Oh boy, we have lots of great stuff to share with you in this February 2014 IVES Update Newsletter, including…
- Is practical training practicable?
- Answer keys now available.
- What’s your trainer IQ?
- A question on trailer support stands.
- What’s Wrong With This? photo and answer.
- New Aerial Lifts Guideline for BC.
- Interesting article links.
- Trade show & events schedule.
- Details on a boomlift operator fatality.
- But first, meet our newest Certified Master Trainer…
Team Member Profile: Ryan Stoochnoff
We are very happy to announce the arrival of Ryan Stoochnoff to our talented team of Certified Master Trainers. Ryan hails from Lethbridge Alberta, Canada where he gained a wealth of equipment knowledge and training experience while working within the industrial equipment rental industry.
“Ryan is exactly the type of trainer we look for.” says Rob Vetter, IVES Director of Training. “Of course he has the knowledge and experience with the equipment and in training people, that’s a given. It’s his friendly and accommodating style and just all the intangible positives; things you just can’t teach a trainer to do that he does so naturally that makes him a great fit with us. He is going to be a real asset to our team for sure,” he added.
“I’m excited.” Ryan told us. “Keeping the people around me safe has been has been an ongoing progression with me and I am very passionate about it. I’m proud of my personal achievements in the safety arena and now being brought into the fold with IVES is really the icing on the cake. I’m really looking forward to this!”
Besides safety, Ryan’s interests include fly fishing, playing guitar and bass as well as being an avid Detroit Red Wings and Seattle Seahawks fan.
Welcome aboard Ryan!
Is Practical Training Practicable?
Consider the meaning of the following two words and keep them in mind as you read this:
- Practical – consisting of, involving, or resulting from practice or action: a practical application of a rule. Synonyms: pragmatic, judicious, sensible. Antonyms: ill-advised, unwise, foolish.
- Practicable – capable of being done, effected, or put into practice, with the available means; feasible: a practicable solution. Synonyms: workable, achievable, attainable. Antonym: unfeasible.
I came across an all too familiar situation at a Trainer Recertification Program I delivered recently. As I went around the room asking each trainer what sort of challenges they faced in delivering operator training programs at their workplaces, I came across two experienced trainers, let’s call them John and Jane, who worked for different locations of the same company.
When I asked John what challenges he faced he said, “Time. I spend so much time retraining people that do fine in the classroom but fall flat on their face on the practical driving test. My boss is on my back to get it done and I just can’t seem to.” At this point Jane piped in, “I have the same problem, there doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day to get it all done so I have to rush, then people fail and I have to spend even more time.”
I asked if it was possible to stretch the training into another day. “No” was their simultaneous answer accompanied by knowing nods of agreement and muffled laughter from others in the room.
When I asked if the unsuccessful trainees were beginner operators, they said that it happens about the same amount with beginner and experienced operators. I then tried to see if they had noticed any common errors between trainees that would indicate they could be missing something in their training.
“Not really,” Jane said. “Usually it’s things like look behinds, lowering before traveling and mast tilt while loading and unloading… But there are different things too,” John added.
“Those types of issues usually present themselves very early during practical training. How much time do you spend on that?” I asked.
“Well,” John began, “I tell everybody what they need to do driving-wise right after I show them how to do the inspection. Then I get on the machine and show them what I want them to do.” (Big mistake but more on that in another article.)
I followed by up asking how much practice time they gave their trainees with the machine before evaluating them.
“Well most of them are experienced and don’t need any practice, but I’ll give the rookies a little time for practice. Besides, I’m already spending too much time trying to get it done,” John replied. Nods of agreement from Jane and others in the room.
“OK, I think I see what’s happening here…”
The trouble with John and Jane’s operator “training” program is that it is missing its most vital component, practical training. They are going from the classroom to the machine and getting nothing more than a demonstration of what is expected of them before being asked to demonstrate it themselves during the course of an evaluation. The practical training time in which trainees are given the opportunity to practice the necessary skills is being completely bypassed. As such, trainee operators are practicing while being evaluated, doing poorly, and being identified as being in need of ‘further’ training. Then the trainer needs to back up, retrain and then re-evaluate. Of course they are running out of time!
If John and Jane had spent the time up front on practical training and moved trainees along to practical evaluations only after they were able to demonstrate the skills necessary to be successful, they would not have to waste all their time going back to do what should have been done in the first place. The practical training portion of an operator training program is that most precious and critical time in which the trainee can practice operating the machine and physically apply what they learned in the classroom. This is also the time that the trainer gets to be a trainer by interacting with trainees to ensure their new knowledge becomes evident in their behavior and can coach and correct as required. When the trainer observes a level of operational competence that is needed to successfully complete an evaluation, then and only then is it time to move on to the practical evaluation stage.
