& 
NPORS Paver Training (N220)
The paver lays the mat, and everything downstream depends on it going down at the right thickness, the right temperature and the right level. It also works with a gang on foot all round it, a tipper reversing into the hopper and hot material at every crush point. Run on request, on your own machines and your own jobs.
Why candidates choose Acadame
What makes our N220 Paver different
About this course
The NPORS N220 Paver category covers the road paver, also called a road finisher or laying machine: the tracked or wheeled machine that takes asphalt from a tipper into its hopper, carries it back through the conveyor and augers, and lays and pre compacts it through a screed at a set width, thickness and level. It works carriageways, site roads, car parks, hardstandings and footways, and it sets the standard everything behind it has to work to.
The operating content is about laying a mat that works. Feed rate and keeping the augers charged so the screed floats consistently, screed setting and pre compaction, width extensions, thickness and level control including working off a string line or a ski, crown and camber, longitudinal and transverse joints, tie ins to ironwork and kerbs, and material temperature and the window in which asphalt can be laid and rolled. An operator who starves the augers or stops and starts creates faults that the roller cannot fix and that show up as soon as the job is inspected.
The safety content is about a machine that moves at walking pace surrounded by people doing exactly that. The laying gang works directly against the machine with rakes and shovels, a tipper reverses onto the hopper with the driver relying on somebody else's eyes, the hopper wings fold, the screed and extensions have crush and burn points, and the whole operation may be running inside a live traffic management layout. Hot asphalt burns, bitumen fume is a health issue, and the noise and the rhythm of the job make it easy for the operator to forget where everybody is.
- The machine: tracks or wheels, hopper and wings, conveyor and augers, screed and extensions, heating system, level control and the controls
- Laying to specification: feed rate, keeping the augers charged, screed setting and pre compaction, thickness, width and level
- Line and level: working off a string line, ski or sensor, crown and camber, and holding a level through a change of width
- Joints and detail: longitudinal and transverse joints, tie ins to kerbs and ironwork, starts, stops and the faults each produces
- Material: asphalt temperature, the laying and rolling window, segregation and cold spots, and the effect on the finished surface
- The gang and the traffic: positions around the machine, signals, tippers reversing onto the hopper, hopper wings, crush and burn points, bitumen fume, and working inside a traffic management layout
How completing this course helps you
- The NPORS N220 Paver 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 lay continuously to a line and a level rather than chasing the tipper
- A gang that works to fixed positions and signals around a machine that cannot see them
Who should attend?
Surfacing contractors, highways maintenance and local authority direct labour, civils and infrastructure contractors, airport and port surfacing, housebuilders forming estate roads, and plant hire companies supplying pavers with operators. Also the experienced raker or screedman moving up onto the machine, which is how most paver operators start. The roller that follows the paver is the separate N214 Road Roller category, and planing the old surface off is the N216 Road Planer.
Entry requirements. You should be at least eighteen, fit enough to climb on and off a machine repeatedly and to work close to hot material for a full shift, 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. Where the work is on or beside the public highway, the employer will also need the right street works training and traffic management in place, which sits alongside this card rather than inside it. 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. Tell us at enquiry what paver you run and what you typically lay.
Ready to take the next step?
Choose a delivery option, compare dates and book with confidence, or ask MB and get an answer straight away.
Course content
What you will cover
Classroom on the machine, the material and the gang, then the rest of the time on the paver laying to line, level and thickness with a gang working around it, and theory and practical testing at the end.
