Under Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) regulation 29 CFR 1910.178, companies must now re-certify their forklift operators as the first compulsory three-year refresher comes into force.

The OSHA regulation, introduced in 1999, was "intended to reduce the number of injuries and deaths that occur as a result of inadequate operator training" and applies to forklift operators in every industry except agriculture.

When introduced, the OSHA said the ruling, which mandates operator training and three-yearly refreshers and re-evaluations, were expected to reduce deaths by an average of 10 and injuries by an average of 9000 annually.

The Ives Training Group has released its Ives Lift Truck Re-Certification Study Guides, publications designed to be easy-to-follow review tools that are used as training aids during operator re-certification.

Guides are currently available for powered pallet trucks, and counterbalanced, rough-terrain and narrow aisle forklifts. For more information on the OSHA ruling, see http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=FEDERAL_REGISTER&p_id=13870&p_search_str=&p_search_type=&p_status=CURRENT&p_text_version=TRUE.