NPORS Side Boom Training (N242)

A crawler tractor with a lifting boom mounted on one side and a counterweight on the other, driven by independent hoist and boom drums. It is used on pipeline work to cradle, carry and lower in pipe, and to place valves, bends and heavy sections. It is also called a pipelayer.

It lifts a suspended load, so the lifting law applies: LOLER 1998 requires the operation to be planned by a competent person, appropriately supervised and carried out safely, and the equipment and accessories to be thoroughly examined. BS 7121, the code of practice for the safe use of cranes, sets out the principles that lifting operations are planned and supervised to. The NPORS category itself is an operator category for the machine.

Five days for a novice, with three candidates to one instructor and one machine. An operator already running a side boom normally takes the shorter experienced worker route, where NPORS allow four candidates, and the refresher is shorter again. We confirm the length when we quote.

Yes, because that is how they are used. Spacing, timing, signals and what happens to the rest of the machines when one of them hurries or drops are covered in the classroom and, where the site allows it, in the practical.

No. The NPORS category has to match the machine and the lifting involved. Crawler machine experience helps a lot and often puts somebody onto the shorter route, but the side boom is its own category.

For pipeline work that is not on construction sites, the traditional NPORS card is normally the right one and does not depend on a CITB test that expires separately. Where the same operators work on construction sites, they need the CSCS logo version, which requires a current CITB Health, Safety and Environment test. We will tell you which fits rather than default you to the more expensive route.

Yes, and it is usually better. Operators train on the machines, the pipe and the ground they actually work, and nobody loses a week travelling. We need a suitable area for the practical and a machine in a testable condition, which we agree with you beforehand.

Three on the novice course and the refresher, four on the experienced worker test. Larger groups get sequenced across more than one course, because the ratio is what gives each operator real time on the controls.

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.