With experienced operators, this stage could be reached very quickly depending on how easily such operators are able to drop old habits and adapt. With beginners it will take longer depending on the skill level required for the specific tasks encountered at a specific workplace.
Let’s circle back to John and Jane’s challenge of the lack of time to “get it done” in context with the two words I asked you to consider and keep in mind as you read this article. John and Jane were not giving their trainees enough time to practice their operating skills before evaluating them and failed to identify this as the reason that so many of them were unsuccessful. They also mistakenly believed that allocating time for trainees to practice would only exacerbate their time shortage problem even though they both felt the problem stemmed from the necessity to spend so much time retraining people following unsuccessful evaluations. In short, John and Jane felt that practical training was impracticable when by its very definition, it can’t be. Practical training has to be practicable because without it, no training program exists.
Rob Vetter
Director of Training
IVES Training Group
ORM Answer Keys Now Available
Answer keys to the review questions in our Operator Reference Manuals are now available for download on the Member Dashboard! It’s free and easy. Login then click on Downloadable Material & Updates to get your answer keys.
What’s Your Trainer IQ?
An aerial work platform operator checks all of the functions of the lower controls during a pre-use inspection. Satisfied with the inspection, the operator then climbs into the platform to check the upper controls only to find they do not work. Returning to the lower controls, the operator re-checks them and is perplexed to discover that they are working just fine.
Q – If there is nothing operationally wrong with the aerial lift, why did the lower controls function properly while the upper ones did not?
A: The reason that the upper controls of an aerial lift did not work on a fully functional unit is because the operator did not turn the key switch over from the lower control position to the upper control position, a very common occurrence.
Ask Bob
Q: My company has the shipping department placing the jack stands (supports) under the front of the trailer on a bracing plate that goes from the outside corner of the frame to the front portion of the frame. This plate is actually bowing up with the weight of the trailer and may do worse when the forklift is inside. Where is the correct placement for these jack stands (supports)?
Also, the company uses dock locks but are not chocking the trailer wheels or placing jack stands under the rear if the wheels are 36″ or more from the rear of the trailer. Is this safe?
A: The jackstand should not be supporting the weight of the trailer but preventing the trailer from tipping if it decides to go. In other words, the main weight load of the trailer should still be on the landing gear if it is spotted. The only time the jackstand should be stressed is if and when the trailer tries to tip. The correct placement for the trailer supports is right at the front on the metal frame piece (see right).
Wheel chocks are not required if dock locks are used. The goal is to ‘restrain the trailer from unintentional movement” as per ANSI. Either chocks or dock locks will achieve this. The use of jackstands is discretionary as the ANSI standard says “…fixed jacks may be necessary…” The non-mandatory wording of the standard makes the use of them a judgment call – the question of whether it’s OK or safe not to use them depends on the situation. If the weight of the forklift and its load is enough or nearly enough to pop the front end of the trailer up, then use them.
Free Videos on YouTube!
We’ve just recently posted a series of videos on our YouTube channel that we want to share with you for free… Yes, free! Check out them out:
What’s Wrong With This?
We’re pretty sure you know what’s wrong with the photo below, but we had to share!
Answer to Last Month’s WWWT?
Last month we shared WorkSafe BC’s WWWT photo (see photo below). The winning submission noted the following items:
- The worker is not using three-point contact or hand-holds when exiting the cab.
- The worker is jumping down from the top step of the cab.
- A fuel spill is on the ground near the step of the cab.
- The trailer deck is cluttered.
- A strap is strewn on the ground.
- A worker is standing on the debris while adjusting the tarp.
- Poor ergonomics are being used when pulling on the strapping, adjusting the tarp, and pulling on the tie-down bar.
- The workers are not wearing gloves or high-visibility vests at all times.
- The high-visibility vests do not meet regulatory requirements.
- The bottom board of the pallet is sticking out.
- The landing gear handle on the trailer has been left up.
- The worker is positioned over the tie-down bar while applying tension.
- The pallets on the forklift are not properly stacked.
- The bottom step of the cab is bent.
- The strap is crossing the sharp edge without any padding/guard to protect the strap.
- The straps are tied to the deck rail.
- The worker is distracted by talking on the phone, and is not aware of the thrown strap.
- The forklift driver is talking on the phone while operating the forklift.
- The landing gear is not fully retracted.
New Aerial Lifts Guideline for BC
Recently, WorkSafeBC released a new guideline that addresses training for operators of elevating work platforms or what we call aerial lifts, like boomlifts and scissor lifts.
