Forklift and Aerial Lift Train the Trainer in Amarillo Texas

It was about 7AM local Austin time and as I woke to get ready for Tugger training, I looked out my hotel window and saw a boom lift basket near the window. Now I travel quite a bit and am used seeing all kinds of things out my hotel windows, but this time it was a training issue staring me right in the face!

In the boom lift basket was an operator, but he had no safety harness and was leaning out of the basket to measure the building overhang.

I immediately went downstairs and outside to offer my full body harness to the operator, and while talking to the "boss" about the safety hazard, he told me that they had a harness in the truck and they just were not using it. To his credit, he went to the truck and got the harness and the worker was safely protected for the rest of his work time. 

Aerial lift training prepares workers for safe lift operations, they are not only trained on the equipment they will be using, but they should be instructed on the importance and proper use of fall protection measures designed to keep them safe. If you company or organization is not training, severe penalties from OSHA can be costly. But even more costly would be if the worker had fallen and been hurt or killed. This preventable situation is best handled through safety training and insistence from employers who understand the benefits of aerial lift training.

For aerial operator training on boom lifts, scissor lifts, bucket trucks or any other aerial platform equipment. Forklift University provides operator training and train the trainer classes for those that want to comply with OSHA guidelines and keep their workers safe. For more infromation go to www.ForkliftUniversity.com or call us at 888-674-9992

Forklift University clients have openings for forklift operators and warehouse supervisors in the Austin Texas area. If you are a certified forklift operator, please use the contact form to send us a message and your information will be forwarded to these companies.

We do not charge for these job listings so if you are a company or staffing agency in the Austin or San Antonio area and would like your jobs added please use the form as well and we will post your job opening on this site and on our www.ForkliftUniversity.com web site.

Let me start this blog with wishing all our brave service men a happy Memorial Day.
This holiday is one of importance to me for several reasons, as an American sometimes I don't appreciate the good things in my life like I should, and many times I take my personal and our collective freedoms for granted. However, as I have traveled the country for Forklift University over the last 12 years I can truely say that this is an amazing country with above amazing people. We have more freedoms to choose than anywhere else in the world, we have the ability to live happy productive lives without the fear of fascism or communism controlling our every move and limiting our own god given talents. We can travel from state to state, without restriction; we have due process and protections from the police and our own government.
How did we get so lucky to have these freedoms?
Luck? that is for rabbits, we may have been lucky to have been born here or been one of the chosen few to immigrate here but our freedoms are not luck. Our freedoms are the result of blood, sweat and tears. The lives lost defending this nation, are a major part of who we are and remembering those that have sacrificed so much is what Memorial Day is.
While these things are at the forefront for me on this day, I also think about my father, Kenneth Byron Drake. On this day he passed away in 1988, he was a World War II veteran, a pilot flying B-24 bombers, but not for the Air Force but for the Army Air Corp. and he was one of the lucky ones able to come home and start a family after the war. And not to discount the servicewomen, these days you serve right along with the guys, AMAZING and appreciated no doubt. My mom served too, as a Navy Wave, but in their generation it was what everyone did, and they did it without complaining or whining.
When I think back on this day and the sacrifices of so many, I remember my dad who understood the value of hard work, believing in people, helping others grow and defending this nation back when that was just what you did.
Every serviceman has a great story, I hope you take the time to get to know your father, grandfather, or just the guy down the street that served in Korea or Vietnam or Desert Storm, I hope you recognize the things each of these people risked to provide you with your freedoms and abundance that is found no where else in the world.
The United States of America is the greatest country in the history of the world, and for those who have forgotten that, or those that grew up never understanding that I am sorry and hope you find it and begin to see the greatness that is in front of you every day. It is there, all you have to do is look up from your phone and look around you, see your neighbor, don't look through that person you don't know and together we can continue where these great men left off and build an even more amazing USA.

Steven W. Drake,

It is official, Forklift University of Texas has a new home in Austin Texas. Thanks to the forward thinking people at P&H Equipment, forklift operators now have a safe and reliable place to learn to drive a forklift.

P&H Equipment is located just north of Austin in the city of Round Rock and they are one of the premiere forklift sales and rental companies in the area. They service and repair all brands of forklifts and some of their featured lines include Big Joe Lifts and Taillift forklifts. If you need to purchase a new or used forklift please visit their site. http://www.phequipment.com/ .

Here are some photos and a video from our first hands on driver training classes at P&H Equipment.

    Hands on Forklift Training is unique to Forklift University of Austin. Our training techniques have been developed over 12 years of actual student training, with countless hours dedicated to the most efficient training programs possible. Our "Drill" structure allows new operators to quickly mast the lift manuverability and build on each successful drill completion. If you are looking to learn the proper way to safely operate a lift, and eventually secure a professional forklift job, then Hands on Forklift Driver Training is a must. Once you have completed the 2 hour safety class you will have ample seat time to master the lift. We limit our class size to allow everyone enough time on each drill to make sure they learn the proper way to operate the forklift. Driver training classes are by appointment only and available year round at our partner facility in Round Rock Texas. Contact us today and learn to drive a forkift!