I have five novices who require counterbalance fork truck training. The HSE guidance suggests that the maximum trainee to trainer ratio is 3:1 which is unambiguous. I have three quotations which all comply with is, however the durations (and therefore costs) differ considerably. The HSE guidance suggests that this type of training should typically take from 3-5 days, but there is nothing I can see that directly relates number of trainees to duration of course. So, for example, assuming there is 1 trainer, would the shortest (i.e. 3 day) duration apply to 1 single trainee or can it be applied the the maximum number, i.e. 3 trainees? - which surely would imply that less than 3 could be trained in less than 3 days! I have been offered the following variations by three different training companies. Please can anybody advise whether any of these could be viewed as 'insufficient' in terms of providing suitable and sufficient training, if we ever need to defend ourselves. Clearly I want an economical solution but at the same time I want to have a responsible approach to H&S. Also, if any of the below would definitely be deemed insufficient, would it not call into question the approach of the organisation offering it? Quote A: 3 trainees for 5 days & 2 trainees for 4 days (Seems OK to me!) Quote B: 3 trainees for 4 days & 2 trainees for 3 days (Can 2 novices be sufficiently trained in 3 days?) Quote C: 3 trainees for 3 days & 2 trainees for 2 days (Is 2 novice trainees in 2 days questionable? It feels border-line to me based on the HSE info - but I don't know if I've interpreted it correctly) Thank you in advance for any helpful advice.

I did a counterbalance novice course so I can spot bad practice on site. That was one to one over 3 days and to be honest felt a bit too long. Quote A would match any training I have sourced for my drivers. 3 Days for 1 Novice, and an extra day for each additional driver. The classroom bit could probably be completed in 1 a day which then means 2 days of driving to build skills and confidence. So if those 2 days are shared between 3 people you need to factor in more days. If you don't mind me asking what kind of familiarisation training do you carry out with newly trained drivers? (Something I need to improve in my own controls)