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NPORS Strimmer and Brush Cutter Training (N605)
A strimmer is the machine everyone is handed on their first day and nobody is trained on. It throws stone and glass at head height, it kicks back off a kerb with a blade fitted, and it is the single biggest source of hand arm vibration in a grounds team. Two days puts that right. Run on request, on your own machines.
Why candidates choose Acadame
What makes our N605 Strimmer and Brush Cutter different
About this course
The NPORS N605 Strimmer and Brush Cutter category covers the hand held petrol, battery and electric machines used across grounds maintenance, parks, highways verges, estates, landscaping, sports turf, farms and construction sites to cut grass, weeds and light scrub where a mower cannot reach. It covers the machine and its attachments, harness setting and balance, pre use checks and refuelling, cutting technique for line heads and for metal blades, and the hazards that come with cutting at ground level in a public place.
The risks are underrated because the machine is small and familiar. A strimmer head throws whatever it hits at speed and at about knee to head height: stone, glass, wire, metal debris, plastic and worse. Metal brush blades add kickback, which comes without warning when a blade catches on a kerb, root or fence post and throws the machine sideways. Then there is vibration. Strimming is typically the highest vibration task in a grounds team and the easiest to do for hours at a stretch, which is exactly how hand arm vibration syndrome develops.
Two days works through all of it. The parts of the machine, the guard that must never be removed and the difference between a line head and a blade. Setting the harness so the machine hangs at the right height and the operator is not carrying it. Refuelling safely, two stroke mixes, and battery handling on the newer kit. Cutting technique, working direction, the arc, and how to cut around trees, posts, kerbs, headstones and street furniture without damaging them or the machine. Exclusion distances, signage on public sites, and stopping when somebody walks through. And the health side: noise, vibration, exposure times and reporting symptoms early.
- The machine and its attachments: petrol, battery and electric strimmers and brush cutters, shafts, guards, controls and stop switch, and nylon line heads, plastic blades and metal brush blades, when each is appropriate and the extra hazards a metal blade brings
- Harness fitting, machine balance and working posture, and why a badly set machine causes both poor cutting and injury
- Pre use checks, refuelling and two stroke mixing, battery handling and changing the line or blade safely
- Cutting technique and work planning: direction of travel, the cutting arc, working round obstacles, kerbs, trees and street furniture
- Ejecta, exclusion distance, working near the public, parked vehicles, glazing and livestock, and stopping when somebody approaches
- Noise, hand arm vibration and exposure time, PPE including eye and face protection, and duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and PUWER 1998
How completing this course helps you
- The NPORS N605 Strimmer and Brush Cutter 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, or a traditional NPORS card where the work is not construction
- Operators who set the harness, check the guard and clear the area before they pull the cord
- A record of training for the machine your team uses most and is least often trained on
Who should attend?
Grounds maintenance and landscaping contractors, local authority parks, cemeteries and highways teams, housing association and facilities grounds staff, estates and farms, sports turf and golf course teams, utility and rail vegetation crews, and construction and civils sites keeping compounds and verges clear. It is the obvious first ticket for seasonal and agency grounds staff, who are usually handed a strimmer on day one with no training at all.
Entry requirements. You should be at least eighteen for the card to be issued as a plant category, physically able to carry and control a harnessed machine for a working day, and able to follow spoken and written English well enough for the theory test, though an interpreter or a reader can be arranged on request. No prior card is required for the novice route. 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 whether your team uses line heads, metal blades or both, and whether the machines are petrol or battery, because the practical is built around them.
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 attachments, the health risks and the duties, then the rest of the time cutting with the machine, setting harnesses and changing heads, with theory and practical testing at the end.
The machine, the health risks and the duties
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and PUWER 1998 as they apply to hand held cutting equipment
- The manufacturer's handbook, machine types and the limits of a strimmer against a brush cutter
- Components: shaft, head, guard, controls, stop switch, harness points and anti vibration mounts
- Line heads, plastic blades and metal brush blades, blade kickback and when each attachment is right for the job
- Fuel, two stroke mixing, safe refuelling and battery handling and charging
- Ejecta and exclusion: what comes off the head, how far it travels and how to protect the public, vehicles and glazing
- Noise and hand arm vibration, exposure time, job rotation and reporting early symptoms
- PPE for strimming: eye and face protection, hearing protection, gloves, boots and leg protection
On the machine
- Pre use checks of the machine, guard, head, harness and controls, and reporting a defect
- Fitting and adjusting the harness, balancing the machine and setting the working height
- Starting safely, both cold and hot, and using the stop control
- Cutting a designated area of grass, weeds or light scrub to a consistent standard
- Working round trees, posts, kerbs, walls and street furniture without damage
- Changing the line or the blade safely with the machine stopped and secured
- Refuelling or battery changing, shutting down, cleaning the machine and storing it
Method of assessment
How the N605 strimmer and brush cutter test works
NPORS assess the category by theory test and practical test. Training and assessment run together, and the practical uses the machines and attachments your team actually works with.
