Agree with Brian_Parker comments. Training is an exercise to comply of government requirements but day to day "policing of operator habits by supervision is essential. Kinda' like traffic cops. Training begins with classroom like activities and basic forklift function but that is just elementary training the train at the job site is essential and that is up to the employer to follow thru Too many forklift operators bring there less than safe driving habits into the work place. Turn over in employees and changes in job responsibilities will require additional on the job site (e.g. from a loading dock function to storage rack operations or cold storage rooms).. Training is not a once a year thing as employees come and go on a regular basis as noticed in my 41 year tenure in the forklift in the forklift industry - hung up my spurs in 2007. Plus forklift operations will vary from company to company and in s many from forklift to forklift - e.g a paper mill to a marina to a mushroom growing operation or feeding an auto assembly line - one size never fits all. Just my 2 cents worth,
Heck people can't even push a shopping cart up and down the shopping aisles at their favorite grocery store or Walmart Superstore or drive their car in and out the parking lot. Billy Cunnington said it best in his song "God is Great, Beer is Good and People are Crazy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKpQRjj_WbU

Operator training is not only to teach operators safe practices to protect themselves and everyone around them, prevent product/equipment damage it also to give the operators accountability for their actions while operating a forklift.
Refreshers should be mandated every 2-4 years or when near misses and damage to product/equipment becomes apparent.

This is such a pro-active way of addressing the issue and making sure your team stays qualified, well-trained and safe!

Myself, I would like to see it once a year. Try to get feed back from the operators as to the warehouse conditions. This seems to be an ever evolving issue in about all warehousing in general

There is certainly no consensus on this topic! We would love to hear what more of you have to say.

It is my experience that no matter how much you train people on operating material handling equipment they don't listen and follow their teachings.

Training as a 'tick box' exercise to satisfy arbitrary regulatory requirements is a waste of both time and financial resources. Also, a 3 to 5 year interval is too long to detect and correct deteriorating performance, not that an external training course is capable of doing that anyway. In NZ we have no legal requirement for an OSH Certificate, but it is a normal industry practice.
Coda Group have moved to an annual internal on-job assessment by trained assessors, and remedial training is only required when the need for it is identified. The internal assessment looks at all aspects of the Operator's performance, not just their operation of the MHE. Remedial training is targeted to specific individual training needs as opposed to the '1 size fits all' model of external training courses. An added advantage of internal assessment and remedial training is that our night shift workers can be assessed and trained during their normal shift time, eliminating the fatigue aspects of sending them to an external daytime course.
We are in our second year of this programme and it has successfully raised the general performance standards of the MHE Operators in our Freight Stations and reduced MHE related incidents almost to zero.

Always an interesting topic for discussion and one that I suspect is going to create a lot of comments.

In the UK there seem to be two trains of thought. The recommendation that is printed and most Instructors should follow (HSE ACOP L117) states: there is no specific time period after which you need to provide refresh training or formal assessment, but does suggest "you may decide that automatic refresher training or a retest after a set period (for example 3 - 5 years) is the best way to make sure employees remain competent.
This is a recommendation, not a legal requirement.

Training agencies however seem to add an expiry date to operators certificates which in my opinion is because they are businesses if anyone who completed training received a certificate with no expiry date the training agency will struggle to keep making money as there is no need to get a new certificate.

As an instructor I have to attend a refresh course for my Instructor registration every 5 years which includes completing the operators test at the start of the course.

The issue then becomes what do you do if somebody is certified on more than one class of lift truck? I personally am certified on 18 classes of lift truck but do not operate them all at my place of work. Does this mean I need to find a training company that has each piece of equipment so that I remain competent or at least show some form of competency?

Plus, how many employers actually know what the regulations state? All employers have a duty to ensure their staff are competent but I doubt there are many employers who will carry out refresh training as a matter of course because unless there is an incident most will presume their staff are competent.

Plus if it were mandatory, who is going to take the responsibility for ensuring companies are completing training because as often seems to be the case, training comes second to the needs to get the job done.