NPORS Cat & Genny Training
Training Location
Tewkesbury & On-Site UK-Wide*
Train at our Gloucestershire centre or arrange CAT & Genny training at your workplace nationwide.
Refresher Cat and Genny Operators
Renew or Refresh Your Training
1 Day CAT & Genny refresher course for previously trained candidates, maximum 6 candidates
Novice Training
New to CAT & Genny?
1 Day Practical training for candidates with little or no previous experience using cable avoidance equipment.
Previous Accredited Training
Already Hold a Recognised Certificate?
Refresher training may be suitable if you have previously held recognised accredited CAT & Genny certification from another awarding body.
Training Routes
Novice or Refresher
We’ll help you choose the correct course based on your previous training, certification and experience.
Centre Prices
From £280 + VAT
Published prices apply at our Tewkesbury centre. On-site workforce training is quoted separately.
*Additional mileage and accommodation charges may be applicable for carrying out NPORS Cat And Genny Training on your site.
Discounts Available For Multiple Cat And Genny Training Bookings
NPORS Experienced Test From-
£280.00
-
Per Person + VAT
NPORS Card and Registration
£45.00
-
Per Person + VAT
NPORS Novice Courses From-
£280.00
-
Per Person + VAT
Prices apply to NPORS Plant Training or tests conducted at our site in Gloucestershire. We also provide on-site NPORS Plant Operator Training at your location, contact us via phone or email for a custom quote to attend your site.
CAT & GENNY • CABLE AVOIDANCE • UNDERGROUND SERVICES Locate Underground Services Before You Break Ground
Practical NPORS CAT & Genny Training for individuals and workforces. Learn cable avoidance, underground service detection, equipment limitations and safe excavation principles aligned with HSE HSG47.
Locate Underground Services Before You Break Ground
Practical NPORS CAT & Genny Training for individuals and workforces. Learn cable avoidance, underground service detection, equipment limitations and safe excavation principles aligned with HSE HSG47.
Need CAT & Genny training for yourself or a workforce that digs, excavates or works around underground services?
Vally Plant Training provides practical NPORS CAT & Genny training, cable avoidance training and underground services detection training for construction, utilities, groundworks, highways, civil engineering and other industries where people need to locate buried services before breaking ground.
This one-day course teaches candidates how to use a Cable Avoidance Tool (CAT scanner) and Signal Generator (Genny) correctly, carry out systematic underground service searches, understand the different locating modes, interpret indications and recognise the limitations of cable detection equipment.
Just as importantly, we put the equipment into context. A CAT scan is not a substitute for planning the excavation. Candidates develop an understanding of the principles contained within HSE HSG47 – Avoiding Danger from Underground Services, including the use of utility information, locating buried services and safe excavation practices. HSG47 identifies these as the three basic elements of a safe system of work.
Novice and refresher training is available. Courses are normally one day with a maximum of six candidates. Centre-based NPORS CAT & Genny training starts from £280 + VAT per person.
Train at our dedicated Tewkesbury training centre in Gloucestershire or arrange on-site CAT & Genny training anywhere in the UK for your workforce.
For more practical information before or after your course, read our Working Near Underground Services Guide.
CAT & Genny Training at a Glance
✓ Course: CAT & Genny / Cable Avoidance Training
✓ Duration: Normally 1 Day
✓ Candidates: Maximum 6 Per Course
✓ Routes: Novice • Refresher
✓ Training: Tewkesbury Centre • On-Site UK-Wide
✓ Centre Price: From £280 + VAT Per Person
Is this the right course for you?
If your job involves digging, trenching, excavation, drilling, breaking ground or planning work near buried services, CAT & Genny training may be relevant to your role.
The course is suitable for:
- Groundworkers and excavation teams
- 360 excavator and mini digger operators
- Utility contractors
- Civil engineering workers
- Highway and street works teams
- Drainage contractors
- Telecommunications workers
- Site engineers and surveyors
- Construction workers
- Landscapers carrying out excavation
- Supervisors and managers responsible for excavation
- Employees involved in permits to dig or underground service surveys
CAT & Genny competence is separate from plant operator competence. An experienced excavator driver does not automatically know how to carry out a proper cable avoidance survey.
