OSHA states in 1910.178(q)(1) "All repairs shall be made by authorized personnel." Authorized personnel means someone who has, by training or experience the ability to make the proper decisions.
You also need to see what the manufacturer of your equipment recommends. If they require someone to be certified to work on their equipment and you don't, then if something happens with that equipment that injures/kills someone, the forklift manufacturer can pass all liability over to you whether it was a manufacturing defect or not. Then your company will be looking at a very large settlement.
My recommendation is send one of your maintenance guys through their training program. It will probably cost you a couple of thousand, but voided warrantees and possible litigation savings are many times more expensive.
