Construction firms, groundworks and civils contractors, plant hire yards and agriculture.
Theory and practical assessment, carried out on the employer's own machine, on their site.
No UK government body issues a licence to operate a 180 excavator (backhoe loader), and no statute requires one.
The duty to train and assess competence sits with the employer, under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 section 2(2)(c) and PUWER 1998 regulation 9.
The Approved Code of Practice L22, safe use of work equipment, covers this machine under PUWER 1998, and regulation 9 sets out the training the employer provides before the operator uses it.
Where the machine is used for lifting, LOLER 1998 applies; it also travels on the road between sites, so it is both plant and a vehicle, and HSE guidance HSG144 applies as well.
The employer still authorises each operator in writing under PUWER 1998 regulation 9; the certificate, unit credit, records and site evidence statement are the evidence the employer relies on for that decision, not a substitute for it.