This Summer 2005 IVES Update Newsletter edition covers What’s the Deal with Certification, questions on boom and scissor lift training and forklifts on public roads, the winners of the Washington Forklift Rodeo and a story from a supervisor.
What’s the Deal With Certification?
Several times a week, I find myself discussing what it means to “certify” an operator. I have noticed that many people have different understandings of the meaning of certification. In fact, when I sat down to write this article that I believed would easily clear the whole thing up, I thought it would be useful to punch certify into a dictionary site on the Internet to see what came up. To my horror, my screen filled with a plethora (I hung around the dictionary website for a while) of meanings for what I thought was a simple word. Check out some of the synonyms that came up: attest, demonstrate, evidence, license, endorse, guarantee, assure, approve —I could go on but I only have so much space here!
So which ones apply to what we do with powered mobile equipment operators? I suppose you could say that to some degree, they all do. When we certify operators, we are not simply saying that they were there and completed the training, but that they left with an acceptable level of knowledge of the subject and the ability to demonstrate the required skills. Classroom theory training is usually followed by a written test that certifies the trainees as having a certain level of knowledge. Practical hands-on training is followed by a practical evaluation which hopefully certifies the trainee as having the ability to demonstrate an acceptable level of operational competence. The certification remains on record afterwards in the form of documentation such as logs, written tests and performance evaluations.
Many regulatory agencies use the term certify in reference to equipment operator training, forklifts and cranes in particular, but not all of them do. A field officer I talked to in Washington State referred to it as the “c”-word. When I asked why, he said that the state regulatory agency felt it suggested a certain amount of “portability,” which was an interpretation that they did not want to promote. An occupational safety officer in the province of British Columbia once told me that the regulatory agency there avoided the term certification because they did not want employers thinking their operators needed to carry certificates, which is not required anywhere in North America except on certain pieces of equipment being used in areas where the local regulations say otherwise.
I guess the easiest way to explain what certify means in relation to operator training is to go the other way and explain what it is not. It is not merely proof of attendance at a training program or even proof of completion of a training program. A trainee could attend a program and complete it without achieving the minimum level of knowledge or skill. It is not the issuance of a certificate of competence nor is it the certificate itself. Remember, in most cases a certificate is not required to operate powered mobile equipment — check your local regulations. It is not licensing. A license is portable while certification on powered mobile equipment is not.
In the end, a certified operator is one whose employer has documentation that assures, endorses, attests, demonstrates, provides evidence of, or certifies that the operator has been properly trained on the job at hand and is able to demonstrate the knowledge and skills required to do the job on an ongoing basis. As always, words are not nearly as important as actions.
Rob Vetter, Managing Partner
Ives Training Group
Accident Report
RT Forklift Roll-over Kills Operator
A rough terrain forklift operator was killed when the construction forklift he was operating overturned. The 51 year old victim was employed by a general contractor and was working at a job site where a slope near a highway was being reinforced. The victim was driving along a dirt road that switch-backed across a hillside in order to move pallets of bagged dry concrete to another part of the worksite. During one of his trips the left side tires of the forklift ran up onto the uphill side of a dirt bank, causing the forklift o overturn. He was not wearing a seatbelt and he was ejected from the forklift. The forklift rolled over on the victim and then rolled several additional times before coming to a rest 70 ft (21 m) below. The forklift was equipped with a roll-over protective structure (ROPS) and falling object protection system (FOPS).
If you don’t use the seat belt, you don’t have a ROPS. – Ed.
Crane Operator Electrocuted
A man using a crane mounted on a flatbed truck to move metal pipes in a supply yard was killed when the boom of the crane came into contact with a 12,000 volt power line. The deceased was out of the truck when he noticed sparks and flames coming from the tires. He reached for a hydraulic control handle inside the truck, but at that point was grounded and took the full charge. He saw what was happening and was trying to lower the boom. Emergency personnel administered CPR and other life-saving techniques on the victim but could not revive him. He was pronounced dead shortly after arrival at a local hospital.
A proper site inspection should identify the presence of power lines… look up and live! – Ed.
Ask Bob
Bob,
If a person is qualified to operate an aerial boom lift, can they also operate a scissor lift?