If you also need excavator certification, see our NPORS 360 Excavator Training Course or Micro Excavator Training Course.
Why choose Vally Plant Training?
Vally Plant Training is a family-run, NPORS Accredited Training Provider established in 2014. We provide training directly rather than acting as a training broker.
CAT & Genny training is available for individual candidates at our Tewkesbury centre and for companies requiring on-site cable avoidance training for employees anywhere in the UK.
You can choose:
- NPORS CAT & Genny training
- Novice CAT & Genny courses
- CAT & Genny refresher and renewal training
- In-house cable avoidance certification where appropriate
- Centre-based training in Tewkesbury
- On-site workforce training nationwide
- Multiple-candidate bookings
- Related plant and excavation training
Our instructors work within the plant and construction training industry, allowing the course to connect underground service detection with the situations candidates actually encounter around excavators, trenches, groundworks and construction sites.
Which CAT & Genny course do I need?
Novice CAT & Genny training
Never used a cable locator before, or only used one occasionally without formal instruction?
Choose the novice CAT & Genny course. The novice route teaches candidates how the equipment works before developing practical skills in searching, locating and tracing underground services.
The course is normally one day with a maximum of six candidates.
If you’re new to formal training, our NPORS Novice Training Guide explains the novice training route in more detail.
CAT & Genny refresher training
Already completed recognised CAT & Genny or cable avoidance training and need to renew or update your certification?
Our CAT & Genny refresher training is designed for previously trained candidates whose existing card or certificate has expired, is approaching renewal, or who need to refresh their knowledge and practical skills.
The refresher route may also be suitable if you have previously held a recognised accredited CAT & Genny or cable avoidance certificate from another awarding body.
Refresher training revisits correct Cable Avoidance Tool and Signal Generator use, underground service detection, equipment limitations, HSG47 principles and safe working practices before assessment.
If you’re unsure whether your previous certification qualifies you for refresher training, contact Vally Plant Training before booking and we’ll check the certification you already hold.
Visit our NPORS Refresher Training Guide for more information about refresher training and renewal.
What does CAT & Genny training cover?
Training combines theory with hands-on use of underground service locating equipment.
Depending on the candidate and equipment being used, subjects can include operator responsibilities, HSG47 principles, underground service hazards, service plans, equipment checks, CAT operating modes, Signal Generator use, passive and active locating, systematic scanning, tracing services, marking detected routes, interpreting signals, equipment limitations, safe excavation principles and emergency actions following a service strike.
The aim is not simply to teach someone how to obtain a reading. Candidates need to understand what the indication means, what it does not prove and what further precautions may still be required before excavation begins.
HSG47 – Avoiding Danger from Underground Services
Anyone involved in excavation should understand that CAT & Genny use is only one part of a safe system of work.
The Health and Safety Executive’s HSG47 – Avoiding Danger from Underground Services is aimed at people involved in commissioning, planning, managing and carrying out work on or near underground services.
HSG47 describes three basic elements:
1. Plan the work
Obtain available information, consider which services could be present and assess the risks before anyone starts digging.
2. Locate and identify buried services
Use plans, suitable locating equipment and other appropriate methods to establish where underground services are likely to be.
3. Excavate safely
Once services have been identified, use a safe method of excavation appropriate to the circumstances.
This is why CAT & Genny training should never create a false sense of security.
A CAT scanner is an important tool. It is not an underground X-ray.
Read HSE HSG47 – Avoiding Danger from Underground Services
Our own Working Near Underground Services Guide brings these principles together specifically for plant operators, groundworkers and construction companies.
Why underground service strikes are so dangerous
Underground services can include:
electricity cables • gas mains • water mains • sewers • telecommunications • fibre optic cables • street lighting supplies • private site services
Striking one can have consequences far beyond the cost of repairing it.
