BHG Forklift Training

Forklift Training & Certification in Augusta, Georgia

Augusta's biggest manufacturers build golf cars, make paperboard, bake cookies and process beef, and every one of those plants runs on forklifts. BHG Forklift Training comes to your Augusta-area facility and trains and evaluates your operators on your own trucks.

  • OSHA Classes 1–7
  • Training at Your Facility
  • Hands-On Evaluations
  • Certification Records
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Forklift Operator Training in Augusta

The Augusta Economic Development Authority's list of the largest manufacturing employers is led by EZGO Textron, which makes golf cars and utility vehicles, followed by Graphic Packaging (bleached paperboard), Ferrara (cookies and crackers) and FPL Food (beef products). Further down are Nutrien (nitrogenous fertilizer), Augusta Coca-Cola, a Starbucks soluble and roasting plant, Cardinal Health (disposable medical supplies) and J & J Mid-South (corrugated shipping containers). Each one moves raw material in and finished goods out by forklift.

The trucks and hazards differ widely across that list. A paperboard mill handles heavy rolls with clamp attachments, a beef plant works in refrigerated rooms, a fertilizer plant stores bulk and bagged product that can corrode equipment, and a vehicle assembly plant feeds parts to a moving line. OSHA requires each operator to be trained on the truck they use and evaluated in their own workplace, so the program has to match the plant.

BHG Forklift Training is a service of BHG Safety Partners LLC, a Disabled Veteran-Owned company based in Hannibal, Missouri. We travel from Hannibal to your Augusta-area facility and cover the three parts 29 CFR 1910.178(l) requires: formal instruction, practical hands-on training, and an evaluation of each operator's performance in your workplace, on your own trucks. Your company then certifies its operators.

Where Forklifts Work in Augusta

  • Vehicle and parts manufacturing

    The EDA lists EZGO Textron as Augusta's largest manufacturing employer, with 1,350 employees building golf cars and utility vehicles, and Standard Aero among the aircraft engine parts makers. Line-side delivery means forklifts and tow tractors running parts into busy assembly areas, where pedestrian crossings, blind corners and load visibility are the main concerns.

  • Paperboard and packaging

    Graphic Packaging's bleached paperboard operation and J & J Mid-South's corrugated container plant both appear on the EDA's largest-employer list. Paper rolls and baled or stacked board are usually moved with clamp attachments, which change a truck's capacity and handling, so operators need training on the attachment and the revised capacity plate as well as on the truck.

  • Food and beverage plants

    Ferrara (cookies and crackers), FPL Food (beef products), Augusta Coca-Cola and the Starbucks soluble and roasting plant all make the EDA's list. Food plants mix electric forklifts and pallet jacks with washdown floors, refrigerated rooms and tight loading docks, so traction, cold exposure and dock safety belong in hands-on training.

  • Fertilizer and chemicals

    Nutrien produces nitrogenous fertilizer in Augusta, and the EDA also lists Solvay Advanced Polymers (plastic materials and resins). Moving bagged and bulk product in these plants brings corrosive dust, spill response and hazard communication into the forklift program, along with keeping trucks inspected where corrosion can damage chains, forks and brakes.

What Shapes Forklift Safety in Augusta

  • Georgia is not an OSHA-approved State Plan, so federal OSHA covers most private employers in Augusta and 29 CFR 1910.178 applies directly. Although Savannah is the nearest federal office, OSHA assigns Richmond and Columbia counties to its Atlanta East Area Office; neighboring Burke County goes to Savannah.

  • The metro spans the Savannah River. South Carolina runs an OSHA-approved State Plan covering most private sector workers, so a warehouse in North Augusta or elsewhere in Aiken County answers to SC OSHA rather than federal OSHA. A company with plants on both sides of the river deals with two enforcement agencies, even though the forklift training requirements are the same.

  • NWS lists a 1991 to 2020 normal of 86.3 days a year at or above 90 degrees at Augusta's Bush Field. Operators on outdoor yards, loading docks and in trailers need water, rest and acclimatization planned into summer shifts, and propane trucks used indoors in hot, closed buildings need attention to ventilation.

Forklift Classes Augusta Employers Need Most

All forklift classes
Client Questions

Augusta Forklift Training Questions

We get a lot of the same great questions from new clients. Here are the answers to the ones we hear most often — if yours isn't listed, don't hesitate to reach out directly.

BHG Forklift Training instructor leading an onsite training session

Onsite Forklift Training Session

For Richmond and Columbia counties it is federal OSHA's Atlanta East Area Office at 2296 Henderson Mill Road NE, Atlanta, not the Savannah office. Burke County is assigned to the Savannah Area Office. Georgia has no State Plan, so 29 CFR 1910.178 applies directly. If your site is across the river in North Augusta or Aiken County, South Carolina's State Plan, SC OSHA, is the agency instead.
The enforcing agency differs. South Carolina runs an OSHA-approved State Plan, SC OSHA, that covers most private employers, while the Georgia side is under federal OSHA. The operator training requirement is the same in substance: formal instruction, hands-on training and an evaluation in the workplace, on the type of truck each operator uses. We train and evaluate operators at each site, on your own trucks.
Yes. OSHA's training topics include truck controls, capacity and stability and any attachments, and an attachment changes the truck's rated capacity and how the load behaves. Operators should know how to read the capacity plate for the truck with that attachment fitted, and should be evaluated handling the rolls they actually move. We build that into the hands-on training and evaluation at your plant.
Yes. Tow tractors are Class 6 powered industrial trucks under OSHA's standard, so drivers need the same instruction, practical training and evaluation, specific to the tugger and the routes they run. Towing carts through a busy plant brings its own hazards, such as train length, turning clearance and pedestrian crossings. We train and evaluate each driver on each truck type they operate.
About BHG

Your Safety. Our Mission.

BHG Forklift Training trains and evaluates forklift operators at your facility, on your own trucks. Our instructors bring decades of hands-on experience in warehouses, distribution centers, manufacturing plants and construction sites.

Our approach is simple: we listen first. Every facility has its own trucks, layout and traffic patterns. We build each session around your equipment, your aisles and docks, and your shifts — so your operators train for the work they actually do.

From Class 1 electric riders in the warehouse to Class 7 rough terrain forklifts on the job site, we cover every OSHA truck class, from our base in Hannibal, Missouri to employers across 17 states in the Midwest and South, in English or Spanish.

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