Llft oll Dealers up training for forkl ift operators

QPURRED by recent OSHA L)requirements. trainins for forklift op"ruto.r has increased -clramatically throughout the lumber industry. Increasingly, dealers are implementing customized in-house programs as well as turning to their equipment distributors and manufacturers.

"Dealers' forklift training is getting a lot more attention from OSHA inspectors," says Vicki Worden, director of public affairs for the National Lumber & Building Material Dealers Association.

In two years, NLBMDA has distributed more than 4,000 copies of its "Forklift & You" training package, which addresses the new OSHA standards as they apply to dealers. "It's the only comprehensive program specifically designed for the lumber industry," says Rosako Enterprises' Ron Koons, who helped NLBMDA create the program. "Instead of being generic and applying to a chemical factory or whatever, it addresses a lumberyard's concerns and equipment, such as truck-mountable forklifts."

The program has won four awards and, more important, the respect of OSHA investigators.

"From the reports I'm getting, when OSHA inspectors come to a site, they take one look at the program and are so impressed that they don't probe a whole lot further," Worden says. "Unless there's been an incident, inspectors suddenly become very disinterested in looking further at dealers' forklift training records."

Forklift safety has, in fact, been a point of concern for OSHA ever since the organization's inception in the early 1970s. From Day One, OSHA has required that "only trained and authorized operators shall be permitted to operate a powered industrial truck." Absent, though, were guidelines for what constituted proper training. As a result. training consisted of anything from an intensive, offsite week-long class to simply pointing out the controls to the operator and letting him begin.

According to Forklift Training Pro, LLC, Albuquerque, N.M., training historically was done either on-site or off-site by the forklift distributor, an independent trainer, or with a program purchased or designed by the employer. Forklift distributors would often hold Saturday classes for their customers and train several operators from many different companies and applications. In many cases, operators were shown some videos, given a test, placed on an unfamiliar forklift, asked to drive around some orange cones, patted on the head and given a certificate and a wallet card that proclaimed them to be certified operators. These classes were very general and did not cover any specifics of facilities or unique operating conditions and equipment. If the forklift distributor did on-site training. it was conducted at a customer's location, but it was the same general, canned class. The only benefit was that operators could at least drive their own forklifts through the orange cones.

Employers usually discovered too late-after injuries, fines or damaged merchandise-that they provided insufficient training.

By 1999, OSHA introduced new standards that better spell out what constitutes proper training and leave less room for interpretation. Most companies have been forced to increase and be(ter document training. Another major change is that training must be facility and equipment specific training. OSHA currently requires that operators be trained to the specific conditions of the operating area and the specific equipment they will be operating. The training must be formal and include a hands-on evaluation.

The changes have led many dealers to add in-house instruction. If a dealer sends a new employee for off-site training at the factory, he might be away from work for days and be expected to absorb an enormous amount of information in a short period of time. By creating a structured program of in-house instruction, employees can receive training in small doses and, since they remain on-site, they can begin to apply what they' ve learned immediately.

According to Forklift Training Pro, an in-house trainer provides cost effectiveness and convenience. Outside training expenses are reduced, while training sessions are held more often and more regularly.

Arguably the most important factor of any training program is the trainer, according to Hyster New England. Don't assume that just because someone is capable of conducting group presentations that he or she will be a good trainer. Likewise, technical expertise alone is not enough. A good pallet and not cause damage." trainer must possess a unique mix of technical knowledge, hands-on experience and excellent presentation skills.

Atlanta, Ga., offers three training programs for new drivers. The most comprehensive, a 40-hour/five-day course, teaches trainees how to drive three different trucks. Topics covered include instruction on the electric pallet, sit down counterbalance and narrow aisle reach/order picker; OSHAmandated safety procedures; pedestrian awareness; basic principles of lift truck theory, design and operation; fork I ift famil iarization/pre-trip inspections; battery safety and charging; propane safety and refueling; pulling orders; dock safety, and first aid/CPR.

A 24-hour/three-day course trains the operator on two trucks: the electric pallet truck and either the sit down counterbalance or narrow aisle reach/order picker. A l6-hour/twoday course trains on one truck, either the sit down counterbalance or the narrow aisle reach./order picker.

When Ecklund asks drivers if they have any bad habits, they indignantly and emphatically say no. "Then I watch them," he says. "I see that they don't look behind them when they back away from a rack; or when their head tums, an arm reaches out to hold a head guard. A lot of these bad habits are done without thinking; safety precautions are taken for granted."

Previously. training services focused almost exclusively on equipment operators. Since formalizing the program, the scope of the training has expanded to include supervisors. yard/warehouse safety personnel, any employees who work in the vicinity of the equipment ("pedestrian training"), and human resources personnel with responsibility for evaluating the performance of operators.

Nevertheless, stricter OSHA training requirements also have increased the demand for training from equipment distributors and manufacturers. As a result, notes the Material Handling Equipment Distributors Association, over the last two years many suppliers have honed onceinformal services into full-scale training programs. In 1999, Hyster New England added a formal training program within its service department. The program enables the distributor to improve the quality of its services and meet additional customer needs, while providing a source for the training of its own employees.

Toyota Forklifts of Atlanta,

In an area set aside within the company's warehouse is a 2,500-sq. ft. "mock" warehouse set up with racking solely for training. Short racks have no middle so trainees get used to setting the pallet and splitting the rack. A variety of pallets are used and barrels of water are moved around. Aisle width has a 14-112 ft. clearance. Once trainees begin to get comfortable, the aisle is made nalrower with pallets. "This way," says safety services director Spencer L. Ecklund, "a trainee can knock over a

TFA conducts seminars for inexperienced as well as long-time drivers. "A lot of people think that if they have a driver's license, they can drive a forklift," says Ecklund. Experienced drivers often say, "Old Fred taught me. He's been driving forklifts for 40 years." Ecklund notes, "Well, nobody ever trained Fred; he's just been doing the wrong thing right for 40 years and getting by with it. Eventually, the wrong thing will turn wrong and then there is a problem."

In the end, dealers who don't comply with all of the new OSHA regulations may be opening themselves up to both legal and liability issues. An injury or death involving a forklift, whether to a pedestrian or an operator, is often followed by a lawsuit. A prime legal defense is being able to prove that complete training has been done, covering every aspect of safe forklift operation and complying with the standard set by OSHA.