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NPORS Multi Lift and Drop Hook Loader Vehicle Training (N225)
The hook lift vehicle that drags roll on roll off containers onto the bed and tips them off again, working transfer stations, construction sites, quarries and industrial yards. Three days covers positioning, the hook arm sequence, the stability of a raised body and the overhead clearance a forty yard container needs. Run on request, on your own vehicles.
Why candidates choose Acadame
What makes our N225 Hook Loader Vehicle different
About this course
The NPORS N225 Multi Lift and Drop Hook Loader Vehicle category covers the hook lift vehicle: a chassis with a hydraulic hook arm that reaches back, engages the lifting bar on a roll on roll off container, drags it up the rails onto the bed and then sets it down again wherever it is wanted. The same arm tips the body to discharge. It is the standard vehicle for the larger open and enclosed containers used on transfer stations, demolition and construction sites, quarries and industrial yards.
Three days is built around the sequence and the ground. The hook arm operation is a series of movements that have to happen in the right order with the vehicle square to the container, the chassis level enough for the rails to take it, and nothing and nobody in the long sweep behind the vehicle. Get the approach wrong and the container comes on crooked, drags, or comes off the rails. Get the ground wrong and the vehicle moves while a container is part way on.
The other half is the tip. Discharging a loaded roll on roll off container means raising a very large mass a long way above the chassis, and the machine that was stable flat is not automatically stable with the body up. Level ground, firm bearing under the wheels, wind, overhead structures and power lines, material hanging up in the container and the need to bring the body down before moving off are all covered. Around that sit pre use and running checks, load security and sheeting or netting where required, weight and axle limits, defect reporting and leaving a site safe.
- The vehicle: chassis, hook arm and jib, rams and hydraulics, rails and rollers, locking devices, safety systems and the controls
- Container types and furniture: open and enclosed roll on roll off bodies, lifting bars, hook heights and why a mismatch is a problem
- Positioning and approach: squaring up to the container, ground bearing, level, gradients and the sweep area behind the vehicle
- Loading and unloading sequence: engaging, drawing on, locking down, setting off and confirming the container is secure before travel
- Discharging: level ground, stability with the body raised, wind, overhead structures and power lines, material hanging up, and lowering before moving
- Loads and limits: even loading, weight and axle limits, sheeting and netting, pre use and running checks, defect reporting and duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and PUWER 1998
How completing this course helps you
- The NPORS N225 Multi Lift and Drop Hook Loader Vehicle 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
- Drivers who work the hook arm as a sequence and who check the ground before the body goes up
- Fewer dropped and crooked containers, and a record of training that stands up when a client or an inspector asks
Who should attend?
Waste and recycling operators, transfer station staff, skip and container hire companies, demolition and construction contractors running their own hook loaders, quarries and aggregate suppliers, and drivers moving from general haulage or from chain lift skip vehicles onto roll on roll off work. Yard staff who exchange and discharge containers without driving on the road need it too. If the containers you handle are builders' skips lifted on chains, the N219 Skip Loader category is the one for that.
Entry requirements. You should be at least eighteen, fit enough to climb on and off a vehicle and to handle pins, sheets and container furniture, 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. A driving licence for the vehicle class is a matter for whoever drives it on the road rather than a requirement of the NPORS category itself, which is about operating the equipment. 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 vehicles and what container sizes you run.
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Course content
What you will cover
Classroom on the vehicle, the hook arm sequence, stability and the law, then the rest of the time on the vehicle loading, discharging and setting down containers, with theory and practical testing at the end.
