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NPORS Confined Spaces, Low Risk Training (N702)
Low risk does not mean safe. It means a space with real ventilation, straightforward access and no reasonably foreseeable need to escape wearing breathing apparatus. The training is about proving that is true before anybody climbs in, and stopping the moment it stops being true.
Why candidates choose Acadame
What makes our N702 Confined Spaces Low Risk different
About this course
This is the low risk tier of the NPORS N702 Confined Spaces category, for people entering spaces where the risk assessment has established that there is adequate natural or mechanical ventilation, that access and egress are simple and unobstructed, that there is no risk of flooding, and that no specialist entry or rescue equipment is needed. Meter and valve chambers, inspection pits, small chambers, cellars and similar spaces are the usual examples, and the work is usually light maintenance, reading, inspection or connection.
The Confined Spaces Regulations 1997 apply whatever the tier. A confined space is a substantially enclosed place where one of the specified risks is reasonably foreseeable: serious injury from fire or explosion, loss of consciousness from increased body temperature, loss of consciousness or asphyxiation from gas, fume, vapour or lack of oxygen, drowning from a rising level of liquid, or asphyxiation from a free flowing solid or from entrapment that prevents reaching a respirable environment. HSE's position is a hierarchy: avoid entry where the work can reasonably be done another way, follow a safe system of work where entry is unavoidable, and have adequate emergency arrangements in place before the work starts.
The training deals with the low risk tier honestly, which means spending as much time on the boundary as on the entry itself. How the classification is arrived at and who makes it. Pre entry checks, isolation where it applies, ventilation, and gas testing with an instrument that has been checked and bump tested. Safe entry and exit, and working inside a space without making the atmosphere worse. The attendant at the entry point, communication and the alarm. And the point that matters most on this tier: the moment a low risk space turns out not to be one, the job stops and does not restart until it is planned as what it actually is.
- The Confined Spaces Regulations 1997, the definition of a confined space and the specified risks the Regulations are concerned with
- The duty to avoid entry where the work can reasonably be done another way, and safe systems of work where it cannot: risk assessment, method statement, permit to work, isolation, purging and ventilation
- Emergency arrangements that must be in place before entry, and why calling the fire service is not by itself a rescue plan
- Atmospheric hazards and gas detection: oxygen deficiency and enrichment, flammable and toxic gas, how they accumulate and stratify, instrument checks, bump testing, pre entry testing, continuous monitoring and alarm response
- How a space comes to be classified as low risk, what has to be true for that to hold, and who makes the decision
- The attendant at the entry point, communication and raising the alarm without entering, and recognising a space that is not low risk after all
How completing this course helps you
- The NPORS N702 Confined Spaces category recorded at the low risk tier, registered with NPORS and recognised nationally
- An NPORS card recording the category and tier, carrying the CSCS logo while the holder's CITB Health, Safety and Environment test is in date
- Operatives who test the atmosphere before they commit and who keep somebody at the top
- A workforce that recognises when a job has moved beyond the tier they are trained for
Who should attend?
Water and utilities crews, drainage and highways teams, telecoms and cabling contractors, facilities and building maintenance staff, breweries, hospitality and retail with cellars, and any organisation whose people enter small, well ventilated chambers and pits as routine work. It is the right starting tier where your risk assessments genuinely support it, and the wrong one where they do not.
Entry requirements. You should be at least eighteen, physically and medically fit for confined space work including the ability to climb in and out unaided, and able to follow spoken and written English well enough for the theory test, with support available on request. Your organisation should have a current risk assessment classifying the spaces your people enter, because that is what decides which tier they need. For the version of the card that carries the CSCS logo, the holder needs a CITB Health, Safety and Environment test pass at the level their role requires, which we book for you.
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Course content
What you will cover
Classroom on the Regulations, the hierarchy, the atmosphere and the classification, then practical pre entry checks, gas testing, entry and exit and the attendant's role.
The Regulations, the atmosphere and the classification
- The Confined Spaces Regulations 1997, the definition of a confined space and the specified risks the Regulations are concerned with
- The duty to avoid entry where the work can reasonably be done another way, and what that means in practice
- Safe systems of work: risk assessment, method statement, permit to work, isolation, purging and ventilation
- Emergency arrangements that must be in place before entry, and why calling the fire service is not by itself a rescue plan
- Atmospheric hazards: oxygen deficiency and enrichment, flammable gas, toxic gas, and how they accumulate and stratify
- Gas detection: instrument checks, bump testing, pre entry testing, continuous monitoring and alarm response
- What makes a space low risk, and what takes it out of that classification
- The attendant's role, communication and raising the alarm
Entry and exit at the low risk tier
- Checking and bump testing the gas detector before it is relied on
- Carrying out the pre entry checks and confirming the permit or safe system of work
- Setting up the work area, covers, signage and protection from traffic and pedestrians
- Pre entry atmospheric testing and setting up continuous monitoring
- Entering and leaving the space safely and working inside it without worsening the atmosphere
- Acting as the attendant: communication, monitoring and raising the alarm without entering
- Responding to a gas alarm or a change in conditions by evacuating and stopping the job
Method of assessment
How the N702 confined spaces, low risk test works
NPORS assess the category by theory test and practical test at the tier being trained. The practical uses your own gas detection and access equipment.
