David Sparrow

The Association for Industrial Truck Trainers (AITT) has determined that the Crown Wave truck is considered an order picker for training purposes.

The announcement is the outcome of AITT's discussions with Crown Lift Trucks and ensures equipment operators being trained receive the appropriate qualifications for operating the truck.

AITT general manager Dave Sparrow tells Forkliftaction.com News: "We identified this issue when a registered training provider wished to declare a number of certificates on the basis that the Crown Wave was a MEWP (Mobile Elevating Work Platform). However, the AITT didn't feel comfortable with this classification and advised the trainer that the Wave should be classified as a medium- or high-level order picker - with training and qualifications provided on that basis."

Sparrow says the potential exists for disagreements and misunderstandings regarding operator training because there is currently no structured method whereby manufacturers, suppliers, users and training providers can agree on how a particular machine should be aligned.

He raised the issue at a meeting with the Accrediting Bodies Association (ABA), but there was no clear consensus. Therefore, Sparrow decided to contact Crown and entered into communications with Mike Knowles, the operations director for Crown Lift Trucks, who provided the clarification the AITT was seeking.

Knowles calls the 'Wave' a unique product that fulfills a number of functions and therefore "defies categorisation".

"However, training must be provided and competency tested by a qualified trainer and, so, because the Wave was intended to be an industrial truck, Crown prefers training to be biased towards a high-level order picker," Knowles says.

The AITT has passed this information on to other members of the ABA and is calling for some form of collaboration between manufacturers and the ABA to discuss and agree on categories for new machinery before it enters the workplace.