I was just curious what the professional forklift trainers out there do for expirations on their Train the trainer classes, if anything. I have been to a number of them over the years myself and some have put on expirations, others have not. Any class by a manufacturer will likely have one as will most government sponsored classes.

Here are some of my thoughts. Do I think it is a good idea for a trainer to take a class today and then have no further education for 10-20 years, obviously not. Do I think a trainer could attend an initial training session now, then stay in tough with any regulation updates, acquire new materials every so often and continue doing a good and functional job in training for many years, the answer is also yes, if they are willing to invest a bit of time over the years. When I asked one manufacturer why my trainers certificate expired in 4 years, they had no real answer. My guess it was one of three things: A - they wanted more of my money in a few more years B - They wanted to limit the term of any liability they thought they might have C - They were really concerned that I needed to be updated in 4 years. I doubt C was the case since their program had seen few updates in many years.

We have chosen not to put an expiration on trainers in our classes, we also try and keep them updated via email on any compliance related updates and talk with many of them frequently as questions arise. I just don't like the thought of putting a date on someone if they can still do the job well, since at least in the US, OSHA did not put on a limit. I have however, had some trainers come back and want to "audit" our class again, just sitting through for an update after they attended 6 or more years ago. In this case we give them a dramatically reduced rate to come get refreshed.

How does everyone else do it?