1. Enquiry and group
Tell us how many people, where, and what machines and heads they use. Four sit the novice course with one instructor and one machine, six can sit the experienced worker test. We quote per group.
2. Pre course check
We work out who is a genuine novice, who is an experienced worker and who is due a refresher, agree whether you need the CSCS logo version of the card or the traditional NPORS card, check the CITB test where it applies, and take the details NPORS need.
3. Training
Classroom on the machine, the attachments and the health risks, then the rest of the time cutting. On your own site we use your machines and your ground.
4. Theory test
The NPORS theory test, open questions and multiple choice, covering legislation, machine components, attachments, fuelling, ejecta, exclusion and vibration.
5. Practical test
You carry out the pre use checks, fit and set the harness, cut a designated area safely, change the line or blade and shut down, assessed against the NPORS test specification.
6. Registration and card
We register the pass with NPORS and apply for your card, with the CSCS logo where you hold a current CITB test, or as a traditional NPORS card for grounds work.
After the course
Vibration is the one that catches up with you
The strimmer injuries that make an incident report are the eye injury and the cut. The ones that end careers arrive quietly, ten years later, as numb fingers and no grip. Hand arm vibration syndrome is permanent, and strimming is usually the highest exposure task a grounds team does. The course covers trigger time, rotating jobs across a crew, choosing lower vibration machines when you replace kit, and telling somebody as soon as the tingling starts rather than when the damage is done.
The practical answer on site is usually not one big change. It is the harness set properly so the operator is not gripping to hold the machine up, sharp line or a blade in good condition so the machine is not being forced, and a crew where the same person is not put on the strimmer every day because they are quickest with it.
- N610 Hand Held Hedge Trimmer, usually carried in the same van by the same crew
- N604 Grass Cutters and Mowers for the pedestrian and ride on machines the strimmer works alongside
- N602 Chainsaw Maintenance and Cross Cutting where the team also cuts timber
- CITB Health, Safety and Environment test booked with us where the work is on construction or highways sites
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.
N605 Strimmer and Brush Cutter FAQs
NPORS publish a two day novice duration, with four candidates, one instructor and one machine. Somebody already strimming regularly usually takes the shorter experienced worker test, which is normally a day, and a refresher is also about a day. We confirm the length when we quote.
Yes. The category covers both, and the difference matters. A metal blade cuts heavier material but introduces kickback, which throws the machine sideways when the blade catches. Tell us what your team uses and we will make sure the training and the assessment cover it.
Four on the novice course and four on a refresher, with one instructor and one machine. NPORS allow six on the experienced worker test, which is the efficient route for a team that has been strimming for years without a card.
Because strimming is usually the highest vibration job in a grounds team and the easiest to do all day. Hand arm vibration syndrome does not heal. The course covers exposure time, rotating the work round a crew, keeping machines in good order and reporting symptoms early, which is the only point at which anything can be done.
Usually not. The experienced worker test is the right route for someone already competent who needs the category recorded, and NPORS allow six candidates on it. We will talk it through at enquiry rather than sell a two day course to somebody who does not need it.
Yes, and it is one of the most useful parts for grounds and highways teams. Exclusion distance, signage, which direction to cut so material goes away from the footpath, parked cars and glazing, and the habit of stopping the machine when somebody walks through instead of carrying on and hoping.
For construction and most highways work, the CSCS logo version, which needs a CITB Health, Safety and Environment test pass within the last two years. For parks, estates and private grounds work the traditional NPORS card is normally the sensible choice.
Yes, and most grounds teams do. Strimmer, hedge trimmer and mower are the usual three, and the same crew often needs the chainsaw and chipper categories too. Send us the machine list and we will plan the visits around it.
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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