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NPORS Road Roller Training (N214)
The ride on roller that compacts subbase, binder and surface course, and the machine most likely to run somebody over because it is quiet, slow and has a drum where the view should be. Three days covers compaction that actually works, rolling to kerbs, cambers and curves, and keeping people out from behind you. Run on request, on your own rollers.
Why candidates choose Acadame
What makes our N214 Road Roller different
About this course
The NPORS N214 Road Roller category covers ride on rollers used to compact the layers a road or a hardstanding is built from: capping and subbase, binder course and surface course, and the trench and footway reinstatements that make up most of the work in practice. It takes in tandem and single drum machines, vibrating and static, and the practical runs on the type your operators actually use.
Half the course is about compaction doing its job. Material type and layer thickness, the right number of passes and the overlap between them, travel speed, when vibration helps and when it damages what is underneath, how close to the kerb and the edge of the mat you can work, and the difference between rolling a granular subbase and rolling hot asphalt before it cools. Rolling to a camber, around a curve, into a bell mouth and up against ironwork are all part of it. An operator who rolls badly costs the gang a day's laying and sometimes the whole reinstatement.
The other half is about not hurting anybody. A roller is slow, quiet and almost entirely blind to the rear behind the drum, which is exactly why people get struck and crushed by them. The course covers segregation, reversing discipline, signals and banksmen, working next to a paver and a gang on foot, the risk of rolling over an unsupported edge or the lip of a trench, working next to live traffic at street works, and getting the machine on and off a trailer without an incident on the ramps.
- The machine: tandem and single drum types, vibration and amplitude, water spray system, articulation, ROPS, seat belt, brakes and the controls
- Compaction: material types, layer thickness, passes and overlap, speed, static and vibrating rolling, and the effect of asphalt temperature
- Rolling technique to kerbs, cambers, curves, joints, bell mouths and ironwork, and finishing a mat without ridges or marking
- People and plant: blind spots behind the drum, segregation, reversing, signals, banksmen, and working alongside a paver and a laying gang
- Edges and ground: unsupported edges, trench lips, soft ground, gradients, and why a roller can slide or tip on a slope
- Pre use and running checks, defect reporting, water and fuel, loading and unloading on a trailer, and the operator's duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and PUWER 1998
How completing this course helps you
- The NPORS N214 Road Roller 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 compact to a pattern and a spec rather than by feel, and who know when vibration is doing harm
- A machine that finishes the mat without marking it and without running anybody down behind it
Who should attend?
Surfacing and highways gangs, civils and groundworks contractors, utilities crews reinstating trenches, local authority direct labour, housebuilders forming roads and drives, quarries and plant hire. Most operators who hold this also hold something else, because the roller is usually one machine in a gang rather than a full time job. If your work is planing the surface off before you lay, the N216 Road Planer is a separate category, and laying the mat itself is the N220 Paver.
Entry requirements. You should be at least eighteen, fit enough to mount and dismount a machine repeatedly and to work outdoors, and able to follow spoken and written English well enough for the theory test, though we can arrange an interpreter or a reader on request. We are not aware of NPORS setting a licence or medical requirement for the category itself, and the employer's own fitness and licensing rules still apply. If your work is on or beside the public highway, the site will normally also expect street works training and the right traffic management in place, which is a separate matter from this card. For the version of the card that carries the CSCS logo you need a CITB Health, Safety and Environment test pass at Operatives level taken within the last two years, which we book for you.
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Course content
What you will cover
Classroom on the machine, compaction and the duties, then the rest of the time on the roller compacting to a pattern and rolling to kerbs and curves, with theory and practical testing at the end.
The machine, compaction and the duties
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and PUWER 1998 as they apply to a roller operator
- The operator handbook, machine weights, drum widths and what the roller is designed to compact
- Major components: drums, vibration system and amplitude, water spray, articulation, brakes, ROPS and seat belt
- Compaction theory: material types, layer thickness, passes, overlap, speed, static versus vibrating
- Asphalt temperature, rolling windows and the consequences of rolling too early, too late or too hot
- Blind spots and visibility, segregation from people on foot, reversing, signals and banksmen
- Edges, trench lips, gradients and the ground conditions that let a roller slide or tip
- Pre use and running checks, defect reporting, and loading and unloading on a trailer
On the roller
- Pre use checks of the machine, fluids, drums and scrapers, water spray, brakes, ROPS and seat belt, and reporting a defect
- Mounting and dismounting safely, seat and controls, starting, moving off and shutting down
- Manoeuvring forward and reverse on the level and on a gradient, with control of speed and vibration
- Compacting a layer to a rolling pattern with the correct number of passes and overlap
- Rolling to a kerb, along a camber, around a curve and up to ironwork without damage
- Working safely alongside a gang on foot and next to another machine, using signals
- Parking on level ground, drums clear, securing the machine and leaving it safe
Method of assessment
How the N214 road roller test works
NPORS assess the category by theory test and practical test. Training and assessment run together, and the practical is carried out on the type of roller your operators use rather than a generic machine.