Depending on the service, the consequences can include electric shock, electrical arcing, fire, explosion, gas release, flooding, loss of communications, serious injury or fatality.
There can also be major commercial consequences:
- Emergency shutdowns
- Utility repair bills
- Damaged plant
- Project delays
- Lost production
- Disruption to surrounding businesses or homes
- Investigation and enforcement
- Reputational damage
Our Working Near Underground Services Guide covers these hazards and safe excavation precautions in more detail.
CAT scanner modes – why one quick scan isn’t enough
Cable avoidance equipment can provide different locating modes.
Depending on the model, these can include Power, Radio and Generator/Genny modes, together with additional functionality on some equipment.
Different modes are intended to detect different signals.
That matters because not every underground service will present the same detectable signal.
A worker who switches a locator on, walks across an excavation once and sees no indication has not necessarily proved that the area is free from underground services.
A proper survey needs to be systematic and appropriate to the equipment, site and work being planned.
What does the Genny do?
The Genny – Signal Generator – works with compatible locating equipment to introduce a signal onto suitable services, allowing the locator operator to trace that signal.
This active locating method can provide valuable information that passive scanning alone may not reveal.
Candidates therefore need to understand the CAT and Genny as a system rather than treating the Signal Generator as an accessory that never needs to leave the van.
Can CAT & Genny detect every underground service?
No locating device should be treated as a guarantee that every buried cable, pipe or service has been found.
The effectiveness of detection can be influenced by the service material, available signal, depth, nearby services, equipment, operator technique and site conditions.
The Vally Plant Training underground-services guide also stresses that drawings should be treated as a guide rather than a guarantee, and that locating equipment does not replace safe digging practices.
That is why a safe excavation process uses several layers of information and control.
Service plans + CAT & Genny + safe digging
Think of underground service avoidance as a process rather than a single CAT scan.
Service information helps establish what is expected to be present.
CAT & Genny surveying helps locate and trace detectable services.
Marking and identification communicate the findings to people carrying out the work.
Safe excavation methods are then used to expose or work around services.
Where required by the workplace, this may also form part of a permit-to-dig system, risk assessment and method statement.
Our Working Near Underground Services Guide explains the complete process from utility drawings through to safe excavation.
Why utility drawings aren’t enough
Service drawings are extremely useful, but they should not be treated as proof of the exact position of every underground service.
Services may have been:
- Diverted
- Repaired
- Added after drawings were produced
- Installed at unexpected depths
- Recorded inaccurately
- Omitted from available information
This is why service plans and physical locating techniques complement each other. The work area still needs to be assessed on site.
Marking underground services
When a service is detected, its believed route should be communicated clearly to the people carrying out the work. That may involve appropriate surface markings and site briefings.
But a line painted on the ground does not magically turn the ground either side of it into a safe mechanical digging zone. Workers still need to understand uncertainty, service depth and the excavation controls being used.
Re-scan as the excavation progresses
One of the most useful habits when working near underground services is to keep checking.
Ground conditions and available information change as excavation progresses. Our underground-services guidance recommends scanning the work area, marking detected services and re-scanning as excavation progresses rather than assuming one scan is enough. This is particularly important where excavation begins to expose information that was not apparent at ground level.
Safe excavation around identified services
Finding the service does not finish the job. The excavation still needs to be carried out safely.
Our current underground-services guidance explains the recognised approach around known or suspected services, including careful exposure and avoiding inappropriate mechanical excavation close to identified services.
Read the full Working Near Underground Services Guide before carrying out excavation near buried utilities.
CAT & Genny and 360 excavators
Excavators are capable of damaging buried services very quickly.
An operator therefore needs clear information about known and suspected services, the permitted excavation area and the safe system of work before digging begins.
CAT & Genny training does not replace excavator operator training, and an excavator ticket does not replace cable avoidance competence. For machine training, see our 360 Excavator Training Course.
