by Phil Hanford, on March 27, 2020 at 9:00 AM
As a material handling professional, you already know how important it is to maintain your staff’s forklift training and certifications. While many of your industry peers may choose to outsource their certification programs, you don’t have to follow the crowd. OSHA allows for companies to have on-staff forklift instructors as a key component of an effective training program.
While outsourced training offers many benefits, here are the unique advantages of keeping your instructors in-house:
1. Lead Your Company Culture
In-house trainers can incorporate your organization’s ethics, values, and specific standards to your training program. By setting these aspects as a part of foundational training, you can reinforce their importance from the get-go.
2. Improve Familiarity with Business Processes
The best part of keeping your training experts in-house? They know your business processes inside and out. By relying on trainers who are experienced with how you do business, they can train your new hires on specific risks or processes unique to your operation. This will save time while ensuring your operators are safe and compliant.
3. Increase Staff Retention
Staff turnover is a huge problem for businesses of all sizes - how many times have you struggled to find reliable forklift operators? By showing your commitment to improving their training and effectiveness, your operators can feel more appreciated. In-house trainers can also be promoted from within, creating the opportunity for career progression to help keep employees motivated and invested in their performance.
4. Reduce Business Disruption
Forklift certification training is a big deal - between onboarding new employees and completing regular retraining and recertification, it becomes a huge time commitment. In-house trainers can be more flexible rather than the huge cost and time commitment involved with bringing outside resources on site. Avoiding these large interruptions to your business can be key for productivity.
5. Maintain Compliance
Above all else, maintaining your OSHA-compliance and keeping your operators safe is essential. Providing compliant training protects your business, your customers, and your people.
Need help with your forklift training program? Contact the training team at Mid-Columbia Forklift and MidCo Material Handling. Our trainers are seasoned forklift pros can help get you started on the right foot. Whether that means overhauling your existing training regimen or using our training services, we will be happy to help keep your business and employees safe.
Further Reading:
What We Need to Know When You Call for Forklift Service
Forklift Modifications and OSHA - What You Need to Know
Forklift Preventative Maintenance vs. Routine Service