The new guideline contains a lot of very good information as well as some items that may have an effect on the way you and your company deliver and/or administer aerial lift operator training. If you are an IVES Certified Trainer that has or will do aerial lift operator training in British Columbia, you really should read this new Guideline. You can download the Guideline from our Member Dashboard.
Here are a few of the highlights from the Guideline along with some suggestions on what you may have to do to ensure your operator training is in compliance with it.
- 1. The guideline acknowledges employers may follow either ANSI or CSA standards as they apply to aerial lifts but in areas where the two differ such as operator training, retraining, proof of training provided and the retention of records, the guideline suggests employer adhere to the more stringent of the two.
- 2. The guideline advises employers to ensure that qualified operators are issued proof of training to be carried by operators while they operate aerial lifts as is required by applicable CSA standards but is optional under ANSI standards. This proof of training must include the following information:
- a. The name of the person trained.
- b. The date the training took place.
- c. The name of the organization or entity that provided the training.
- d. The name of the trainer(s) that delivered the training.
- e. The specific type of elevating work platform covered by the training (e.g., scissor lift, boom-supported elevating work platform, etc.)
- f. The applicable standard under which the program of training was provided.
The items listed above are not too much of a departure from what is prescribed during IVES training programs with the exception of item “f.” In this case, we recommend adding the following information to the back of the Operator’s Certificate and to the Record Sheet:
- Boomlifts – “Operator training as per ANSI A92.5”
- Scissor Lifts – “Operator training as per ANSI A92.6”
- Boom and Scissor Lifts – “Operator Training as per ANSI A92.5 & .6”
This will undoubtedly take up more space on the back of the Operator’s Certificate but it is a necessary change.
- 3. The Guideline addresses the issues of Refresher and Upgrade Training, which are quite vague in the ANSI and CSA standards. The suggestion is for employers to conduct refresher training at regular intervals and upgrade training whenever previously qualified operators are assigned to equipment that is new or different to them, or if the conditions of the site, environment or job change significantly. IVES recommends implementing an in-house refresher training interval of at least two years (3 years maximum).
Please feel free to contact us for technical support – simply login to the Member Dashboard and click Ask Bob to submit your question.
Interesting News Articles
- WorkSafeBC puts out new aerial lift operator training guideline… more
- Aerial work platform fatality statistics from 2013… more
- No horseplay in the workplace… more
- WA LNI tip sheet on working near overhead power lines… more
- Ontario MOL warehousing blitz… more
- Workplace deaths decline in North Carolina… more
- OSHA issues proposed rule to extend compliance date for crane certification… more
- Video: Worker on scissor lift electrocuted… more
Incident Report
Waco, TX – OSHA officials began an investigation into the death of a man killed while working on a pedestrian bridge near the new Baylor University football stadium.
A spokeswoman for the OSHA Dallas office confirmed that agency investigators were in Waco to determine the circumstances surrounding the death of 55-year-old who worked for a construction company.
Justice of the Peace Kristi DeCluitt, who pronounced the victim dead, said a preliminary autopsy showed the cause of death as drowning and the manner of death as accidental.
She said the preliminary report contained no additional details, but added medical examiners likely would have included other information if there were contributing factors to his death, such as head trauma.
Divers recovered the victim’s body after freeing him from a hydraulic boom lift, also known as a cherry picker. He and another worker were on the lift when it rolled or slid from a barge into the Brazos River.
The victim and the other worker in the lift’s basket were tethered to the lift and using acetylene torches on support beams during construction of the pedestrian bridge.
The other man was able to free himself from the boom and was pulled to safety. He was taken for treatment of hypothermia symptoms, Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said.
Divers from the Morgans Point dive team in Belton located the victim with a sonar device and assisted in the recovery of his body, Swanton said. His body was discovered still harnessed to the lift in about 16 feet of water. He was wearing a flotation device, Swanton said.
“Our thoughts go out to the [victim’s] family at this terribly sad hour,” Baylor President Ken Starr said. “All of Baylor Nation extends our deepest sympathies as we remember in our prayers [the victim] and all those whom he loved.”
[Source: www.wacotrib.com]
Upcoming Events
We’ll be exhibiting at the following trade shows and conferences:
- Pacific Rim Safety & Health Conference. May 7-9
- ASSE Professional Development Conference & Expo. June 8-11
- National Safety Council Congress & Expo. Sept 14-19
Client Testimonials
“Overall very well developed training.” David, United Rentals.
“I feel that the program was very well put together and that I learned a lot more than I expected.” Robert, Trademark Metals Recycling.
“This is my fifth class with IVES and I’m always impressed with their trainers and materials. Loved it.” Raymond, PTI Group.
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