When it comes to providing safe operating instruction to rental customers of aerial equipment, the size of your rental company doesn't matter — it's completely irrelevant. The quantity of aerial equipment in the fleet can be one or 100, but the level of customer familiarization and training required for each lift rental must be equal. Each rental carries the same risk to the renter and as such the same training guidelines should be required and followed for each transaction. It only takes one accident to affect that customer and your business forever.

“The owner of a small rental company involved in renting a few lifts must understand, whether you have two, 20 or 200 lifts, your responsibility and liability remains the same,” says Gary Morse, president of Essex Rental & Sales Center, a one-location rental company in Essex Junction, Vt.

Before rental company personnel can provide safe operating instruction to their customers, they must first be trained and certified on the safe use of aerial equipment themselves. Most rental equipment companies RER interviewed for this article stated that every employee, from counter personnel and drivers, to mechanics, are certified operators who fully understand the safe use of each aerial machine in the company's fleet.

For Sugar Grove, Ill.-based Metrolift, all sales personnel must receive a minimum of eight hours of International Powered Access Federation/Aerial Work Platform Training in addition to Terex telehandler forklift training. In addition, the company's delivery personnel and field service technicians have completed Terex's AWP and telehandler courses.

Sims Crane & Equipment Co.'s president Steve Stodghill recommends that all employees read and understand the ANSI 92.5-2006 boom or ANSI A92.6 scissorlift manual of responsibilities as well as the operations manuals for the aerial equipment in the fleet.

“Ask questions if you are not clear to any instructions,” says Stodghill, whose Tampa, Fla.-based company specializes in lift equipment. “We find in 99 percent of safety-related accidents the failure to understand responsibilities and individual requirements (by law) and/or the failure to read, understand and comply with operators manual instructions is the root cause of accidents.”

Birch Equipment Rental & Sales, a multi-location rental company headquartered in Bellingham, Wash., that has more than 40,000 pieces of equipment in its fleet, provides in-house training to all staff members that incorporates equipment operations manuals, troubleshooting and frequently asked questions, as well as hands-on operator training.

“Birch employees are inundated with hands-on operation and are regularly asked questions from operations manuals to keep their skills current,” says Jeninne Milton, Birch Equipment, assistant manager. “We also use mystery shopping programs where rental processes, questions about safety and operation of equipment are evaluated and scored.”

The company keeps a training log for each piece of rental equipment that every employee is checked off on once his or her training is complete. The goal for Birch's employees is to have 100 percent of the training log checked off, and requires everyone to restart a fresh training log each year so that the information is constantly revisited and nothing is overlooked.

Birch Equipment also takes advantage of all opportunities by aerial equipment manufacturers to train its staff, including everyone from the mechanics to its in-house and outside sales people. Once these employees have completed the train-the-trainer program, they can then certify customers on ANSI and OSHA regulations.

For smaller rental companies with fewer capital and human resources, taking advantage of vendor-provided training programs is a smart and effective way to train both personnel and customers on the safe use of aerial equipment.

“It is very important for small to mid-sized rental companies to lean on their vendors for support with safety training,” says Josh Nickell, vice president, Nickell Equipment Rental, Newnan, Ga. “Smaller companies have limited resources to focus on the ever-changing ANSI and OSHA requirements. Yet, this doesn't make it any less important. One mistake can cause someone to get injured, which can be a very costly, if not business-ending, accident.”

Most aerial equipment suppliers offer training and certification on their units in addition to instruction materials such as written guidelines and videos that can be referenced again and again. These manufacturers should also make themselves easily accessible to dealers and customers any time they need additional support.

“Our lift fleet is entirely Genie and their customer support in offering safety training at our facility, and service to train our technicians in depth about proper inspection requirements, is superb,” Essex' Morse says. “It's very important for us to have that degree of manufacturer/dealer relationship. The lift manufacturers themselves are your first line for receiving the necessary training. Some manufacturers are now offering online training and many of the sales reps will conduct on-site training.”