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NRSWA Courses - New Roads and Street Works Act

NRSWA Training courses are designed for Supervisors and Operatives who are required to carry out their duties to the standards prescribed by City & Guilds in-line with the New Roads and Street Works Act (NRSWA), current legislation, and applicable Approved Codes of Practice (ACOP’s). They are also commonly known as “streetworks training” or “streetworks courses”.

The New Roads and Street Works Act (NRSWA) sets out the procedures and guidelines for personnel employed by local authorities, utilities companies and their contractors for the purpose of any road works in the highway or on footpaths. The Act and associated Codes of Practice cover issues such as, the notification requirements, safety to highway users and the standards required of the reinstatement of all excavations on the highway, standards for signing, lighting and guarding, etc.

Training courses for NRSWA will cover one or more unit’s dependent on requirements as explained below. Please click the Green Dates button at the top of the page to see all open dates and locations for NRSWA courses, or click the Enquiry button for more general help or further information.

NRSWA Training Courses Available

There are 16 NRSWA course units of competence with the New Roads and Street Works Act. The unit referencing scheme was updated in April 2017, when the new regulations came into force in England, these being The Street Works (Qualifications of Operatives and Supervisors) (England) Regulations 2016. For clarity both the old numerical references and new alpha-numeric references are included below. Unit 1 (LA) is for Supervisors and Operators, Units 2-9 (O1-O8) are relevant to operators, and Units 10-16 (S1 - S7) are relevant to Supervisors. 

NRSWA course Operator Units of competence within the New Roads and Street Works Act are:

• Unit 1 (LA) - Location and avoidance of underground apparatus.
• Unit 2 (O1) - Signing, lighting and guarding.
• Unit 3 (O2) - Excavation in the highway.
• Unit 4 (O3) - Reinstatement and compaction of backfill materials.
• Unit 5 (O4) - Reinstatement of sub-base and road base in non-bituminous materials.
• Unit 6 (O5) - Reinstatement in cold-lay bituminous materials.
• Unit 7 (O6) - Reinstatement in hot-lay bituminous materials.
• Unit 8 (O7) - Reinstatement of concrete slabs.
• Unit 9 (O8) - Reinstatement of modular surfaces and concrete footways.

NRSWA Course Supervisor Units of competence within the New Roads and Street Works Act are:

• Unit 1 (LA) - Location and avoidance of underground apparatus.
• Unit 10 (S1) - Monitoring signing, lighting and guarding.
• Unit 11 (S2) - Monitoring excavation in the highway.
• Unit 12 (S3) - Monitoring reinstatement and compaction of backfill materials.
• Unit 13 (S4) - Monitoring reinstatement of sub-base and road base in non-bituminous materials.
• Unit 14 (S5) - Monitoring reinstatement in bituminous materials.
• Unit 15 (S6) - Monitoring reinstatement of concrete slabs.
• Unit 16 (S7) - Monitoring reinstatement of modular surfaces and concrete footways. 

The units that need to be successfully completed for a certificate of competence to be issued will depend on the type of work being undertaken.

NRSWA Course Operator Unit Combinations:

• Excavation in the highway. Units 1, 2 and 3 (LA, O1, O2).
• Excavation, backfilling and reinstatement of construction layers with a cold-lay bituminous surface. Units 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 (LA, O1-O5).
• Reinstatement of construction layers in hot-lay and cold-lay bituminous materials. Units 1, 2, 6 and 7 (LA, O1, O5, O6).
• Reinstatement of concrete slabs. Units 1, 2 and 8 (LA, O1, O7).
• Reinstatement of modular surfaces and concrete footways. Units 1, 2 and 9 (LA, O1, O8).
• Signing, lighting and guarding. Unit 2 only (O1). 

NRSWA Course Supervisor Unit Combinations: 

• Monitoring excavation in the highway. Unit 1, 10, 11 (LA, S1, S2).
• Monitoring excavation, backfilling and reinstatement of construction layers with bituminous materials. Units 1, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 (LA, S1-S5).
• Monitoring reinstatement of construction layers in bituminous materials. Units 1, 10 and 14 (LA, S1, S5).
• Monitoring reinstatement of concrete slabs. Units 1, 10 and 15 (LA, S1, S6).
• Monitoring reinstatement of modular surfaces and concrete footways. Units 1, 10 and 16 (LA, S1, S7).
• Monitoring signing, lighting and guarding. Unit 10 only (S1).

Important Note on NRSWA Scheme Rules for Operative/Supervisor Dual Cards

If you have successfully completed an NRSWA Operative Course and then carry out an NRSWA Supervisor course at a later date, or vice versa, you will be issued with a dual card, but this dual card will have an expiry date for the course that was completed first. For example, you complete an operative course with a five-year expiry, and then a year later you complete a supervisor course, the dual card issued by SWQR will have an expiry date of five years from the operative course which has the earliest expiry date, not the expiry date of the supervisor course. If you wish to obtain a full 5-year card rather than a dual card for a qualification you will need to contact SWQR on 0345 213 5000 prior to taking a course to inform them that you wish to forfeit the original qualification. BookMyCourse cannot accept responsibility for cards issued with a shortened expiry date due to a previous qualification.

You may also be interested in….

• NRSWA Operatives Training – Streetworks NRSWA Courses
• NRSWA Reassessment – Operatives
• NRSWA Supervisors Training – Streetworks NRSWA Courses
• NRSWA Reassessment - Supervisors

Commonly Asked Questions

What is a NRSWA Card?

Those who successfully complete the NRSWA course unit(s) will receive a Certificate of Competence which will need to be sent to the SWQR. They will then provide a plastic photo identification card that shows the qualification for each NRSWA unit. This is valid for 5 years.

What is SWQR?

Street Works Qualification Register – this holds the details of all NRSWA trained and qualified Supervisors and Operatives. It works closely with a number of awarding bodies including City & Guilds, LANTRA and SQA to ensure that every qualified individual has a durable card that can be produced on site if necessary, to prove their qualified status.

What is a NRSWA Reassessment?

You will need to undertake either an Operative or Supervisor Reassessment course when your card is due to expire. Candidates who let their card lapse will need to retake the full NRSWA training course(s) of their desired specialism in order to regain their certificate and card.