As a commercial instructor in the UK you have to seriously consider registering with, and gain accreditaion with at least the 2 main awarding bodies - RTITB & ITSSAR. We have major clients with a preference of one over another. All of my instructors are as a minimum dual qualified. Interesting question as to whether we chose this profession or did it choose us ? I've been an isnstructor for 25 years and on the whole have had a good life from it, but I never actively chose it - maybe thats true about most of us ? Maybe its fate or maybe its some inbuilt masochistic
streak we all share ? who knows ? ;-)

Chrisy,
If you're thinking about becoming a forklift instructor, contact the RTITB. I completed my instructor training with them in their Dublin training centre. I had a very enjoyable 2 weeks with 5 other guys that each supported each other. The instructor was excellent and made the training informative and enjoyable.

joe m

I had one of those too, a Corgi or Matchbox, I believe. Have to agree, this career found me. I really enjoy doing this service. I just wish it was more consistent. Busy busy then quiet, the busy then quiet. No uniformity but I guess most businesses are the same. But as a dedicated individual who is into this more so to make sure the operators and pedestirans return home safely at the end of each working day, unfortunately, much of my competition is more concerned about the cheque, and how soon they can get in and out, with no regard for safety.

End of summer being as quiet as it is, I will have to put off my purchase of the Bugatti, for $10.00, til later this fall.

Danny, you bring up an interesting point regarding career choice! Do you actually choose this career...or does it somehow choose YOU?

Lamborghini or Aston-Martin ownership is a choice that does NOT correlate well with the vast majority of careers...although I'm pleased to report that way before I decided to start a family, I once owned a Lamborghini. It was part of my collection of toy model cars and was purchased for about 195. That is $1.95 + sales tax in the USA! LOL!

And if you dream of driving/owning a Lambo or Aston
Martin, this career choice would be the wrong one, right Joe? Lol

Dear Chrisy,

I would recommend that you learn as much as you can about effectively instructing forklift operators, as well as the organizational influences that make effectiveness possible. A lot of FREE resources are available. On the internet, there are also paid resources that fit the size of any pocket book.

This website has a lot of good information in the archive, or you can do a search on just about any key word (See the search box in the upper right of this page).

Although it is still in the pilot stage you can get a bunch of free downloadable (evidence-based) information at www DOT LIFTOR DOT com. If you sign-up for the FREE newsletter, you will receive a comprehensive report on what an effective pre-shift forklift examination might look like. A properly constructed Pre-shift exam procedure is one good place to start any skills training of a forklift operator.

To turn this into a paid gig, you must establish credibility with managers who would pay you for applying your instructor skills. If you already know how to operate at least one make and model, and are interested, it would be helpful to get a job as a "working supervisor" for some warehouse, distribution center or materials handling operation. From there, you would have readily available opportunities to develop yourself in line with your instructor interests.

Finally, there is such a large collection of information available that you could make a life-long career out of the various aspects of forklift instructing. The key to exploiting this abundance is to learn how to discriminate between the useful gems of practical information and the useless pablum that can exist right next to it.

Good Luck...and best wishes,

Joe Monaco
National LIFTOR Licensing Systems

Hi Chrisy. We run instructor courses under the accreditation of ITSSAR & RTITB from our centre in Bristol but there are many other centres closer to Scotland. The instructor course is of 10 days duration. The RTITB course results are determined by a final day examination, the ITSSAR course results are decided by constant assessment of the course Tutor based on nine elements. As for potential earnings ? That depends on the work you bring in or the company you work for - that can be anything from £80 - 160 per day. Hope this helps. Drop me a line at [email address removed] If you think I can help out further.