NPORS Quick Hitch Awareness (N726)

Anyone who couples or uncouples attachments and anyone who works around a machine that does. That means operators, but it also means groundworkers in trenches, drainage gangs, fitters and supervisors. NPORS allow ten candidates on the course, which is exactly the right size for a gang.

No. This is an awareness category and there is no requirement to hold a machine operating category to attend. It also does not work the other way round: holding N726 does not qualify anybody to operate an excavator. If somebody needs to run the machine, they need the machine category as well.

Because HSE record four deaths in twelve months involving them, which led manufacturers to stop supplying semi automatic hitches new into the UK from October 2008. They were not banned and plenty are still in service. The course covers how they lock, what the pin does and why the check has to happen every single time.

No. HSE guidance is that only pins designed for the specific use may be fitted, and improvised replacements such as bolts or wire are not acceptable. A hitch with an improvised pin, or none, can operate normally for some time and then release without warning. The machine should be stopped until a proper pin is fitted.

The NPORS test sheet gives a one day novice duration with up to ten candidates and one instructor. Where a group is already changing attachments daily the experienced worker route is usually shorter, and we confirm the length when we quote.

After coupling and pinning, the attachment is crowded back against the ground to prove that it is properly engaged before it is lifted or slewed anywhere near a person. It is the last check in the sequence and the one that catches a hitch that looked right from the cab.

Yes, and it is the better option because your own hitches are the ones your people have to check. There are no scheduled dates. We run it when you can release the gang, on your machines, with your attachments.

It does where the holder has a valid CITB Health, Safety and Environment test pass, which is what most principal contractors check at the gate. Without it you still get the NPORS card recording the category, but not the CSCS logo version.

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.