I.T.S.S.A.R.

ITSSAR have been established for 11 years and operate from offices based in Wokingham, Berkshire.

It is a totally independent non-profit making organisation and is not in competition with the instructors on its register. It is concerned with the training of operators, instructors, tutors and examiners on all types of industrial trucks and applies the standards set out in the Health and Safety Commission Approved Code of Practice (ACoP) in all industrial sectors.

ITSSAR publishes Performance Standards and Training & Testing Standards for operators and instructors. It also provides advice on instructional techniques for all types of industrial truck operator training. It monitors training organisations and instructors to those standards.

Applications for accreditation carry the acceptance of initial and periodic monitoring inspections. ITSSAR Training Standards Advisors carry out these and a copy of their report, once signed by the Chairman of ITSSAR, is returned to the Training Organisation. Every ITSSAR approved instructor, tutor and examiner training course is monitored by an ITSSAR Training Standards Advisor.

Background

The original accrediting bodies, all of them Industrial Training Boards, tended to deal only with their own industries.  At the end of 1992, some of them had their statutory powers removed or curtailed, thereby eliminating their statutory collection of training levies.  This led to the position whereby arrangements for a nation wide standard of industrial truck training were not clear.

Following considerable support from the British Industrial Truck Association (BITA) and consultation with Confederation of British Industry (CBI), Trade Union Congress (TUC), Health & Safety Executive (HSE) and mainline advisers and managers in major industries directly concerned with training, the Association of Industrial Truck Trainers (AITT) introduced a scheme which was industry driven and aimed at improving the quality of training.  AITT was officially recognised by the Health & Safety Commission as an accrediting body.

In 2004 The Independent Training Standards Scheme & Register (ITSSAR) sought accreditation in its own right and the Health and Safety Commission awarded this in March 2005.  ITSSAR is self-financing and non-profit making and covers all sectors of industry. 

Standards

ITSSAR provides advice, maintains a national register and carries out regular monitoring of industrial truck training.  Its published training recommendations are targeted towards National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) are therefore capable of wider application than those currently adopted by some other organisations.

The training provided by ITSSAR accredited instructors is designed to meet employers' legal responsibilities under the Health & Safety at Work Act, etc. 1974 and other relevant statutory provisions.  ITSSAR offers eight categories of accreditation.

Category 1   ITSSAR Registered Instructor

Category 2 ITSSAR Operator Training Organisation

Category 3 ITSSAR  Instructor & Operator Training Organisation

Category 4 ITSSAR Accredited Tutor

Category 5 ITSSAR Accredited Examiner

Category 6 Operator Registration Site Safety Awareness

Category 8 Operator Registration Plant

Category 9 Management & Supervisors Awareness Registration

Application for accreditation assumes the acceptance of an initial monitoring inspection by an ITSSAR Training Standards Advisor.

I.T.S.S.A.R. can be contacted on:

Telephone : 0118 989 3229 

Fax : 0118 979 6058

E-mail : itssar@lineone.net

Web: www.itssar.org.uk