I am working as a external safety advisor to a group of companies there has been no consistency across the site and different sites are using different registered trainers for mhe i.e RTITB and ITSSAR the sites have different MHE induction and refresher course lengths contacting the orgainsations hasnt helped as they want me to buy a £80 manual and from what i can find out they both quote a vague timescale saying "that operators should be sufficicently trained" This fits in line with my proposal of establishing a basic induction of 2 days for a ride on llop an done day for a pedestrain llop and a 4 hour refresher for both (these are not counterbalances or reach trucks) How have other advisors addressed this issue please What would you consider to be the minimum length for a MHE course of this type?

With 13 years of MHE training experience, I feel I can add to this one. Both ITSSAR and RTITB have a set practical and theory test for Reach & Counterbalance. It would be down to the individual instructors to write their own courses depending on the types of trucks and their own types of environments based on the guidance. The time for a trainee to pass their tests will depend on a number of factors. How many on the course (max 3), previous experience, type of environment. Is this a small centre where the operator is only required to unload a lorry and place on the floor, to a large distribution centre with various type of racking systems which may be up to 10 meters in the air. It's a bit like driving a car. Some people will get it quicker then others. ITSSAR and RTITB have guidlines, but as Smurf says, The "Minimum" length is the length of time it takes to complete the training satifactorily. For my part, I was tough. Regardless of how long (or short) the course was, no-one operated any form of MHE unless I was completely satisfied that they were safe. In my old distribution centre we had a mix of both and RTITB and ITSSAR. I wrote up to 40 sets of internal training modules for all the MHE which both sets of instructors were happy with. Not sure how I can access you email as I am relatively new to this forum. I would be happy to send some guidance.