My practice is to first determine if I am working with experienced operator/employees (95% of the time) or those who have little-to-no experience (5% of the time) with the make and model of the forklift as well as the required job tasks. Knowing something about operator capability makes a difference in how much time and to what detail hands on training will require.

Secondly, For each task required of the employer, and by forklift make and model, I describe it in detail, with operator's help. Especially important is that the description states, at each step in the task, a) the hazard the operator needs to recognize, and b)the response needed to safely move to the next step...until the entire task is complete.

Thirdly, I give the above written description, with a brief discussion, to the operator so they (fully experienced operators) can practice all the steps in each task that they normally do for the job, anyway. If not an experienced operator, I coach them in person with close line-of-sight supervision until they are able to perform the task with zero errors at least three times in a row. Then, I direct them to practice while I'm usually doing something else in the building; making myself available for questions or final "task-practice" checkoff.

Finally, the on-truck test is a high level simulation of the actual job that was described above. Both experienced and new operators have to pass ALL the criteria for the same test of their job/tasks to earn their certification card. (Also note: time-sensitive on-job tasks have speed criteria assigned to them, and this is included in the test criteria)

I do NOT sit operators in a classroom for discussion or watching of the typical 10-20 minute media presentation. Nor do they have to take any kind of multiple choice, fill-in, or true/false pencil-and-paper type test (or the computer version of them). These methods of instruction have almost zero affect on incidence of injury, have NO basis in any forklift-specific research, and contrary to popular opinion, are NOT required by OSHA rules)

There are other things I do, but this is an outline for what I do for what is generally known as "hands-on". [In the USA, this complies with related OSHA 29 CFR 1910.178 rules.]

Best wishes as a new instructor,

Joe Monaco
Founder and CEO
LIFTOR (Lift Truck Operating Resources). com