ARA Professional Driver Education Program

Working in the construction and tool rental industry demands productivity at every level. This means getting the job done safely, quickly, and efficiently, while also adhering to Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations. Whether you’re loading, unloading, or securing equipment, you need reliable workers that can get the job done with proper training and a perceptive eye for safety. Similarly, customer service, pickup, and delivery also come with their own challenges, so a little extra knowledge about best practices always come in handy. At Synergy Equipment, we believe the best way to equip your employees with this training and knowledge is to use the American Rental Association (ARA) Professional Driver Education Program.

This seven hour online course gives your employees a certificate for construction and general tool operation, and will teach them everything they need to know about best practices and DOT regulations. For more information on the subject, don’t hesitate to ask us about it at one of our dealerships in Florida.

Program Objectives

With the ARA Professional Driver Education Program, you’ll have all the knowledge you need to safely and effectively operate your equipment at the job site. It has nine modules, beginning with the introduction, which emphasizes just the basics of safety. Here, you’ll learn the importance of general safety rules, recognize what equipment is necessary, how to check your vehicle for proper functionality, and familiarize yourself with load-securing hardware. From there, you move onto the Equipment Loading Module. This covers everything from using the right equipment for loading to best practices for your equipment type and how to create a safe loading zone. With the Load Securement Module and Unloading Module, employees learn similar information. However, it’s focused more on DOT regulations for securing a load, using tie-down equipment, and of course, how to safely and properly unload a vehicle. There are also three separate modules dedicate to the customer, which emphasize delivery, pickup, and general customer service. While these don’t seem as important for safety and efficiency, we believe that good communication skills with the customer and better practices during pickup and delivery will save time, improve productivity, and overall set your workers up for success at the job site. Finally, the DOT Overview Module and On-the-Road Safety Module both give you valuable information about compliance and proper driving techniques. With the combination of these modules, your employees will have a complete, well-informed education on every aspect of working with heavy equipment.

Why Complete the Online Certification Program?

That’s clearly quite a bit of information to be covered, and it takes seven hours to complete the program. But why is it important for your success? Well, with the Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) initiative from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has strict regulations for rental company drivers to follow. With this program, you’ll learn everything necessary for your workers to act in compliance with these principles, which are all covered by the nine modules mentioned above. As the need for construction tools continues to grow, it’s vital that rental companies have as many trained drivers as possible. With the ARA program, you can rest assured that every employee is trained and well informed about safety, best practices, and DOT regulations regarding construction equipment driving and operation.

When you consider the complete education process in the ARA Professional Driver Education Program, you’ll see that your construction equipment rental company could benefit significantly from training your employees with this program. At Synergy Equipment, we strongly strongly encourage everyone with construction equipment drivers to utilize this resource, because improving safety, boosting productivity, and increasing communication with the customer should always be top priorities. Remember to talk to us at our dealerships if you have any further questions or need equipment, as we have multiple locations in Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Palatka, and Pompano Beach, Florida.