Operators using compact machines can also see our Micro Excavator Training Course.
What if the CAT & Genny equipment has a defect?
Do not simply carry on because the excavation needs to start.
Cable locating equipment is being relied upon as part of a safety-critical process.
Equipment should be checked in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions, and anything that could affect reliable operation should be dealt with before the equipment is relied upon.
The same principle applies throughout plant operations: identify defects, report them and don’t knowingly use equipment where the defect could compromise safety.
Read our Daily Plant Inspections Explained guide for more information about pre-use checks and defect awareness.
CAT & Genny training at our Tewkesbury centre
Individuals and businesses can attend our dedicated training centre at Newton Farm Business Park, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. The live course page lists the centre as the training location for centre-based CAT & Genny courses.
We’re conveniently located close to Junction 9 of the M5, making the centre accessible from Gloucester, Cheltenham, Worcester, Evesham, Stroud, Bristol, Birmingham and the wider Midlands and South West.
Ashchurch for Tewkesbury railway station is approximately five minutes’ walk away.
The centre option is particularly useful for individuals, self-employed workers and companies that don’t have suitable CAT & Genny equipment or training facilities at their own workplace.
On-site CAT & Genny training nationwide
Need several employees trained? We can bring the course to you. Vally Plant Training provides on-site CAT & Genny training throughout the UK, subject to suitable equipment, facilities and arrangements.
On-site delivery works particularly well for:
Groundworks contractors • utility companies • civil engineering contractors • construction businesses • highway teams • drainage contractors • telecommunications companies • housebuilders • local authorities • industrial sites
Training several employees together can reduce travel and time away from the workplace. Before booking, see our Customer Site Requirements for Plant Operator Training.
On-site training requirements
For customer-site CAT & Genny training, suitable arrangements need to be available for both theory and practical training.
Depending on the course, requirements can include:
- Suitable CAT & Genny equipment
- Manufacturer’s information/instructions
- Suitable practical locating area
- Safe training environment
- Relevant risk assessments
- Method statements where applicable
- Suitable theory/welfare facilities
- Candidate photo identification
- Appropriate PPE
For the full preparation requirements, see our Customer Site Requirements for Plant Operator Training.
PPE for CAT & Genny Training
✓ Safety boots
✓ High-visibility clothing
✓ Suitable workwear
✓ Hard hat where required
✓ Gloves and eye protection where required
✓ Any site-specific PPE
CAT & Genny training prices
Current centre-based prices are:
NPORS Novice & Refresher Course – From £280 + VAT per person
NPORS Card & Registration – £45 + VAT per person
These prices apply to training and testing carried out at our Tewkesbury training centre.
On-site CAT & Genny training is quoted separately because travel, location, candidate numbers and training arrangements vary. Discounts may be available for multiple bookings.
Assessment and certification
The course combines theory and practical assessment.
Candidates need to demonstrate that they can use the locating equipment appropriately and understand the safety principles and limitations associated with underground service detection.
Successful candidates following the applicable NPORS route receive the relevant NPORS certification.
In-house CAT & Genny certification may also be available where appropriate. In-house certification is not the same as an NPORS Operator Card, and acceptance depends on the employer, client, site and insurer.
CITB funding for CAT & Genny training
Eligible CITB-registered employers may be able to claim funding towards qualifying training, subject to the current scheme rules.
Vally Plant Training is a CITB Training Provider Network Member.
Tell us your business is CITB registered when requesting your quotation so we can provide the appropriate course information.
Related training
Training for Excavation & Groundworks Teams
Related CAT & Genny and excavation safety guides
Underground Services & Excavation Safety
Practical guidance for people locating services, breaking ground and operating plant around buried utilities.
Book CAT & Genny training
Train Before You Break Ground
Whether you’re booking for yourself or arranging CAT & Genny training for a complete workforce, we’ll help you choose the right novice or refresher route. Train at our Tewkesbury centre or arrange on-site cable avoidance training anywhere in the UK.
