Primary course (Frumnámskeið)

Completion of the course grants the theoretical qualification for:

• Forklift trucks with a lifting weight up to 10 tons – category J
• Tractors with equipment and the smaller types of earthmoving machines (4t and smaller) – category I
• Basket cranes and concrete pumps– category D
• Steamrollers– category L
• Paving machines for road surfaces – category M
• Loading cranes mounted on vehicles with lifting capacity of up to 18 tm – category P
• This course will mostly be held via a Teams communication platform; participants must therefore have a computer with internet connection, a microphone and speakers/earphones. Tests will be held in the Administration’s branches or partners’ premises, as appropriate.

The course will be 27 hours, normally held during working hours (9.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m.) over three days.

The first day of the Primary Course consist of preliminary material, covering occupational safety and health, physics, hydraulics, mechanics, electric batteries and safety measures when digging trenches.
Days 2 and 3 will be spent examining individual categories of working machines and matters associated with them.

The occupational safety and health part of the course is an online lecture (Youtube). Participants will get a special link for that material and we recommend that they listen to that part before the Teams-lectures begin.

The Primary Course ends with a written multiple-choice test. Tests will be held in the Administration’s branches or partners’ premises, as appropriate.

Students who pass the test at the end of the Primary Course may start practical training with an employer in the operation and care of working machines. Practical training shall take place under the guidance of persons holding qualifications to hold training sessions. Numbers of participants will be restricted and training may only take place where there is no danger of accidents.

The AOSH also has facilities for practical training and taking practical exams in special simulators. You need to contact the AOSH to make an appointment for a simulator.

Students who have obtained confirmation of having completed the practical training may request an examiner from the Administration of Occupational Safety and Health and take the practical test. On passing the test, they receive confirmation of this which they may then submit to the Administration when applying for operators’ licences for a particular category, or categories, of machine. The fee for the practical test and the licence must be paid before the test is taken. A copy of the candidate’s driving licence must be submitted with his or her application for a machine operator’s licence. Applicants for crane operators’ licences, in categories A, B, D and P, must produce a medical certificate.

The minimum age for taking the Primary Course is 16 years; three months before their 17th birthday, candidates may start training on machinery under the guidance of a person qualified to teach the use of the type of machinery in question. To obtain a machine operator’s licence, the candidate must have reached the age of 17 and hold a driver’s licence.

Driving schools offer courses (Icelandic: Grunnnámskeið) which lead to qualifications for the operation of working machinery. These consist of 80 hours, and cover all categories of working machinery for which operators’ licences are required.