Grant
Dear Grant,
Absolutely not. In fact, when it comes to aerial lift operator training, the ANSI-SIA standards are very specific about providing not only equipment-specific training but also make and model-specific training. In your case, operators are not just operating different makes and/or models of the same type of equipment; they are also operating booms and scissors, which are two completely different types of equipment.
Bob
Hi Bob,
Can we legally operate our forklift on a public street with front lights only? Are there any requirements?
Rich
Dear Rich,
No. Operating any vehicle on a public road falls under the jurisdiction of the local motor vehicle act. This means that the vehicle would need to be licensed and insured and the driver/operator would have to have a current driver’s license, as well. There are rules about the size, weight, and security of a load on a public road to be aware of, too.
Bob
What’s Your Instructor IQ?
Test your knowledge by answering the following:
- What should the operator of boom lift or scissor lift do if the platform will not lower under power or gravity?
- What is one way that you can tell whether a forklift is considered a class 7, vertical mast, rough terrain-type or a large, class 5, counterbalanced-type?
Check out the next edition of the Ives Update for the answers. Good luck!
Answers to “What’s Your Instructor IQ” (Spring Edition 2005)
- Is it against regulations to put a piece of wood on top of the overhead guard to stay dry in the rain?
No, unless the integrity of the guard is compromised by drilling, burning, modifying, etc. while mounting the piece of wood. Be careful though: a piece of wood over the guard will restrict the operator’s field of vision. This could possibly force the operator to move his/her head out from under the guard in order to see the forks when they are elevated, and that is against regulations!
- How can you find out if a mobile crane is level if it does not have a level indicator?
There are several ways: Use a carpenter’s level on the base to take a side-to-side and front-to-rear reading. Place a ball bearing on the base and watch to see if it rolls in any direction. Use the hook and block as a plumb bob and lower the hook until it just touches the ground, then have a look at the load line from the front and side to see if it is straight.
A Supervisor’s Tale: Between a Rock and a Hard Place
The notices posted around the plant announced that the company was looking to hire a new supervisor. I was bored with my job and thought the extra money and benefits would come in handy, so I threw my hat in the ring with the other unsuspecting candidates.
A month and four written evaluations plus two psychological evaluations later (I should have known right then that something was up), I was it, the new supervisor. Strangely, throughout the whole hoop-jumping selection procedure, nobody actually told me what exactly it was that I was supposed to do.
Luckily for me, many of the employees who had been around for years took pity on their wide-eyed new supervisor and privately gave me pointers on what, and who, to look out for. The shop steward also had some advice for me, but most of his suggestions were anatomically impossible for me to perform, if you get what I mean.
I learned the biggest lesson of my supervisory career very early on, that everybody else’s problem was my problem. Somebody not wearing their PPE? I need to deal with it. Joe’s dog died so he’s down in the mouth? I had better get him off the planer until he can concentrate on his job again. Sam has to go to court tomorrow, something about his youngest boy being in trouble again. I’d better find somebody that can operate the yard forklift while he’s away.
Is anybody trained to drive the big yard forklift other than Sam? Here comes the production manager, probably upset because some orders will not be shipping out today because I had to shut down the sander. Won’t he be impressed when I tell him the reason the sander is down is that I sent the operator home. Why? He didn’t have his steel-toes on—he’ll be back but will need to work overtime (at time and a half) to get the orders out…one day late. Just another day in paradise.
I am not a supervisor any more and I have learned to relax a bit now. It’s easy for me to look back and see that nothing was worth all of the stress I put myself through, but at the time, it was as serious as a heart attack…literally. One of the most important bits of knowledge I learned in my years on both sides of the labor/management fence was that everybody needs training, initially and ongoing. Supervisors need training, too. Not the detailed variety that the employees performing the work get, but an abbreviated version that helps them monitor and enforce regulations and policies like every supervisor should. After all, we’re the ones directly responsible, right?
For me, this all started when our first aid attendant gave me a list of all the people in the plant qualified to administer first aid. I realized that before he gave me the list, I had no idea of who was qualified for first aid, and that scared me.
After that scare I decided to gather all the information I could, mostly around who was qualified to do what. Next, I took it upon myself to find out what these people had been trained in. Since there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in Hades that I could attend any of the training myself, I asked the trainers for outlines, and in some cases details, of what was being taught. It changed everything. I was able to be a far more effective supervisor because I could view things from a more knowledgeable perspective. It also meant that nobody could pull the wool over my eyes.
