I've been an Instructor for over 10 years. Mainly In house for large companies but I have had some experience at Training Centers. I am also an Operational Instructor which means at peak times I help in the operation which is a good thing, good practice.
My experience at a Training Center I worked at;
Expected to complete a one day refresh on the Reach Truck with 13 candidates with 2 Instructors. I refused and took three the other Instructor had the other 10 !!!
A trainee who couldn't speak or understand a word of English came to the center for Reach Truck Training. The Boss said this is ok get him to bring a friend in or speak over the phone to translate. I refused to do this.
I have assessed FLT drivers with a valid certificates at my depot. I remember 2 guys who I assessed found the steering of the truck a challenge. I later found out they had just had 2 days training and 7 trainees sharing one truck. One guy couldn't drive in a straight line he had just passed his test at a training center.
It seems to me that Training centers are making it easier for a candidate to pass their test. Is this down to money as if you were known as a training center to fail people they may get a bad reputation. Are you under pressure to pass people?
The problem is it is people like me that has to pick up the pieces. FLT drivers come to me with their licences and expect to pass my assessment (which is the same course as you would have at a training center).
I know what your going to say we offer Basic Training thats how you are covered. But as a In house Instructor you have to be 100% comfortable that the candidate is of a good standard, although I haven't got a crystal ball to see into the future(wish I did)
But I can honestly say that I have never passed anyone that I thought was below the test standard required.
What about you...
Showing items 1 - 9 of 9 results.
The standards of training totally depends on the institute from where one is getting trained in UK the training stands are pretty good the training institutes are working hard to make there students to achieve the bench mark of perfection.
Max
At the end of any test or assessment every instructor has to ask him/her self "would I be happy working with this person myself?
I totally agree but I still think Independent Instructors and company s do have to consider the pound sign. My previous employer was not very happy if you failed anyone. I Would never work Independent or for a training company again.
Albert
What we do at the company I work is to observe MHE users when we are not busy training. We fill out a observation sheet and any faults listed are sent to the H&S Manager who inputs the data on the system. If a operator is constantly making the same fault they will be spoken to/re-trained/observed/ taken off the truck depending on the fault.
At the end of any test or assessment every instructor has to ask him/her self "would I be happy working with this person myself ?" We are a long established commercial training company and not everything we do revolves around the mighty pound sign. If any of our customers expect us to cut corners etc the are soon an ex-customer of ours, which happened recently when we terminated our relationship with a major UK RDC
As instructors how would you cover yourself if operators that have already passed frequently drive unsafe and the person you report this tends to just brush it off?
It is easier to justify why someone passed the course. A company will never question me as to why I passed any of their staff, but want a full explanation why I failed them. It boggles my mind, as to me, it should be the opposite. Years ago I had difficulty collecting funds from businesses when I failed any of their staff, and they told me that they have never heard of anybody failing a forklift course. Welcome to Ideal Forklift Training, Ottawa, Canada, where WE protect the operator, pedestrians, and the businesses.
The intent is NOT to fail anyone, but if they don't prove to me via written and practical testing that they are truly capable of operating the lift truck, there is no way am I going to pass them.
And worse of all, when I return home, my wife questions me as to whether I failed anyone that day, and she would say oh, jeez, why?, and I have to explain to her why. Although she is not part of the business, I prefer explaining it to the businesses then to her. The companies leave me alone at night. lol
To be honest I'm under no peer pressure at all. I have some good friends at the Depot I work and they all understand that I treat everyone the same. Your next point about wearing rubber gloves and wearing the seat belt they don't argue they just have to be reminded from time to time. Finally travel tilt I think that has been covered in a previous thread :)
Jason..
Jason - I'll ask you the same question here that I asked in my original post. The post that received quite a bit of straw man.
As an in-house instructor who is obviously under peer pressure from the colleagues he works with and who he has likely trained I wouldn't mind betting that your colleagues also argue about wearing a seat belt or the need to wear rubber gloves when checking/topping up the acid levels. Perhaps they also disagree with selecting neutral and applying the handbrake before using the hydraulics?
Given that the above is typical banter and argument generated from the old school operators, do you get much of it too? Are you under pressure from the business owner to train using unsafe practices?
As an instructor who regularly trains and refreshes in-house instructors, it never ceases to amaze me the discussions and opinions operators I meet have over the slightest of issues. Its just banter most of the time but I believe that if someone has an issue over something as mundane as adding a little more back tilt when travelling un-laden then perhaps they shouldn't be operating a truck. Perhaps those wining old school operators should be attending the latest mothers meeting instead.
We meet all sorts of interesting characters in this game hey Jason. I agree too though. It is rewarding.
Cheers
Jonah
I would say training standards are far better in the UK today than they ever have been. The standard of instructor may vary, quite a bit in some places, but the standards of training has improved.
25 years as national instructor of one form or another. 90% of my work is on site. Construction, steel, rail, waste, ship yards, car plants, supermarkets. Training centre work is a luxury. Have trained and refreshed and tested plenty of in-house instructors who say similar to you.
Cheers
Jonah
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