Group Training for Businesses: Onsite, Group Bookings, and CITB Subsidies Explained

5 months ago

Group Forklift Training for Businesses: Onsite, Group Bookings, and CITB Subsidies Explained

If you’re responsible for getting your team licensed and compliant, you already know that organising forklift training across multiple staff is more complicated than it sounds. Different shifts, varying experience levels, equipment that can’t sit idle while operators are off-site, certifications expiring at different times, and the eternal question of how to do all of it without blowing the budget.

This guide is for Supervisors, Operational Managers, Co-ordinators, WHS managers, HR managers, and business owners who need to train, refresh, or verify a team’s competency on forklifts and other plant. We’ll walk through how onsite delivery actually works, how group bookings can save you significant money, how to use CITB subsidies if you’re in the construction industry, and how to keep your team genuinely compliant under SA’s Work Health and Safety legislation.

Why Group and Onsite Training Beats Sending Staff to the City

The default assumption is that workers go to the training provider. For an individual booking, that’s usually fine. For a team of three, five, ten, or twenty, it stops making sense.

Here’s why most businesses choose onsite or group training once they run the numbers.

You don’t lose half a day to travel. Sending five operators across Adelaide for a one-day, or multiple day course costs you five lots of travel time, five lots of accommodation costs, five lots of meals/allowances, five lots of fuel or vehicles costs, and a real productivity hit on the days. Onsite training keeps everyone on site which is a saving in all these factors.

You train on the equipment they actually use and to policies, procedures and plans applicable to your site! This is the big one. When operators train on the same forklifts, scissor lifts, boom lifts, or order pickers they use every day, the competency transfer is far stronger than learning on a generic machine and then trying to apply it to your specific gear.

Your policies, procedures, traffic management plans are all incorporated as site specific learning and revision for your workforce. Improving workers awareness and compliance to workplace safety processes and requirements as a result.

You control the schedule. Want to train one shift on Tuesday and another on Thursday so production never stops? Onsite delivery makes that possible. You can’t reschedule a public course.

Per-person costs drop with group bookings. Most RTOs offer reduced per-person rates for large groups that reach a certain threshold, and onsite delivery spreads the trainer’s fixed costs across more students.

Your records stay clean. Training a whole team in a coordinated cycle keeps everyone’s certifications aligned, which makes ongoing compliance significantly easier to manage.

How Onsite Training Works

The mechanics of onsite training are straightforward, but there are a few things you need to have organised before booking.

Minimum Student Numbers

Onsite delivery requires a minimum number of students to be commercially viable or FQT can apply a minimum day rate to be charged alternatively for cases where numbers are not available. At FQT, onsite delivery is available across metropolitan Adelaide, regional SA, the Northern Territory, and nationally on request. Minimum student numbers and any additional charges depend on the location and course type. The FQT team will confirm requirements when you enquire.

Equipment Requirements

For most onsite training, your business needs to provide:

Compliant plant being trained on (forklift, scissor lift, boom lift, order picker, etc.)
A safe, suitable training area with adequate space for practical exercises
Access to load-handling equipment (pallets, racking, etc., depending on course)
Compliant logbooks and pre-start checklists for the equipment

If you don’t have on-site access to specific equipment or spaces, FQT can discuss options as there are many different ways training can be delivered. Some courses can be partially delivered at FQT’s Wingfield facility with the practical component arranged separately.

What FQT Brings

FQT brings the trainer, the assessment materials, all course documentation, and the credentials your operators receive on completion. For licensable courses, FQT issues the Safework Tax Invoice, Declaration, Notice of Satisfactory Assessment (NSA) and the Unit of Competency (UoC) Statement of Attainment (SoA) that your operators need to apply for their High Risk Work Licence (HRWL) through Service SA or an Australia Post outlet.

Course Range Available Onsite

Almost all of FQT’s training can be delivered onsite, including:

You can see FQT’s full onsite services page for more on what’s available across SA, NT, and nationally.

Group Bookings: The Numbers Worth Knowing

Group bookings work two ways. You can book a group onto a scheduled course at FQT’s Wingfield facility, or you can have a course delivered onsite at your workplace. Either way, the cost to a business typically drops compared to individual bookings due to those savings highlighted earlier.

How to Get a Group Quote

When you contact FQT for a group booking, have the following ready:

Number of staff to be trained
The specific course or courses required (forklift, EWP, refresher, VOC)
Experience level of the staff (beginners vs experienced operators needing a refresher)
Preferred location (onsite or at FQT’s Wingfield facility)
Preferred dates and any scheduling constraints (shifts, peak periods)
Whether any of your staff hold a valid CITB number

The more detail you provide upfront, the more accurate the quote. FQT can also tailor course delivery to your specific operations, particularly for industries with unique plant configurations or workflows.

CITB Subsidies: Up to $3,000 Per Worker, Per Year

If your business operates in South Australia’s building and construction industry, you may be sitting on one of the most valuable training subsidies in the state.

What Is CITB?

The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) is a South Australian organisation that subsidises training and skills development for the SA construction industry. CITB collects revenue from building and construction work undertaken in South Australia, and that revenue provides subsidies for applicable training to people who hold a current CITB ID number.

How Much Is the Subsidy?

Eligible workers with an approved CITB number can access up to $3,000 in short course training subsidies per year, off any CITB-endorsed short course delivered by a CITB-approved training provider like FQT. The exact subsidy amount per course is pre-set and depends on how that specific course is classified under the current CITB Training Plan. The CITB also subsidises regional travel costs for eligible CITB ID holders. The combination of the short course training and travel subsidy reduces course costs substantially for groups of individuals and businesses!

Who Is Eligible?

