In industries such as agriculture, facilities management, waste management, oil and gas, and rail and road maintenance, you need to train operators on many types of machines or vehicles. You may need to train forklift operators one day, and an excavator operator the next. This can pose several challenges.
Here’s how you can tackle some of the key training challenges and better prepare earth-moving machinery operators for safe, efficient operation.
Challenge 1: It’s a lot to co-ordinate!
With a range of machines used across your company, different operator training courses are needed. Searching and booking courses for all of your different requirements can be time-consuming. Not to mention complex to manage.
This time comes at a cost. And different providers for different machine types means quality can vary. Are you sure that your earth mover operators are trained to the same standard as your forklift drivers, for example?
The solution: A single training provider for all your needs. The new RTITB Instructors’ Guides for Earth Moving Machines enable your RTITB Accredited Training Provider to provide a wider range of courses. That means you may be able to deal with a single partner for all your RTITB training. Whether that’s for materials handling equipment operators, or for earth moving machinery. You can be reassured of quality, while also saving hours of time coordinating your training schedule.
Challenge 2: Training quality can vary
The quality of training for earth moving machinery can vary significantly. It depends on the Instructor, the curriculum followed, and the resources available. This may also be an issue when you deliver in-house training across multiple sites. Inconsistency can lead to operators who are simply not ready for real-world conditions.
The solution: Standardise training across different earth moving machinery training programs. It is easy to do this with the new RTITB Instructors’ Guides for Earth Movers. You can use the same high-quality instructional materials across every site. This supports standards, safety, consistency, and compliance.
Challenge 3: Companies must maintain safety standards
Earth-moving operations are high-risk. There is a great potential for accidents – especially if operators are not properly trained. Safety regulations and standards are continually evolving too.
Safety is at the heart of effective training. It is vital that operators understand how to use machinery. But more importantly, how to do so safely in their challenging working environments.
The solution: RTITB is renowned for supporting high safety standards in materials handling equipment operator training. The new RTITB Instructor Guides for earth moving machines adopt these same trusted standards. They are designed to help companies take a safety-first approach to operator training, helping support compliance.
Challenge 4: Earth moving machinery training can be costly
Developing and delivering your own comprehensive training programs can be costly, especially when factoring in instructor time. Even the cost of printing documents and test materials can soon add up. Using external courses comes at a price too. With charges for an operator ID card typically more than £25.
For Training Providers, cost is also a factor. The cost of being accredited with multiple different bodies so as to deliver courses on different machines adds up. Inevitably getting passed on to customers. And the time required for training administration and processing assessment documents can also prove expensive.
Financial factors are also at play if courses need to be pre-registered before they can be run. Training providers may miss out on valuable business by turning down last-minute courses. Or be liable for costs that are pre-registered, but don’t go ahead (for whatever reason).
The Solution: RTITB Trainers’ Guides are affordable for businesses that need to deliver training in-house. The Instructors’ Guides cost from £56+VAT and discounts are available for RTITB Accredited Partners, Master Driver CPC Consortium Members, and RTITB Registered Instructors.
If you need to train operators on many different types of machine, you can also buy several Instructor Guides, and combine with the new RTITB Earth Moving Machinery training PowerPoint. Available separately from just £20+VAT. This helps keep costs down.
For RTITB Accredited Training Providers, there is now no need to pay for several alternative accreditations to deliver earth moving machine operator training. What’s more, the course administration and assessment can be done via the RTITB TrainingFriend app. This saves time, boosts accuracy, and makes the process paperless – reducing costs too. There is also no requirement to pre-register courses to run them, giving greater flexibility.
Those successfully completing the earth moving machinery operator courses are also issued with a digital eCard instead of a physical card. Starting from just £2.85 per operator, this can offer big savings across large workforces.
Challenge 5: Businesses must meet regulatory and compliance requirements
Keeping training programs up to date with regulatory and compliance requirements is challenging. Especially as machines also adapt over time. Instructors’ time can be taken away from delivering training as they are working hard to update training materials instead.
The Solution: The new Trainers’ Guides from RTITB feature a training program and testing approach that helps ensure adequate training has been delivered. The training materials are up to date with current best practice and regulations. The training experts at RTITB also keep on top of regulatory changes and update the materials when needed.
The materials are available on a handy paper-free USB. However, they are also available via the RTITB eLibrary. This means they automatically update for eLibrary users if regulations change.
Visit the RTITB Shop and take on your challenges now!
The new Instructors’ Guides and Earth Moving Machinery PowerPoint are available from the RTITB online shop. Get yours today to start tackling your earthmover training challenges!
Take a look now and order the training materials you need.