How do you choose an internal person to be your EWP assessor/trainer/supervisor?

WorkSafe says that “Trainers and supervisors of workers should be competent. They can be in-house or from external organisations.” As everyone is in the chain of responsibility, this enables you to choose a person in your company to look after your EWP training so that you can take control over the outcomes.

Sometimes you might want to use an external trainer, especially if you have a brand new operator or a brand new piece of equipment. Other times, an experienced operator or a conscientious supervisor at your company will deliver excellent results because they know your operating procedures, your equipment, and your employees. You can use an in-house assessor when you do our online EWP course.

Who is the ideal in-house trainer?

• They tend to be a person other operators can turn to with issues. They are not necessarily a current EWP operator – they might be a supervisor or manager – but they will have some level of EWP experience in different scenarios, and have an excellent health and safety record.
• They will be safety-focused.
• They can follow instructions, and give clear instructions.
• They are a person who is not going to be bullied or dominated by others – you don’t want persuasive employees convincing the person they are OK when they are not; the in-house trainer must have a mind of their own
• They are a good communicator and manager – they can use clear English at a level that’s appropriate for the EWP operators (bear in mind some will have English as a second language or will have poor English literacy and language skills)
• They are someone with the ability to keep records of training as per your company’s requirements
• They are willing to learn additional skills for training and instruction to improve the level of training they give.

You may have supervisors or team members already at this level. Remember that under the HSWA2015, supervisors are already responsible for EWP operators in the team, whether the supervisor is a competent EWP operator or not!

It is possible to do train-the-trainer courses to improve skills.

The advantages of an internal EWP trainer

• Your EWP operators don’t need to travel anywhere, saving money on travel costs and time away from work
• The trainer will also have another job function, making it more cost-effective
• Training can be more easily scheduled around when the operators have time, or there is a pressing requirement to conduct training immediately (e.g. an accident has occurred or the trainer sees an EWP operator that needs to be taught the correct way to operate the EWP)
• Training can be customised to accurately reflect the scenarios, equipment and loads that an operator will experience. For example, in external training, operators will be assessed using a generic boom lift and/or scissor lift without actually doing their task, but it’s much more relevant if you can have them use the EWP loading their own tools and in a representative scenario.
• The company owns the training process and there’s a good level of transparency around what is being taught
• Operators are accountable to the trainer and the standards imposed by the company, rather than relying on an external trainer to know what these are.

How do you add this person to DT?

You can invite them as a Manager from Manage > Managers. Make sure you have enabled Manage edits trainee in your settings so that they can do the course validation which creates the operator’s certificate.

Do companies worry about having their own EWP trainer/assessor?

We commonly hear that company management is afraid that having their own assessor is either illegal or will lead to more accidents. Let’s have a look at the facts:

WorkSafe makes the PCBU (i.e. your company) 100% liable for health and safety – this is in the legislation. By enabling your team to learn in-depth about EWP operation by having them understand how to assess someone gives a much better result. Because everyone is in the chain of responsibility, everyone now can learn and understand what’s required, leading to a better health and safety outcome.

Another concern is that people are worried that they will be liable if they assess the operator. When the operator is assessed, they are assessed as competent on the day. They won’t necessarily be competent three weeks later. What is better? Sending them off-site where you don’t know what they’ve been taught, and you’re no wiser if they are operating the EWP dangerously, or understanding exactly what best-practice operation is and being able to step in immediately to rectify any issues?

This is why taking cntrol of your training leads to better health and safety outcomes.