Affordable Forklift Training Courses Made Available in Western Bowie County at TC@TexAmericas Center

To kick off the new year, Texarkana College at the TexAmericas Center in New Boston is offering forklift training with special discount pricing through a grant partnership with Texas Mutual Insurance Company. Texas Mutual, the state’s leading provider of workers’ compensation insurance, presented TC with a $100,000 grant in 2018 to provide affordable safety-training courses for area employers and employees.

The comprehensive course covers Class I, IV, and V trucks. Students will be instructed on seven specific areas of forklift training which includes: fundamentals, balance and capacity, preoperational inspection, general rules of the road, safe load handling, techniques, refueling, and battery charging and changing.

Lorie Jones, Director of Community and Business Education for Texarkana College, said the grant from Texas Mutual allows TC to offer the course for only $25 to participants.

“Forklift training courses designed with both the classroom and operator time built in usually costs a student $325.00 per course,” Jones said. “Because of the generous grant from Texas Mutual, TC is able to provide this very affordable specialized training in a convenient location to Bowie County residents. Our instructor is well qualified and provides curriculum local employers are needing in their workforce.”

The first class was held Friday, January 11, and class participant, Ashley Betts, said she was grateful for the opportunity to participate in the training.

“I’m really glad TC offers this because you can find a job driving a forklift at so many places,” Betts said. “People always need forklift drivers.”

Betts said she chose to take the course because she wants to better her future for herself and for her kids.

“I enjoy working in warehouses and in production,” she said. “If I can get this extra skill under my belt, I will be able to get a better job. I think this training will really help me out in the long run.”

After the four-hour classroom instruction, students drive a forklift through cones and learn how to pick up and carry a load.

“It was a little harder than I thought it would be at first, but the instructor took his time with me and I learned how to ease up when I was taking turns too sharp,” Betts said. “I became more comfortable with it the more I drove it.”

The curriculum is National Safety Council certified which prepares students to understand the importance of and demonstrate all safety requirements for a forklift inspection. For more information on class dates and times, please contact Madeleine Russell at 903-823-3014 or madeleine.russell@texarkanacollege.edu.