Florida is one of Rhino Staging’s busiest markets. We have been operating in the Sunshine State since December, 2011 and moved into our current Orlando location in 2020.
Our facility there is housed in two separate buildings (one office, one warehouse) which lie just west of downtown Orlando and within convenient reach of several Rhino Staging Florida client venues as well as Orlando International Airport. Prior to our taking over and renovating the buildings, they were home to a variety of other businesses.
One of Five National Training Centers
The converted warehouse, with a footprint measuring 42 feet x 40 feet, is now home to one of our five national training centers. The other training centers are in Denver, Houston, Las Vegas and Tempe, Arizona. As a national training center, our Orlando facility trains not only Rhino Florida employees, but employees from around the region and, indeed, the entirety of the Rhino Nation.
The Orlando facility hosts abundant training space and equipment including:
- 13′ x 28′ conference room in the office building for meetings and training sessions
- 13′ x 28′ conference room in the warehouse building for training sessions (warehouse measures 42’ x 40’)
- 75″ video monitor
- video projector
- 30′ long x 10’ wide x 20’ high SPRAT (Society of Professional Rope Access Technicians) training structure with 8 training stations for rope access and rigging training
- 20’ long catwalk at a height of 14′
- 40 Columbus McKinnon chain motors with all supporting rigging gear (motor power distribution boxes, motor controllers, power cables, spansets, wire rope, shackles, etc.)
- 38′ x 13′ room for chain motor repair and storage
- box truck and various road cases for truck loader and stagehand training
- exterior paved yard for powered industrial truck and other machine operator training
A Variety of Training Events and a Growing Roster of Trainers
Recent training events at the facility include basic rigging training, forklift training and aerial lift training. Planned for the near future are training events for high riggers, down riggers, and SPRAT certification candidates at levels I, II, and III.
Rhino Florida team members serving as trainers at the facility are Alex Moran (Assistant Director of Production), Brent Foltz (Director of Rigging) and Anton Koshkarev (Rigging Manager). Currently in the process of being trained as trainers are Full-Time Supervisors for Rhino Florida Riley Brantley and Jonathan Diaz.
Client Relationships Increase Training Capacity
In addition to training events at the training facility, Rhino Florida trains team members on client properties Silver Spurs Arena at the Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Amalie Arena and Yuengling Center Arena in Tampa, Kia Center in Orlando and Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise. With regard to these venues and our mutually beneficial relationships with them, Rhino’s Regional Director of Production for the southeastern U.S. Mike Simon, told us that “all have been great partners in training and safety and we owe them a debt of gratitude for this. Not only does it make us a better partner to them in their buildings, but at all the other venues we work in, too.”
Planning for Expanded Training Opportunities
Looking ahead, Rhino Florida is ambitious to expand its training offerings and to that end will soon begin instituting regular monthly machine operator training on site at their Orlando facility.
Well done to all at Rhino Florida for what you have built and thank you for your dedication to our core principles of safety, training and professionalism.