@Gail Swanepoel
With the F endorsement, you only do it once, and as long as you renew it when you renew your driver licence, it stays with you forever - no point in sending people to do it for a refresher. There has been pressure to remove the F endorsement for years because it's basically pretty pointless - you can teach it in 10 minutes, and it's the kind of common sense you use when driving any vehicle on a road.
In terms of the operator's certificate (or OSH certificate), there are two things to consider:
Instructor-led training has some advantages - the instructor has had some kind of training to deliver this type of course and should be working from some kind of system. However, instructor bias is real. Language and literacy challenges make it very difficult for instructors and can impact other students. Not everyone learns at the same pace. Culturally, some people just won't put their hand up if they don't understand. You're using the training company's gear in their environment - might not be relevant for your environment. The trainee arrives back. You don't know what they've learned. Your supervisor is no wiser about how to ensure that that forklift operator continues to operate using best practices.
Online + internal assessment: training is consistent, the course can be done in your own time, watched again and again. If you have an internal assessor (e.g. supervisor) following a checklist, this can be tailored for the company's specific requirements using their gear, their SOPs, their loads, etc. Everyone understands the process better. There's literacy/language support. The downsides are that it doesn't suit people who hate online learning and you don't get the opportunity to ask questions. However, evidence suggests 20-60% better retention with online learning, so maybe it's worth persevering.
Internal training: you can make up your own course. If it complies with the Approved Code of Practice you can do the whole thing internally, including the assessment. If you have someone experienced, this can be a great way of tailoring a course 100% to your operators and work requirements, but does take a bit of work.
Bear in mind that any external training company is only responsible for the trainee while they are training them. Once they're back at your company, they're your responsibility again.
There is no legal requirement to have a forklift trainer do your forklift training, unless it's F endorsement. And there's no point in paying for an F endorsement if you don't need it - you just make your employee more employable somewhere else.
Disclaimer: we have 20 forklift trainers and an online course.