Logan Gilbert, mechanic and yard supervisor at Arvada Rent-Alls, Arvada and Littleton, Colo., does a lot of employee training. When his company served as host of the American Rental Association (ARA) Mobile Elevating Work Platform (MEWP) Train-the-Trainer program Aug. 24, sponsored by the ARA of Colorado, Gilbert knew he wanted to take part.
“I wanted to better myself and be a better asset to my company, so I signed up,” says Gilbert, who was one of five from Arvada Rent-Alls who took the training that qualifies graduates to train operators using ARA materials that satisfy Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements and the new American National Standards Institute (ANSI) A92 standards.
He is so glad he took part. Before undergoing the hands-on training at his company, he completed the online training portion. “That was good — informational and actually fairly easy to get through. The hands-on training was great, too, and very interactive. Now I understand how to properly train employees on how to operate the boom, scissor and all manlifts in general. The instructor [one of the education development managers at ARA] took us through all the pre-operation procedures and was very thorough in making sure that everyone understood how to do it. What really stood out to me was his attention to detail and everyone’s individual questions,” he says.
T.J. Hermesman, owner, Ted’s True Value Rental, Durango, Colo., who serves as ARA of Colorado treasurer, also was eager to attend the training. “Being that there is more of a push from OSHA as far as manlifts and all types of MEWPs, knowing that we are getting the right training is important. ARA always does a great job. Taking this training was a slam-dunk,” he says.
Like Gilbert, Hermesman felt the online training “helped us learn more about all the different classifications that all the MEWPs fall under, areas where people can have issues and how to better conduct a training. It gave us more than enough information, so we were definitely set up going forward for the hands-on training,” he says.
Hermesman also enjoyed how interactive the hands-on training was. “We went through the training manual and what to go over in the different forms — the rescue, the safety and site survey forms and such that you want to have available on a job site,” he says, adding that he appreciated how the training laid out possible obstacles and talked about how that could affect the safe use of equipment.
“Going through all the detailed steps and running through the checklists prevents anyone from becoming complacent,” Hermesman says. “Hitting all these different things brings it back into perspective of what everyone ought to be looking for and what we need to pay attention to when training our employees and keeping them out of harm’s way.”
Having successfully completed the training, both say they are ready to offer this information to those at their operations. “With the five trainers that we have now, we can easily spread out and train our yard personnel and operate these machines safely and not have to worry about anyone getting hurt. It is another certification that offers peace of mind that we have undergone the training to operate these machines properly,” Gilbert says.
Hermesman agrees. “Now I can train everyone and set them up going forward to have the expertise they need,” he says.
The training also helps rental yards avoid litigation surrounding the machinery. “This was a well-thought-out and easy way to make sure we have the right information and knowledge to keep everyone out of that litigation situation. If anyone gets hurt, we know that we have done everything we need to do to set our people up for success. That is the best we can do. It gives us more tools that we can use and offer,” Hermesman says.