Mentor Training, the UK’s leading provider of nationwide workplace transport, materials handling and safety management training, has launched two new services to support businesses who have their own in-house forklift instructors.

For businesses where internal instructors are well utilised, and the quality of training is monitored, in-house training can be a good solution. But if standards of training and instructing are allowed to become inconsistent, this can become problematic.

To combat this, Mentor have launched two new support services to help businesses like these continue to manage their own operator training internally, but with the reassurance of external verification to ensure that necessary safety and compliance standards are being met.

Mentor’s Managing Director, Stuart Taylor, explains, “We are really pleased to be launching two brand new instructor assessment services alongside our well-established instructor training courses. Remember, when your instructors deliver a course, they are effectively setting the tone for operator safety within your business. So, it’s vital to confirm that the necessary standard of training is being delivered by the right people, and that’s exactly what these two assessments have been designed to do.”

Instructor Selection Assessment

The first of Mentor’s two new services is an Instructor Selection Assessment, which helps employees select suitable candidates to become their in-house trainers. This assessment helps potential instructors to better understand the associated responsibilities of the role and whether they have the essential skills required.

To confirm the candidate’s principal capabilities, one of Mentor’s experienced tutors will refresh their knowledge before conducting testing to the operating standard required at instructor level. They will then move on to the further skills required to deliver operator training.

The tutor will provide an overview of what is expected of candidates during the 10-day instructor training programme, to give them an insight into elements including classroom lessons, prep work and the communication techniques required.

Stuart Taylor explains the importance of this briefing session, “There is sometimes a misconception that to be a forklift instructor you just need to be a highly skilled operator. Practical ability is very important, of course, but there are many other qualities required to be effective in the role – instructional techniques and communication skills are vital and often overlooked during the selection process.’

As well as providing a suitability check, Mentor also emphasise that the one-day assessment has great potential to save customers time and money, helping them to confirm whether an individual has the necessary skills and characteristics, before they are enrolled in comprehensive instructor training.

Instructor Monitoring Assessment

The second of Mentor’s new offerings is the Instructor Monitoring Assessment, developed to help employers confirm that internal training and testing is meeting the latest accredited standards.

During a one-day visit to a customer site, Mentor will evaluate the AITT, RTITB, NPORS or ITSSAR registered in-house instructor’s delivery of forklift operator training, with course delivery, methodology and standards all assessed in-line with accredited training and ABA guidelines.

An experienced Mentor tutor assumes the role of the delegate, allowing impartiality throughout the session and, once complete, same-day feedback is provided. This is then followed up with a completed audit report to provide the employer with confirmation that standards are being met.

With instructor re-registration required once every five years, Mentor urges businesses with their own trainers to remain vigilant in the interim. Stuart Taylor adds, “The monitoring assessment can be a highly useful tool between re-reg periods that will help businesses to ensure consistently high standards are maintained within their operations”.

Both of the new assessment services are available to book now. To find out more about Mentor’s full range of training courses and assessments, visit: https://mentortraining.co.uk/