CERT was contacted by Jason an Employment Consultant from Maxima, a specialised employment service provider for job-seekers with disabilities, late in 2018. He had a job seeker, Paul who required a forklift licence (TLILIC2001 – Licence to operate a forklift truck). Paul is hearing impaired and communicates through Auslan via an interpreter.

After discussion between Jason, CERTs High Risk Work Licence trainer, Craig and CERT administration staff, it was agreed to enrol Paul in a scheduled forklift course with a small number of participants, as this would help reduce the amount of distraction for Paul and the interpreter. Paul attended the first day of the two day forklift course in December 2018.

Unfortunately, he had quite a lot of difficulty completing the theory assessment and became overwhelmed in the class room environment surrounded by other mainstream participants and hence, decided to leave the course half way through the first day. After discussing the situation with Jason, CERT came to understand that the translation of English text to Auslan is very complicated and time consuming, and that the usual procedures for running a forklift training course would not work for Paul.

A decision was made that Paul would work with Jason, Francis, an Employment Support Coordinator from Maxima and an Auslan interpreter, over the following months to translate the assessments and take extra time to slowly work through them, until Paul felt confident that he could complete the assessments.

Recently, Paul returned to CERT Welshpool for a one-on-one training day with our High Risk Work Licence trainer, Craig. With the help of Craig and an interpreter, Paul successfully completed his forklift training and has now been issued with his Statement of Attainment and Worksafe licence (LF Class) and is now working again.

On a recent site visit to Paul’s new workplace, Francis gave CERT this feedback: “Paul’s self-esteem and morale has grown in leaps and bounds since he did his FLT (forklift course), as it gives him another skill that adds to the variety of work he can do. From a business perspective, it’s another step in having a more flexible and can-do team which is good for everyone. CERT’s one-on-one training package delivered by Craig was certainly great value for money- thanks for making it happen.”

CERT is very happy for Paul and understand that not everyone’s learning experiences are the same. CERT hopes to work with Maxima and assist more job seekers in the future. CERT provides flexible training options to suit individual circumstances. Contact CERT to discuss your training needs.