The British Industrial Truck Association (BITA) and RTITB, the preferred regulatory body for workplace transport training, have today (14th March 2018) announced a collaboration aimed at raising the standards of fork lift truck training in the UK.
By formalising their existing close working relationship, the two organisations hope to achieve a number of common goals, namely:
• Raising awareness of the logistics sector amongst a younger audience and promoting it as an attractive career path;
• Harnessing current and emerging technology to ensure accessibility to training for the modern, technology-driven audience;
• Promoting and supporting high standards of training and safety to minimise risk and accidents involving workplace transport.
James Clark, Secretary General of BITA, the trade body that represents fork lift truck manufacturers and suppliers, says: “Since its formation over 75 years ago, BITA has existed to ensure trucks produced and sold by our members are inherently safe to operate. By extension, we have also worked with our members to improve safe standards of operation; training is, of course, a very large part of that initiative.
“We have considered RTITB as a valuable partner in helping us to achieve higher standards of training for many years, and this new initiative formalises our existing arrangement into something more rigorous and tangible.
“BITA aims to support the industry in creating a younger, highly-trained workforce capable of competing at a global level, and we view RTITB as the ideal partner to help us achieve this. It is a highly respected training organisation, and our closer collaboration will allow our members – who produce over 90% of the fork lift trucks sold in this country – greater access to the highest standards of training. We look forward to working with RTITB and to forming a long-lasting relationship with the mutual aim of driving down industrial accidents and the dreadful, often tragic consequences they bring.”
RTITB’s vision is to create a global family of committed partners using workplace transport training standards which place efficiency, people and maximum safety at their heart. Amongst its many objectives, RTITB wishes to revolutionise material handling equipment training, and views BITA as a key partner in its quest to achieve this.
“At RTITB, our sole mission is to reduce costs and save lives in workplace equipment operations. To achieve such a big goal, we work with committed partners who share our vision for a safer, more efficient world. BITA are a perfect partner and we will be working with James and his team to continually promote and support high standards of forklift truck training in order to dramatically reduce incidents and their severity in the ubiquitous world of fork lift use”, says Laura Nelson, Managing Director of RTITB.
By leveraging current and emerging technology, such as simulators, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), RTITB aims to ensure accessibility to training for digital natives – including Millennials and Generation Z – whilst at the same time helping to reduce the overall cost and impact of training for today’s busy employers. Through the use of these technologies, it is RTITB’s belief that training engagement among this young target audience will improve and result in vastly improved learning outcomes.
With this agreement in place between two industry-leading bodies, further announcements will be made in the near future about the form the training will take and the way in which BITA members – and the wider industry – can benefit from it.
