services somewhere under the dig is the rest. The theory covers the legislation, the manufacturer's handbook, the components and controls, pre use checks, quick hitches and attachments, loading and unloading for transport, and the operator's own responsibilities. The practical covers travelling on varied and sloping ground, setting up to dig, excavating to line and level, benching and battering, backfilling, loading dumpers and lorries, and parking and securing the machine at the end of the shift.
NPORS record the machine you are tested on, so tell us at enquiry whether it is tracked or wheeled and whether it is above or below ten tonnes. If the excavator also lifts, that is a separate matter: object handling and lifting duties sit under the N100 Excavator as a Crane category and under LOLER, and the machine needs the right equipment fitted before it lifts anything at all.
- The machine: major components, controls, tracks and undercarriage, boom, dipper and bucket geometry, and what the manufacturer's handbook says about your model
- Pre use checks, daily maintenance, defect reporting and the operator's authority to stop
- Travelling safely on gradients, soft ground and made ground, and getting on and off transport
- Excavating to line and level: trenches, benches, batters, spoil placement and backfilling
- Working near underground and overhead services, and the exclusion zones that keep people out of the slew path
- Quick hitches, bucket changes and attachment safety, plus what lifting with an excavator requires before you try it
How completing this course helps you
- The NPORS N202 Excavator 360 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
- Operators who can work to line and level without needing the ganger stood over them
- A clear record of who is trained on what, which is the first thing asked for after an incident or at an audit
Who should attend?
Groundworks and civils contractors, drainage and utilities gangs, quarries and recycling sites, demolition contractors, plant hire firms and farms running an excavator on construction work. The novice route suits new starters and people moving across from another trade; the experienced worker route suits operators who have been digging for years on a site that has now started asking for cards. Anybody under one tonne needs the N016 Micro Excavator instead, and a rear mounted 180 machine such as a backhoe loader is the N201.
Entry requirements. You should be at least eighteen, fit enough to work a full shift on plant, with eyesight and hearing good enough to work safely around moving machines, and able to follow spoken and written English for the theory test and the handbook, though support and interpreters can be arranged on request. Some clients set a plant medical of their own, commonly modelled on the fitness standards used in rail and quarrying. 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 can book for you. Tell us at enquiry what machines you run, tracked or wheeled and what weight, and what each operator has done before.
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Course content
What you will cover
Classroom on the law, the machine and the risks, then the bulk of the course in the seat, finishing with the NPORS theory and practical test.
The law, the machine and the ground
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, PUWER 1998, LOLER 1998 where the machine lifts, and the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations in outline
- The manufacturer's handbook, machine types, major components and controls
- Pre use checks, daily maintenance, defects and reporting
- Stability: ground bearing, slopes, edges of excavations, counterweight and the slew path
- Underground services and the principles of safe digging, including permits, plans and scanning before breaking ground
- Overhead services, exclusion zones, banksman signals and site traffic management
- Quick hitches, buckets and attachments, and the checks that go with every change
- Loading, unloading, securing for transport and site to site movement
In the seat
- Pre use inspection and reporting of defects before the machine is started
- Travelling over varied ground, up and down gradients and through restrictions
- Setting up to dig, excavating trenches to depth and grade, and forming benches and batters
- Placing spoil, backfilling and compacting in a controlled sequence
- Loading dumpers and lorries evenly and within their capacity
- Changing attachments safely and checking the hitch is engaged
- Parking, securing and shutting down, including removing the key and handing it over
Method of assessment
How the N202 excavator 360° test works
NPORS assess the category by a theory test of open and multiple choice questions and a practical test on the machine. Training and testing run together, and as an NPORS test centre we do both.
1. Enquiry and group
Tell us how many operators, what machines you run and what each has done before. Three sit the novice course with one instructor and one machine; four are allowed on the experienced worker test. We quote per group.
2. Pre course check
We sort novice from experienced worker from refresher, check whether the CITB Health, Safety and Environment test is in date for the CSCS logo version of the card, and take the details NPORS need to register the course.
3. Training
Classroom on the legislation, the machine and the ground, then time in the seat. NPORS set minimum hours by group size, which is why ten days for three learners is not the same course as seven days for one.
4. Theory test
The NPORS theory test covering legislation, machine knowledge, pre use checks, stability, services and safe working practice.
5. Practical test
You carry out pre use checks, travel the machine, excavate to line and level, load, backfill and shut down, assessed against the NPORS test specification for the category.
6. Registration and card
We register the pass with NPORS and apply for the 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 the operator holds the relevant NVQ.
After the course
The rest of what an excavator operator ends up doing
Very few 360 operators only dig. The same machine ends up lifting pipe, manhole rings and barriers, and the moment it does that it is a lifting operation under LOLER. The industry guidance on lifting with excavators expects the machine to have a boom lowering control device, hose burst check valves, a rated capacity indicator on newer machines, a load chart in the cab and a marked lifting point, plus a thorough examination inside the last twelve months. The operator needs the N100 Excavator as a Crane category, the person on the ground needs the N402 Slinger Signaller, and somebody has to plan the lift.
The other add on worth having is the N726 Quick Hitch Awareness, because bucket changes are where a surprising number of injuries come from, and the N027 Excavation Marshal Banksperson for the person working alongside the machine. 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.
- N100 Excavator as a Crane where the machine lifts as well as digs
- N726 Quick Hitch Awareness for anybody changing buckets
- N027 Excavation Marshal Banksperson for the people working beside the machine
- 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.
N202 Excavator 360 FAQs
Ten days on the novice route. NPORS set minimum hours by group size: 49 hours for one or two learners and 70 hours for three, which is where the ten days comes from. An experienced operator sits a shorter test focused route and a refresher is shorter again. We confirm the exact length when we quote.
NPORS record the machine you were tested on. Tell us whether your excavators are tracked or wheeled and whether they are above or below ten tonnes, and we will test on the right one so the card matches the work.
Only if it is set up for it and the operator is trained for it. Lifting with an excavator is a lifting operation under LOLER, the machine needs the right safety devices, a load chart and a current thorough examination, and the operator needs the N100 Excavator as a Crane category. The N202 on its own is a digging ticket.
It is for someone already operating who needs the category on a card. It is test focused rather than taught, it runs in one to two days, and NPORS allow four candidates on it rather than three. If somebody's habits need correcting we will say so rather than put them straight in front of a test.
The NPORS N202 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.
Yes, on most sites. NPORS is an alternative scheme to CPCS and the card carries the CSCS logo where the HS&E test is in date. A few principal contractors still specify CPCS by name in their own rules, so check the site requirements before you book if you are working to one client.
That is the N016 Micro Excavator 360 up to 1 Tonne, a separate NPORS category. A rear mounted 180 excavator, including a backhoe loader, is the N201. The card has to match the machine.
Yes, and on most jobs it is the better option. Your operators train on your excavator, your hitch and your ground, and nothing needs transporting. We need a safe training area and a machine that is in test and in good order. There are no scheduled dates: we run it when your people and your machine 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.
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