 Judging at the Lift Truck Instructor of the Year finals |
RTITB recently crowned the winner of its first Lift Truck Instructor of the Year competition at theFoodex exhibition at the NEC, Birmingham.
The Champion was Ken Saward of Mentor FLT Training Ltd, with Lee Knight of Wakefield Skill Centre Ltd the runner up, followed by John Wilcock, an independent trainer.
"The RTITB Lift Truck Instructor of the Year competition was created to reward instructors for their ongoing dedication to high quality training and to recognise this understated profession," says Laura Nelson, managing director of RTITB, the UK's leading workplace transport training accrediting body.
"The competition recognises all the fantastic work that forklift instructors do," she adds. "This can be a dangerous industry and providing effective training is crucial for ensuring safe forklift operation and a reduction in workplace incidents. We wanted to give credit to the instructors that work so hard to train safe, skilled staff, similar to how we reward drivers at RTITB's International Forklift Operator of the Year competition."
Following completion of an online assessment, 10 entrants were shortlisted for the grand final out of nearly 60,000 eligible instructors. The instructors impressed an international audience of industry professionals with their talents in four live practical rounds including truck operation, underpinning knowledge, pre-use truck inspection and delivery of a pre-allocated training lesson.
Grand prizewinner Saward says taking part in the competition was a very enjoyable experience and it was a privilege to meet some very professional fellow instructors.
"When I was announced as the winner, it was a massive shock - but at the same time, it was a very happy experience as it is nice to be rewarded and recognised for the hard work that has been done.
"When I became Operator of the Year in 2008, I said that the next thing I wanted to become was Instructor of the Year. Now I just need to decide what the next challenge is," he says.