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The truth about forklift licences

A forklift licence is different from a car driving licence in a few ways.  Once you pass your driving test in a car no follow up training is required.  However, it is recommended that refresher training is carried out every 3 years for forklift operators to ensure that they maintain good driving habits.     See our separate blog post on refresher training – https://stackerstraining.co.uk/why-is-refresher-training-important/.

A forklift licence is actually a certificate of basic training and sometimes a photo ID card can also be provided which will show details of the machines on which the operator is trained and dates on which their qualifications expire.

When Companies recruit new employees and are assessing qualifications, they may not always be aware that they should be looking for previous accredited forklift training.

Any training provider or forklift instructor can issue a certificate so to ensure that training meets the required standards, set by the HSE, Companies should look out for training carried out by one of the four Accrediting Bodies – AITT, ITSAAR, NPORS and RTITB in the Accrediting Bodies Association (https://abawt.co.uk/).

The new QR codes on the RTITB certificates will make the verifying process much quicker and easier for employers in the future (see more information in our previous blog article – https://stackerstraining.co.uk/qr-code-on-rtitb-certificates-and-photo-id-cards/)

As well as checking previous certificates of training, new employees should also be assessed on their current practical skills.  We are happy to carry out assessments at our training centre or we can send an instructor to customer premises.  If previous training was more than 3 years ago and the employee has not been using the truck on a regular basis, we would suggest they attend a one day refresher course to reassess their skills.  Call us on 0800 024 8084 for more information on assessments and refresher courses or e-mail anne@stackerstraining.co.uk