1. Enquiry and group
Tell us how many operators, where, and what rollers you run. Three sit the novice course with one instructor and one machine, six can sit the experienced worker test. We quote per group, because the length follows who is on the course.
2. Pre course check
We work out who is a genuine novice, who is an experienced worker and who is due a 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.
3. Training
Classroom on the machine, compaction and the duties, then the rest of the time on the roller. Where we are on your site we use your material, your kerb lines and the sort of reinstatement or mat you actually lay.
4. Theory test
The NPORS theory test, open questions and multiple choice, covering legislation, machine components, compaction, rolling patterns, visibility and segregation, and transporting the machine.
5. Practical test
You carry out pre use checks, manoeuvre the machine under control, compact a layer to a pattern and roll to kerbs, cambers and curves, assessed against the NPORS test specification.
6. Registration and card
We register the pass with NPORS and apply for your 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 you hold the relevant NVQ.
After the course
The roller is one machine in a gang
Almost nobody rolls full time. The operator on the roller in the morning is on the whacker, the dumper or the excavator by the afternoon, and the card that gets them through the gate has to cover all of it. That is worth planning as one booking rather than four, because the pre course checks, the paperwork and the NPORS registration are the same either way and the machines are usually on the same site.
The other thing that comes up after a roller course is the work around it. If the gang is reinstating in the footway or the carriageway, street works training and correct traffic management sit alongside the operator card rather than instead of it, and the person who signs out the machine still needs the layout to be right. Where the roller works next to a paver and a laying gang on foot, the segregation and signals content of this course is worth reinforcing on the job with a proper briefing.
- N220 Paver where the same gang also lays the mat the roller compacts
- N216 Road Planer for the machine taking the old surface off first
- N204 Forward Tipping Dumper, because the roller operator is usually on the dumper too
- 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.
N214 Road Roller FAQs
NPORS publish a three day novice duration, but the group decides the real length. NPORS also set minimum hours by number of learners: 17 hours for one or two candidates and 37 hours for three, so a full group of three runs longer than three days. An operator already rolling regularly usually takes the one day experienced worker test instead, and a refresher is a day. We confirm the length when we quote.
Yes. The N214 category covers ride on rollers, and the practical is run on the machine you actually operate. Tell us at enquiry whether your rollers are tandem or single drum, vibrating or static, and what you mostly compact, and we build the practical around that.
N214 is the ride on road roller category. If your gang also uses pedestrian operated compaction equipment, ask us at enquiry and we will tell you exactly which NPORS category covers the machines you have rather than assume this one does.
Three on the novice course, with one instructor and one machine, which is the NPORS maximum ratio of 3:1:1. On the experienced worker test NPORS allow six in a session, which is usually the sensible route for a surfacing gang who already roll.
Because that is how rollers hurt people. The machine is slow and quiet, the drum takes up the view to the rear and a laying gang works on foot all round it. Operators get used to people being there and people get used to the machine being there, and then somebody steps back. Segregation, reversing discipline and signals get proper time for that reason.
Yes, loading and unloading are part of it, because a fair share of roller incidents happen on the ramps rather than on the job. If your operators also load and secure plant onto vehicles more widely, the N120 Plant Loader Securer category covers that properly and is worth asking about.
The NPORS N214 category. Without a relevant NVQ that is a Red Trained Operator card, valid two years. With the relevant NVQ it is a Blue Competent Operator card, valid five years. Either carries the CSCS logo only while you hold a CITB Health, Safety and Environment test pass taken within the last two years.
Yes, and it is the better option. Operators train on your rollers and on the sort of work you actually do, whether that is a footway reinstatement, a site road or a full surfacing job. There are no scheduled dates: we run it when you can release the machines and the people.
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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