Employee Forklit Truck Training

Employee Forklift Truck Training

By Ernest Jarquio

In any industry where

forklifts are used, OSHA has rules and regulations that govern their usage. One such area that OSHA governs it the training of employees. Anyone who will be operating a forklift must go through forklift truck training. In 1999, OSHA updated its regulations regarding forklift trucks, so anyone who is forklift certified prior to this year must go through a refresher course. OSHA also holds that everyone should have periodical refresher courses to keep them up to date on industry standards.

Manufacturer Training

There are several ways that you can get your employees trained and

certified. One such way is to send them to a training course that a number of manufacturers and dealerships offer. For the employees that can not get away to attend on of these off site training sessions, many manufacturers and dealerships offer on site training courses. You will have to make sure that whatever training session you have for your employees are OSHA approved. This will ensure that your company is in compliance with OSHA standards.

Train Them Yourself

A more cost effective way to offer

forklift truck training to your employees is to train them yourself. To do this you will need to grab up some training material from the National Safety Compliance. For starters, their 18-minute DVD or VHS tape will be used to show employees a number of areas in regards to the forklifts. Shown in the video are OSHA standards, types of forklifts, pre shift inspections, basic forklift driving, forklift stability, forklift handling, fuels and batteries and forklift attachments.

The video will come with a CD-Rom with all the material needed for the company to certify the

employees themselves. A quiz is included that should be given to all employees to be certified, an answer key for the instructor, training log, certificate that can be printed out, wallet card, sample inspection form and a hands-on evaluation form.

Quiz And Evaluation

As you can see, the National

Safety Compliance will give you everything you need to certify your employees yourself without the need to pay for outside training sessions. After watching the video, taking the quiz and completing a hands on test of the forklifts, the employee is ready to be certified and may operate the forklifts. Should an employee fail the quiz or hands-on evaluation then they should be put through the training again.

Avoid Fines

Whichever method you choose for

forklift truck training, just make sure they comply with OSHA standards. OSHA imposes fines when forklift drivers are not in compliance with their regulations. In addition, when a forklift driver has been trained by OSHA standards you can rest assured that they have been trained in the best safety procedures.This means less accident, less warehouse damage, less risk of damage to the merchandise due to careless forklift damage and less risk of damage to the forklift itself. According to OSHA, tens of thousands employees annually are injured or killed during a forklift accident because they were not properly trained.