To use CITB subsidies, the worker (not the employer) must:

Live in South Australia
Work in South Australia’s building and construction industry
Hold a current, approved CITB ID number at the time of training
Successfully complete the course (subsidies only apply to passes, not failed assessments)

The CITB makes the eligibility decision. Training providers, including FQT, do not determine who qualifies.

How the Subsidy Process Actually Works

The worker applies for a CITB ID number on the CITB website before booking training. The number is typically issued within around 5 working days.
The worker provides their CITB number to FQT at the time of enrolment application.
The worker completes the course and is deemed competent.
FQT charges the full course fee at time of enrolment, then lodges a subsidy claim with CITB on the worker’s behalf.
Once CITB approves the claim, the subsidy amount is transferred from FQT to the worker.

For more detail, FQT has a dedicated CITB subsidy page and a separate guide on how the program is being applied to FQT training.

Why This Matters for Group Bookings

If you’re booking a team of five eligible construction workers for forklift training, that’s potentially up to $15,000 in collective subsidies available across your team in a single year. For larger teams or businesses scheduling regular refreshers Duty of Care training, the savings are substantial.

Compliance: What You Actually Need to Have in Place

Beyond the cost and convenience benefits, there’s the legal reality. Under the Work Health and Safety Act 2012 (SA), a Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU) has a primary duty of care to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers. That includes ensuring workers are properly trained and competent to operate the plant they’re using.

For forklift operators, and other plant operators, this means:

A current High Risk Work Licence issued by SafeWork SA for the relevant class of plant. For more on the categories and what they cover, see our guide to High Risk Work Licence categories.

Verification that the operator is competent on the specific equipment. Many businesses run a Verification of Competency (VOC) or a Refresher training process for new starters and experienced operators, regardless of whether the operator’s HRWL is current. This is to ensure the operator holds current, workplace appropriate industry skills and knowledge suitable to their organisation’s needs.

Documented training records. You need to be able to demonstrate that workers have been trained, when, by whom, and what their competency status is.

Refresher training where appropriate. The HRWL itself doesn’t legally require refresher training, but workplace policy and the duty of care obligation often does.

If you’re interested in how renewal works for individual operators, our guide on how to renew your forklift licence in South Australia covers the SafeWork SA process in detail.

VOC and Refresher Training for Existing Teams

For most businesses, the bigger ongoing question isn’t training new operators. It’s keeping existing operators skills and knowledge current and up to standards required at their workplace. The service solutions we offer to assists businesses in this are:

Verification of Competency (VOC)

A VOC is an assessment of an operator’s current competency on a specific piece of plant. It typically takes a couple of hours per operator and can be done onsite. Many businesses run VOCs:

For new hires before they operate company plant
After an operator has had time off (extended leave, return from injury)
After an incident or near miss
On a recurring schedule (often annually) as part of internal compliance policy

Refresher Training

A refresher is a structured top-up course rather than a pure assessment. It’s appropriate when an operator’s skills may genuinely have declined, when they’re moving from a different equipment type, or when workplace policy requires structured retraining to ensure quality is maintained.

Duty of Care Refresher training can be delivered onsite for groups, and can be subsidised through CITB for eligible workers.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the minimum group size for onsite training? Minimum student numbers depend on the location, course type, and equipment requirements. Contact the FQT team for specifics.

Can you train mixed groups (some beginners, some experienced)? In most cases, yes, but it depends on the course. Beginners and experienced operators have different course duration requirements (a beginner forklift course is three days, an experienced operator course is one day). FQT can often coordinate split delivery so each group gets the appropriate course length.

Do all our workers need their own CITB number? Yes. CITB subsidies are tied to the individual worker, not the business. Each eligible worker needs their own current CITB ID number to access the subsidy. Workers can apply on the CITB website before training.

What if some of our workers aren’t eligible for CITB? That’s fine. CITB applies only to eligible construction industry workers. For non-eligible workers (warehousing-only, manufacturing, agriculture, etc.), the standard course fees apply. CITB subsidies and standard pricing can be applied within the same group booking.

Can FQT come to regional SA or the Northern Territory? Yes. FQT delivers onsite training across regional SA, the NT (where FQT is registered for delivery), and nationally on request for select services. Travel and logistics costs may apply for remote locations, if you have CITB funding then travel costs to regional areas may also be subsidised! The FQT onsite services page has more detail.

How quickly can you book a team in? This depends on the time of year, course type, and equipment requirements. For straightforward forklift refreshers and VOCs, FQT can often accommodate bookings within a short time frame. For multi-course programs or remote locations, planning four to six weeks ahead is more realistic, however FQT will endeavour to make services available sooner for urgent needs.

Do you provide certificates and licence documentation? Yes. For licensable courses, FQT issues the Tax invoice, Declaration, Notice of Satisfactory Assessment (NSA) and Statement of Attainment that you need to apply for their High Risk Work Licence through Service SA or an Australia Post outlet. For VOCs and refreshers, FQT issues the relevant competency documentation for your records.

Book Group or Onsite Training With FQT

Forklift Quality Training is a SafeWork SA-accredited RTO based at Wingfield, South Australia, with over 35 years of experience training plant operators across SA, the NT, and provides broad services nationally. We work with businesses ranging from small single-warehouse operations through to large multi-site organisations across construction, logistics, manufacturing, mining, and agriculture.

We offer:

Onsite training at your workplace across metro Adelaide, regional SA, NT, and provide broad services nationally
Group bookings at our Wingfield facility
Tailored programs designed around your specific equipment, shift patterns, and operational needs
Full course range including forklift, order picker, EWP (scissor lift, boom lift, vertical lift), and refresher/VOC services
CITB subsidy support for eligible construction industry workers, up to $3,000 per worker per year for select training services

Get in touch with FQT to discuss your team’s training needs and request a group booking quote.

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