I recommend that anyone delivering training out there should really try to get the supervisors in the loop, and you supervisors need to take it upon yourself to get involved, too. Even the most comprehensive, well-planned and executed training will have little value if it is not properly supervised and maintained.
About a year later, I let that first aid attendant know how much I appreciated his giving me that list. I also told him how much I appreciated that he was the type of person that I never had to send home to get his steel-toes!
Online Ordering Is Here!
Ordering materials and training aids for operator programs just got easier at Ives. We are happy to announce that on-line ordering is now available through our website at www.ivestraining. com. Simply point and click on the products you would like to add to your shopping cart, then proceed to the checkout, where your shipping and payment information will be taken and processed safely and securely. We hope you enjoy the convenience of on-line shopping at Ives, and look forward to providing you with more innovations to accommodate your needs in the future.
Inventory Blowout!
We have a limited number of discontinued English and Spanish language overhead transparency sets that we are blowing out at nearly half price. These overheads are the pre-September 2004 type that were used before the revised versions we use now. At the drastically reduced price of $49.99, these are still a great training aid for counterbalanced or narrow aisle operator training. Call now before they disappear!
Not-So-Great Moments in Training
This is a new feature in the Ives Update designed to lighten things up a bit and give us all an opportunity to poke a little fun at ourselves. Whether this becomes a regular feature depends on the responses we get from you. Our first misadventure is from yours truly.
Concentrate on What You’re Doing!
One of my not-so-proud moments as a trainer occurred while I was conducting a practical training session with some forklift operators. I had spread out stacks of pallets at strategic locations throughout the site and was having the operator trainees move them from one location to another while I made notes and offered corrective advice.
I noticed one of the trainees had a tendency to look around to see where I was at any given time which, I felt, detracted from his concentration on the job at hand. I called out to him while I was walking backwards and said, “Don’t worry about what I am doing, you need to concentrate on what you are doing…”
At that moment I tripped on a stack of two pallets and fell over backwards sending my clipboard and notes sailing as I landed hard on my rear end. “Looks like you need to concentrate, too,” the trainee said. “Yeah,” was all I could muster in response as I turned various shades of red.
Do you have a not-so-great moment in training? Send it to us and we will share it with your fellow trainers. Don’t worry, we won’t use your name if you don’t want us to!
Error Notice
Please be advised that we have discovered an error in recent copies of the Boom Truck Operator Workbook. Page 28 shows a range diagram used to calculate the maximum rated load capacity of the unit in various configurations. The numbers and arrows corresponding to boom extension are out of place and inaccurate. The affected books have been removed from our stock but some units were shipped before the error was noticed. If you have purchased one of these flawed books, please contact us so we can correct the situation. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
WARNING
We have recently received reports that there are individuals and, in some cases, institutions that are fraudulently presenting themselves as representatives of IVES. Although these individuals and/or institutions may have legitimate IVES certification and may use IVES training materials, they do not officially represent IVES in any way.
The only institutions with which IVES has any official affiliation are safety councils located in various states and provinces throughout North America. If you are approached by any entity that claims to represent or have some kind of affiliation with IVES in any manner, please contact us directly for verification.
Remember, there is only one “Leader in Mobile Equipment Training Solutions” — beware of those who would imitate us, our style and our knowledge.
Clean Sweep for Columbia Colstor
Long-time Ives client Columbia Colstor fielded a formidable team of operators at the Central Washington Regional Forklift Rodeo held in Pasco, WA on June 4. Steve Weir, Robert Broyles, and David Winkler took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place respectively.
”I can say with complete confidence that at least two of the twenty-one contestants here today are amongst the best drivers I have ever seen, and I’ve seen a few,” said Rob Vetter, Ives Chief Master Instructor and Head Judge at the event. Way to go Columbia, and congratulations to all the participants…see you in Spokane in July!
Another Goodbye!
Long-time staff member Kent O’Sullivan has left Ives to pursue other interests that will not be associated with the IVES Training Group. Over the years, Kent made a valuable contribution to the Ives team and he will be missed by his colleagues — we wish him all the best in his future!
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