The machine, the material and the gang
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, PUWER 1998 and CDM 2015 as they apply to a paver operator
- The operator handbook, laying widths and thicknesses, and the machine's stated limits
- Major components: hopper and wings, conveyor and augers, screed, extensions and heating, level control and controls
- Laying to specification: feed rate, charged augers, screed setting, pre compaction, thickness and width
- Line and level: string line, ski and sensor systems, crown and camber, and holding level through a width change
- Joints, tie ins, starts and stops, and the surface faults that each produces
- Material temperature, the laying and rolling window, segregation and cold spots, and bitumen fume
- Safe working with a gang: positions, signals, tippers reversing onto the hopper, crush and burn points, and traffic management
On the paver
- Pre use checks of the machine, tracks or wheels, hopper, conveyor, augers, screed and heating, and reporting a defect
- Mounting and dismounting safely, starting, warming the screed and shutting down
- Setting up for a run: width, thickness, screed and level control reference
- Taking a load from a tipper reversing onto the hopper, using agreed signals
- Laying a continuous mat to line, level and thickness with the augers kept charged
- Forming a longitudinal and a transverse joint, and tying in to a kerb or ironwork
- Working with the laying gang in fixed positions and stopping the machine safely when anyone moves
- Cleaning down, parking, securing the machine and leaving it safe
Method of assessment
How the N220 paver 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 paver and the sort of work your gang actually does.
1. Enquiry and group
Tell us how many operators, where, what paver you run and what you lay. 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, the material and the gang, then the rest of the time on the paver. Where we are on your site we use your machine, your gang and the sort of surfacing you actually lay.
4. Theory test
The NPORS theory test, open questions and multiple choice, covering legislation, machine components, laying to specification, line and level, joints, material temperature and working safely with a gang.
5. Practical test
You carry out pre use checks, set up for a run, take a load, lay a mat to line, level and thickness, form a joint and work safely with people around the machine, 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
One machine, one gang, one result
A paver operator does not produce a surface on their own. The tipper driver reversing onto the hopper, the rakers on the joints, the screedman and the roller operator behind all contribute to what the client eventually inspects, and a fault introduced at the paver is usually the one the roller gets blamed for. That is worth training as an operation rather than as a set of individual tickets, and it is one reason running the course on your own job with your own gang is better than sending one person away to a training yard.
The safety half is the same argument. Fixed positions around the machine, a single set of signals with the tipper driver and a clear rule about stopping the machine when somebody needs to be near the screed only work if everyone in the gang has heard the same thing. Where your gang also rolls, plans and works inside a live traffic management layout, planning those categories together saves both money and the confusion of four different people having been told four different things.
- N214 Road Roller for the compaction that follows the paver
- N216 Road Planer for taking the old surface off before you lay
- N714 Safety at Street and Road Works where the gang works on or beside the public highway
- 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.
N220 Paver FAQs
The road paver, also called a road finisher or laying machine: tracked or wheeled, taking asphalt from a tipper into the hopper and laying it through a screed at a set width, thickness and level. Tell us at enquiry what paver you run and what widths you lay, and the practical is built around it.
Five days is the novice duration NPORS publish for this category, and on a paver it is genuinely a complicated machine to learn from scratch. In practice most candidates come off the gang with laying experience already, so the shorter experienced worker test route is more common. We work out which applies at enquiry and quote the real length.
It depends on how much time you have actually had on the machine rather than beside it. Raking, screeding and operating are different jobs, and somebody who has driven the paver in short bursts is not necessarily ready for a test focused route. We ask properly at enquiry, because a failed test costs you the day and helps nobody.
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 usually suits a contractor carding several gangs at a time.
Yes. Thickness, width and level control are central to the course, including working off a string line, a ski or a sensor, holding a level through a change of width and dealing with crown and camber. Getting level control wrong is the fault that costs most to put right.
The people. The gang works directly against the machine with hot material between them, a tipper reverses onto the hopper with the driver relying on someone else's eyes, and there are crush and burn points at the hopper wings, the augers and the screed. The course sets fixed positions, a single set of signals and a clear rule about stopping the machine before anyone goes near those points.
The NPORS N220 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 for this category it is much the better option. The operator trains on your paver, with your gang, laying the material and the widths you actually work. There are no scheduled dates: we run it around the programme, when you can release the machine 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.
From the blog
Course guides and news
The latest plain-English guides to choosing the right course, card or qualification.
Training for a team?
One contact for all your workforce training
Book this course for a group at your site or ours, roll it into a managed training plan and let us handle the scheduling, certificates and renewals.