✓ REFRESHER TRAINING
✓ TEWKESBURY CENTRE
✓ UK-WIDE ON-SITE
Let’s Get You Trained and Certified — Enquire About NPORS Courses Now
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Your Frequently Asked Questions Answered
UK law does not simply say that every CAT user must hold a qualification with the title “CAT & Genny ticket”.
However, employers have legal duties to control excavation risks and ensure people carrying out work are competent. HSG47 provides HSE guidance specifically for people planning, managing and carrying out work near underground services.
Completing recognised CAT & Genny training provides workers with structured instruction and assessment in the correct use and limitations of the equipment.
CAT stands for Cable Avoidance Tool.
You’ll also see people searching for a CAT scanner, cable detector, cable locator or underground service locator.
These terms generally refer to equipment used to help identify detectable buried services before excavation or ground disturbance.
A Genny is a Signal Generator used alongside compatible locating equipment.
It can introduce a signal onto a suitable service so that the CAT can help trace its route.
That is why proper cable avoidance training covers both the locator and Signal Generator rather than teaching candidates to rely solely on passive scanning.
Not necessarily.
One of the most important lessons in cable avoidance training is that not every underground service is directly detectable using conventional locating equipment.
This is why a clear scan must not be interpreted as proof that there is nothing underground.
Use the information from utility plans, site observations, locating equipment and safe excavation methods together. Our Working Near Underground Services Guide explains this in more detail.
ou should not treat a locator reading as absolute proof of a service’s exact depth.
Equipment capability varies, and underground conditions can affect results.
Where the exact position of a service needs to be confirmed, the safe system of work may require further investigation and careful exposure.
Read our Working Near Underground Services Guide for more information about locating, marking and exposing buried services.
Yes.
Utility plans and CAT & Genny surveys perform different jobs and should complement one another.
HSG47’s approach is based on planning the work, locating and identifying services and safe excavation — not simply scanning the ground and starting to dig.
A clear CAT scan should not automatically be treated as permission to mechanically excavate.
The work still needs to take account of service plans, site information, risk assessment, equipment limitations and safe excavation procedures.
Our Working Near Underground Services Guide covers the process in detail.
If you also require machine training, see our 360 Excavator Training Course.
es, re-scanning as excavation progresses can be an important part of maintaining awareness of buried services.
Our underground-services guide recommends re-scanning as excavation progresses and not assuming one scan is enough
Do not simply assume it has been removed or isn’t there.
The discrepancy needs to be resolved before work proceeds in a way that could put people or services at risk.
Additional locating work, information or assistance may be required.
If the excavator operator is expected to carry out underground service locating, they need to be competent in using the equipment.
An excavator qualification and CAT & Genny competence are separate.
See our NPORS 360 Excavator Training Course for machine training.
Yes.
Our novice route is specifically for candidates who need to learn how to use cable avoidance equipment safely and correctly.
The course is normally one day with up to six candidates.
Read our NPORS Novice Training Guide if you’re new to NPORS training.
Yes.
Refresher training is available for previously trained workers who need to update or reinforce their competence.
Read our NPORS Refresher Training Guide for more information.
Yes.
We provide on-site CAT & Genny training throughout the UK, subject to suitable equipment and facilities.
This is particularly useful for employers who need several groundworkers, excavator operators, utility workers or site personnel trained together.
Check our Customer Site Requirements for Plant Operator Training before arranging on-site delivery.
Our Experience Is Your Advantage
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Vally Plant Training is an NPORS-approved plant training provider based in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, delivering accredited plant operator training courses across Gloucester, Cheltenham, Bristol, Worcestershire, Birmingham, Wiltshire, and the wider Midlands and South West.
We offer flexible, practical NPORS training for individuals and businesses in construction, industrial, agricultural, and private sectors, ensuring compliance with UK health and safety standards while helping operators gain recognised certification and real-world skills.