Truckers in Belgian employment must take 35 hours of refresher training for Code 95 every five years. This must be in the language of the Region where the training takes place. For truckers who do not speak the language, the training is a measure of nothing.
Regular refresher training under the Code 95 is important for promoting road safety, according to director Philippe Degraef of transport federation Febetra. “About a third of truck drivers employed as wage earners by a Belgian transport company have a nationality other than Belgian. Drivers with Romanian and Bulgarian nationality are the most numerous. French, Dutch and Moroccans complete the top five,” Degraef said.
“Like their Belgian colleagues, they are required to take 35 hours of refresher training every five years as part of the Code 95. Under current language legislation, this must be in the official language of the Region where the training is given. In practice, this means that a lot of drivers, especially Eastern European ones, have to take refresher courses in a language they do not master well enough to really learn anything from the training. They are playing with their mobile phones instead of following the training,” Degraef explains.
Interpreter
Febetra advocates the possibility of being allowed to call on an interpreter, both in the compulsory exam to obtain the Code 95 and in the teaching modules to renew the Code 95. “As a logistics hub, Flanders desperately needs these profiles – truck driver has been a bottleneck profession for years – and will continue to desperately need them in the future,” he said. Language skills are also less essential for the profession of truck driver than for healthcare professionals, for example. That is why we are asking for the possibility of using an interpreter. In-service training completely misses the point if drivers just come to wear their trousers,” says Degraef.
Contacts
The transport federation is making the necessary contacts with the government to get the proposal through. “The use of an interpreter was launched before but was dropped back because of non-compliance with language legislation. The recognised truck driver training centres are also asking for it. The cost of training is for the employer. So it will normally also pay the cost of the interpreter,” Degraef concludes.
