Training Effectiveness comes down to whether the "trainee" can independently and routinely perform all of the standards of their job requiring the use of a forklift. Where they have written about it, the professional instructional designers call it "training transfer".
Training transfer is probably the single most important measure of whether a training effort was worth the cost in money, time, and any other resources used to complete the training. No transfer? Then, NO effectiveness. Some transfer? Then, some effectiveness. Complete transfer of all the job-required behavior taught during training? Then, you've captured the "brass ring"! Your reputation as a real forklift trainer probably precedes you. Congratulations on your effectiveness!
If you can accept that the authors who have written about training transfer nailed it as the most important measure of effectiveness, then you have to ask two questions, "To what extent does MY operator training transfer?", and, "How do I know?"
Since transfer (effectiveness) is defined as "independent and routine performance of all the standards of their job...", you can answer the above questions only after you define what is required of the operator's job. So, as an operator trainer, if the boss or client says you are to train ONLY to government safety standards, then, you can claim personal effectiveness AFTER the trainee is evaluated and found to act in accord with those government safety standards. (You will just have to forgive the boss or client for his/her ignorance...because YOU probably have little say in the matter.)
As most seasoned forklift trainers know, compliance with government safety standards ensures compliance with those standards covered in the training, but such compliance seldom transfers to routine on-job performance (government standards were made irrespective of any particular job.) If it did transfer, none of those people we trained in the past would have been hurt-by-forklift. So, as a professional trainer, claiming to have the slickest presentation slides, the best test questions, the most engaging classroom discussion and/or the most knowledge and skill as an operator trainer, in the end, doesn't mean squat. That is, unless the phrase "doesn't mean squat" is defined, in a language I do not speak, as 'training transfer".
Do you know any effective forklift operator trainers...NOT counting yourself, of course? :-)
Best wishes,
Joe
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I believe "timing", "the appearance of OSHA compliance", and "training effectiveness" are related in important ways.
1. In regard to timing, I think one has to agree that---all other things being equal---the faster you can get operators to learn the training content, the more effective you are as a trainer. (This is NOT to say the FASTER you can DELIVER training! Obviously, just because we, the expert trainers, deliver it at all, is NO assurance the operator has actually learned to productively perform their job in a safe way.)
2. In regard to "the appearance of OSHA compliance", I have no quarrel with employers who see ""appearance" as the goal of forklift operator training. For me to quarrel with that typical goal is the same as saying those employers are disabled in their thinking---or---they are simply "disabled managers". (Employers frequently have to make decisions without all the facts---and they NEVER have funding for ALL possible goals.). So, whose disability it, and what exactly should we change?
I think the disability lies within the social or organizational "context" in which all of us have to operate. Although the OSHA Forklift Training rule (or any regulatory training) influences what is going to be possible, it does NOT have any affect until a manager, trainer, regulator, judge, jury, manufacturer, or operator INTERPRETS the rule AND sees it into practice.
If you can accept this, then you have to accept that the effectiveness of forklift operator training is a matter of choice. For example, you, or the informed employer, can limit forklift operator training to achieving OSHA safety compliance, OR you can set as a goal to improve both the safety and efficiency of the jobs requiring a forklift. The later "whole system" choice can change the economics of forklift operation, combine both safety AND operator speed, and improve the reputations of high-profile companies who can then put away their record of serious forklift-related injury and fatality.
Finally, I believe you are effective as a trainer, whether YOUR training and your CLIENT/EMPLOYER'S goal intersects at the point of "...appearance with OSHA Compliance", or at the point of whole system improvement. There may be other choices, too.
Best wishes,
Joe
I really do not care what the client wants as far as timing. I complete my session when I am satisfied that the participants are knowledgeable, safe, and capable of operating the forklift. If the company wants the Record of Training with my signature at the bottom, making it a legal document, I will take as much time as necessary to train the staff.
A sit-down counterbalance forklift/propane usually starts at 8AM and theory finishes by 330PM, with practical testing thereafter. You can do the math, and that is how long it takes. Battery operated sit-down forklift will be about an hour less.
I have turned down business to companies wanting it done in a half a day. I say 'no way" and let them go elsewhere, knowing that one day I will read in the newspaper about a lift truck incident at their workplace.
Just because there is a sense that incidents and deaths are easing up a bit, I am still going in full throttle.
Forklift Operator Training in the United States is typically a four hour session. A two and a half hour to three hour class and then a hands-on evaluation. That means a trainer gets one hour or a little more with a group of 8-12 operators for hands-on coaching and evaluation. You do the math... you might get 6-10 minutes per operator for hands on evaluations and instruction. That's the reality. And that is if it is conducted by a professional training organization. I have had employers complain about the four hour session and ask if we can get it done in two (we refuse). If it is an employer who sent an employee to a Train the Trainer program, the "company trainer" already has a full time job and when training is needed, it can be compromised down to just signing a sign-in sheet and watching a video (no hands on at all!). Even though training is defined in OSHA CFR1910.178, most employers do as little as they think they can get by with. Training effectiveness is unfortunately low on most employer's priority list. Highest on the priority list is the appearance of compliance with OSHA. How do you change that? I think that is the discussion we should be having.
Thanks, arnoldbrame. I too believe that trainee practice is important.
My American football coaches were consistent in saying that "The game is won in the practice!" (We won a lot, so I always liked the idea!) I believe "practice" has validity for a lot more than sport.
For forklift operator training, if I had to choose between the TRAINER being acquainted with all basics/techniques OR having the operator practice basics of safe operation, I would ALWAYS choose that the operator practice...repetitiously...with feedback about how well or poorly they are doing. This would require first that there is some written standard so the operator knows exactly what to practice.
Unfortunately, IMHO there are a lot of operators doing a lot of practicing, but without the benefit of ANY trainer-administered techniques, NO objective standards of working safely, and absent any feedback other than the self-talk that keeps repeating, "whew, I didn't get hurt that time!"
Best wishes,
Joe Monaco
Nice information. In order to bring quality to the training the trainer must be acquainted with all basics and new techniques and allow the trainees to practice them.
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