1. Enquiry and group
Tell us how many people, where, what spaces they enter and how those spaces are classified in your risk assessments. The length and group size are confirmed when we quote.
2. Pre course check
We check that the low risk tier genuinely matches the spaces your people enter, that medical fitness has been considered, agree whether the CSCS logo version of the card is needed, book the CITB test where it applies, and take the details NPORS need.
3. Training
The Regulations and the hierarchy, atmospheric hazards and gas detection, the classification and the attendant's role, then practical entries.
4. Theory test
The NPORS theory test covering the Regulations, specified risks, safe systems of work, emergency arrangements, atmospheric hazards, gas detection and the limits of the tier.
5. Practical test
You check and test the instrument, complete the pre entry checks, test the atmosphere, enter and leave safely, act as attendant and respond correctly to an alarm, against the NPORS criteria.
6. Registration and card
We register the pass with NPORS and apply for your card, recorded at the low risk tier, with the CSCS logo where the holder's CITB test is in date.
After the course
The classification is a decision, not a description
Low risk is not a type of chamber, it is a conclusion drawn by a risk assessment about a particular space and a particular job. The same chamber can be a low risk entry on a dry Tuesday for a meter reading and a medium risk entry the following week when it has taken water, or when the work involves hot works or solvents. Organisations get into trouble when low risk becomes a label attached permanently to a list of assets rather than a judgement made about today's job.
The practical consequence for a crew is simple and worth repeating: if what you find does not match what the assessment said, you stop. Not adapt, not improvise, not send the smallest person in with a rope round them. Stop, report, and let the job be planned as what it actually is. Where that happens regularly, the medium risk tier is probably the right training for those crews.
- The medium risk tier where escape breathing apparatus, tripods and winches are involved
- The high risk tier where hazards cannot be eliminated and a rescue capability has to be on site
- N038 High Pressure Water Jetting for drainage crews who jet as well as enter
- CITB Health, Safety and Environment test booked with us where the CSCS logo version of the card is needed
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.
N702 Confined Spaces Low Risk FAQs
We confirm it when we quote. The NPORS test sheet we work from has no row for this category, and published durations for the confined spaces tiers vary widely between providers, so rather than print a figure we cannot support we ask what spaces your people enter and how experienced they are and set the length from that.
A risk assessment concluding that there is adequate natural or mechanical ventilation, that access and egress are simple and unobstructed, that there is no risk of flooding and that no specialist entry or rescue equipment is needed. Meter and valve chambers, inspection pits and cellars are typical. It is a judgement about a specific space and a specific job, not a permanent label.
Yes. The Confined Spaces Regulations 1997 apply wherever a substantially enclosed space carries a reasonably foreseeable specified risk. The hierarchy is the same at every tier: avoid entry if the work can reasonably be done another way, use a safe system of work if it cannot, and have adequate emergency arrangements in place before work starts.
No. If the assessment says escape breathing apparatus is needed, the entry is not low risk and the crew needs the medium risk tier. That boundary is one of the most important things the course teaches, because the temptation on site is always to carry on with what you have.
Yes. An attendant remains at the entry point, in communication with the person inside, with the means to raise the alarm and without entering themselves if something goes wrong. A person entering a confined space alone, with nobody at the top, is one of the commonest factors in confined space deaths.
The job stops. Standing water, an unexpected smell, a gas alarm, a space that is deeper or more obstructed than the drawing said, or any sign that the classification was wrong. The crew comes out, nobody else goes in, and the work is replanned at the correct tier before it restarts.
It follows your risk assessments. If your spaces are well ventilated with simple access and no need for escape apparatus, low risk. If escape breathing apparatus, tripods and winches are involved, medium. If the hazards cannot be eliminated and a rescue capability has to be on site, high. Send us your assessments or describe the work and we will tell you which, including if the answer is more than one.
Yes, and using your own gas detectors, access equipment and, where it is safe to do so, your own chambers makes the training considerably more useful. Where that is not practical we use suitable training spaces at a venue near you.
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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