The New Roads and Street Works Act drives the demand for C&G qualifications

The NRSWA (The New Roads and Street Works Act 1991) means all those working on roads and highways in the UK need to hold the relevant City and Guilds qualification.

What is the NRSWA?

The New Roads and Street Works Act of 1991 introduced legislation on traffic control within the UK and continues to this day. This act covers a range of issues including:
• Notification requirements
• Safety to highway users
• Standards required of the reinstatement of all excavations on the highway
• Requirements for signing, lighting and guarding.

What are NRSWA Training Courses?

NRSWA Training Courses are intended for Supervisors and Operatives who need to carry out their duties to the standards dictated by City & Guilds and in-line with legislative requirements of the NRSWA and the applicable Approved Codes of Practice (ACOP’s).

These courses cover the procedures and guidelines for working on roads and highways. The training and qualifications are targeted at those who are either employed by local authorities, utilities companies or contractors and are required to carry out work roads, highways or on footpaths. It is absolutely essential that those who are working on public highways or even adjacent to them should take the relevant training courses and achieve the required level of competence. It is through this range of qualified training and competence that accidents are avoided, and road fatalities are reduced.

NRSWA Training Units

There are two levels of NRSWA City and Guild accredited qualification available and when deciding which level of qualification best fits your job role it is essential to identify whether you are an operative or a supervisor.

An operative level NRSWA qualification is aimed at anyone that is actually completing the work that needs to be done on roads or highways. A supervisor’s qualification is for those that are supervising teams of operatives, ensuring the work is carried out to a high standard and that health and safety regulations are maintained.

Operatives may choose from:

• Unit 001 - Location and avoidance of underground apparatus
• Unit 002 - Signing, lighting and guarding
• Unit 003 - Excavation in the road/highway
• Unit 004 - Reinstatement and compaction of backfill materials
• Unit 005 - Reinstatement of sub-base and road-base in non-bituminous materials
• Unit 006 - Reinstatement of cold-lay bituminous materials
• Unit 007 - Reinstatement of hot-lay bituminous materials
• Unit 008 - Reinstatement of concrete slabs
• Unit 009 - Reinstatement of modular surfaces and concrete footways

While supervisors pick from:

• Unit 001 - Location and avoidance of underground apparatus
• Unit 010 - Monitoring signing, lighting and guarding
• Unit 011 - Monitoring excavation in the road/highway
• Unit 012 - Monitoring reinstatement and compaction of backfill materials
• Unit 013 - Motoring reinstatement of sub-base and road-base in non-bituminous materials
• Unit 014 - Monitoring reinstatement of bituminous materials
• Unit 015 - Monitoring reinstatement of concrete slabs
• Unit 016 - Monitoring reinstatement of modular surfaces and concrete footways

Points to Note

• To achieve an operatives or supervisor qualification, delegates must attend a NRSWA course at an accredited centre (available nationwide). Trainers are no longer allowed to come to your own site and deliver the course.
• The NRSWA reassessment is an option for qualified operatives and supervisors whose original cards are nearing expiry. This is a shorter, refresher style course to renew their qualification. It typically runs over 2 days, as the pass rate was lower for the 1-day course option.
• Reassessment is awarded based solely on the results of the test, which is conducted in exam conditions.
• Most reassessments cover the most popular units for supervisors (1, 10-14 +16) or operatives (1-6+9). The rarer units such as 7, 8 and 15 are available as reassessments on request.
• Candidates may choose to complete all the relevant modules for their level, select the ones most useful to their line of work or select groups of units which when completed together make up a recognised street works qualification.
  For example if an operatives was to complete units Unit 001 - Location and avoidance of underground apparatus, Unit 002 - Signing, lighting and guarding and Unit 003 - Excavation in the road/highway, they would be eligible for the Excavation in the road/highway 01 qualification and could then gain a street works ID card. However, to gain a street works ID card candidates must complete at least one full qualification.
• While it may seem complicated, the trick to ensuring you are on the right path is that all supervisors’ qualifications are coded 010 or above, apart from unit 001 which is open to both supervisors and operatives.