About Us

The National Drainage Academy (NDA) is a new training centre dedicated to delivering fully accredited and bespoke courses tailored to meet the needs of those organisations operating within the drainage and sewage industry.

Established in association with Whale Tankers – a specialist manufacturer to the waste and cleaning industries – and located at their Solihull premises, the National Drainage Academy intends to become recognised as the leading centre of training excellence within the industry.

The suite of courses has been developed to meet the operational requirements of the sewage industry, as well as ensuring the continuous professional development of the operators. The courses on offer are:-

  • Drain & Sewer Cleaning Using High Pressure Water
  • Vacuum Tanker & Jetvac Training
  • Working In Medium Risk Confined Spaces – Water NC3
  • Safe Isolation & De-ragging of Dry & Wet Well Pumps

The National Drainage Academy states:

Despite the continuing challenges facing industry, those that fail to focus on the importance of delivering training for their employees will lose valuable ground to those who understand its value. Having sought feedback and involvement from the drainage and sewage sectors, the Academy is focused on meeting industry requirements.”

Setting up both the infrastructure and course content for the Academy has involved a significant level of investment. The demand for the courses covering high pressure water jetting and confined space training has already been above our expectations.

Created to increase the skill levels of personnel, the courses delivered by the NDA will ensure that organisations are also fully compliant in meeting their current legal and statutory obligations. All courses have been designed in accordance with either the National Standards or manufacturers’ requirements and, of course, comply with all relevant codes of practice.

Each course will be provided by organisations with the specialist knowledge in each sector of involvement. The Academy has invested in a dedicated training facility for confined space designed to cover low, medium and high-risk courses, all of which incorporate changing environments. Subject to course type, training can be carried out at the NDA or at a location of the customer’s choice.

Upon successful completion of the courses on offer – one or two day duration – participants will be logged onto the EUSR database and receive a EUSR registered card virtual and hard copy.

Anyone interested in obtaining full details of dates covering both public courses, or those tailored to suit specific needs, should contact Whale Tankers on 0121 704 5700 or email us at NDA@whale.co.uk.