The vehicle, the sequence and the duties
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and PUWER 1998 as they apply to a hook loader operator
- The operator handbook, rated capacity, and the vehicle's weight and axle limits
- Major components: hook arm and jib, rams and hydraulics, rails and rollers, locking devices and safety systems
- Container types, lifting bars and hook heights, and what happens when the container and the vehicle do not match
- Positioning and approach: squaring up, ground bearing, level, gradients and the area swept behind the vehicle
- Stability with the body raised, wind, overhead structures and power lines, and material hanging up in a container
- Load security, sheeting and netting, even loading and overloading
- Pre use and running checks, defect reporting, and leaving a site safe
On the vehicle
- Pre use checks of the vehicle, hydraulics, hook arm, rails, rollers and locking devices, and reporting a defect
- Assessing the ground and the overhead, then positioning and squaring up to a container
- Engaging the hook, drawing the container onto the bed, locking down and confirming it is secure
- Travelling with a loaded container under control, including manoeuvring and reversing
- Setting a container down accurately, including in a confined space and on a prepared area
- Discharging a loaded container by raising the body on level ground, then lowering fully before moving off
- Securing the load where required, stowing the arm, securing the vehicle and leaving it safe
Method of assessment
How the N225 multi lift and drop hook loader vehicle 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 hook loader and containers your drivers actually run.
1. Enquiry and group
Tell us how many drivers, where, and what vehicles and container sizes you run. Three sit the novice course with one instructor and one vehicle, 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 vehicle, the sequence and the duties, then the rest of the time on the vehicle. Where we are at your depot we use your hook loaders, your containers and your tipping area.
4. Theory test
The NPORS theory test, open questions and multiple choice, covering legislation, vehicle components, container types and hook heights, positioning and ground, stability with the body raised and load security.
5. Practical test
You carry out pre use checks, position and square up, load a container, travel and manoeuvre with it, set it down accurately and discharge with the body raised, 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 tipping area is half the job
Most of what goes wrong with hook loaders goes wrong in the same two places: the approach to a container on ground that is not flat enough or firm enough, and the tip with a full body in the air. Both are site conditions as much as driver skill. A transfer station that keeps its tipping area level, drained and clear of overhead structures makes the driver's job straightforward, and one that lets the tipping area rut and puddle makes every discharge a judgement call in the rain.
The other thing worth planning for is the fleet. Plenty of waste operators run both chain lift skip vehicles and hook loaders, and the categories are separate, so a driver moved between them needs both on the card. If you are carding a shift anyway, it is usually quicker and cheaper to cover both categories in one visit than to bring an instructor back a month later for the drivers who happened to be out on the day.
- N219 Skip Loader where the same fleet also runs chain lift builders' skips
- N403 Vehicle Marshal for the site or station receiving and turning your vehicles
- N120 Plant Loader Securer where drivers also load and secure plant onto vehicles
- 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.
N225 Hook Loader Vehicle FAQs
The hook loader, also called a hook lift or multi lift vehicle: the chassis with a hydraulic hook arm that draws roll on roll off containers onto the bed and tips them to discharge. If your fleet also runs chain lift vehicles carrying builders' skips, that is the separate N219 Skip Loader category.
The lifting method and the container. A skip lorry lifts a builders' skip on chains from arms either side of the bed. A hook loader engages a lifting bar on a much larger roll on roll off container and drags it up rails onto the chassis. They handle different containers, they behave differently, and NPORS card them separately as N219 and N225.
NPORS publish a three day novice duration, with three candidates, one instructor and one vehicle. A driver already running roll on roll off containers usually takes the shorter experienced worker test, and a refresher is around a day. We confirm the length when we quote, because it follows who is on the course.
Not for the NPORS category itself, which is about operating the equipment rather than driving on the public road. In practice almost everyone who takes it drives the vehicle too. Yard and transfer station staff who exchange and discharge containers without going on the road still need the category.
Tipping a loaded container. Raising a full roll on roll off body puts a very large mass a long way above the chassis, and ground that was fine flat may not hold with the body up. Wind, overhead structures and power lines, and material hanging up inside the container all make it worse. The course treats discharge as a set procedure ending with the body fully down before the vehicle moves.
Three on the novice course, with one instructor and one vehicle, 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 efficient route for an existing fleet.
The NPORS N225 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. A traditional NPORS card without the logo suits waste work outside construction.
Yes, and it is the better option. Drivers train on your vehicles and your containers, and the practical can use your own tipping area and the sort of drop sites they actually work. There are no scheduled dates: we run it when you can release vehicles and drivers.
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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