Chainsaw refresher, a scam?

[spuddog0507]

55 minutes ago, drinksloe said:

Does the +F 1st aid cousre pretty much not do that (atleast with a decent intructor)

 

I know the 1st time i done my +F the intructor shocked me with quite a lot of stuff, back then he went way of the reservation with some of the stuff he was telling us (torniquet's etc, but when they were still a big No No) basically his bottom line was anything serious at all (not just cutting based, stalking or just outdoors in remote areas) ur basically dead unless u have a phone reception and even then u could easily be hours before u get any 'real' helpand bugger all u can really do about it.

 

When i was on the railways seen a lot of different boys cutting and many scared the hell out of me, 

i wouldn't trust them to cut their finger nails never mind trees.

But they all had tickets.

 

While i'm not against more money in forestry esp to hand cutters, that would not actually solve much (apart from my overdraft ? )training/injury wise and could actually make things worse as more folk come in and try to do it

 

Not sure if i said it on this thread or a similar 1 but went down hill since they stopped u waiting 2 years after doing wee trees to medium.

U learn a hell of a lot in those 2 years often by u making mistakes taking shortcuts (usually complacncy and/or tiredness) but atleast ur making mistakes in small timber which is easier to correct (plus ur cuts have to be more precise as less room)

So when u get onto the big boys it just seems easy as u have so much room for saws and wedges

 

 

Going off topic but a lot of this box ticking/tickets is now the norm in society in general and the problem is a massive lack of common sense in a mssive % of the population (not just the youngsters) the standard of tradesmen is decreasing as are their numbers in 20 years u really will struggle to find a decent tradesman

 

More and more tickets will not help and niether will refresher courses unless they can 'refresh' some common sense into folk, its not like the trees are growing differently now to how they did 20-40 or even 5 yrs ago

some very good points pointed out there and i know what its like to work with people with no common sense or who are not to be trusted while working in close proximitty of each other, a few years ago we where felling infected larch and some very small blocks like 20/30/40/50 trees while in one of these small blocks the lad i was with cut through the hinge only leaving a small triangle at one side hence tree went 90 degrees as to where it should of gone and hit me luckily it was just the brash, another 2 ft and it would of been me, this guy would work his nuts off but was far from safe, put him in a stand of trees and the saw would never stop but when it came to cs32 trees we used to take bets on how crap the cut would be and how far away it would land as compared to where it was supposed to land.

[Baldbloke]

I hadn’t done any tickets until about 18 years ago. The estate I then worked for put me through small trees and cross cutting course( whatever the no is). I’d previously been cutting on a self employed basis as well as for another estate that wasn’t so bothered by health and safety issues. Due to unusual circumstances I had to borrow a blunt saw from work and remember the unimpressed instructor giving me a bollocking for hurriedly doing a sharpen and raker reduction freehand in the back of a Defender so the saw was usable. I also remember the estate mechanic wag (who had supplied the borrowed saw) provided an enormous Husky with a 24” bar. Really handy for the practical bit in amongst the thinnings  ?

There was an ex army guy there who was a bit of a halfwit who got passed[emoji15]
The rest of us couldn’t believe it as he was totally clueless. I later heard he had a serious chainsaw accident at work....

The danger is there’s always eBay/supermarket saws and stupid people who haven’t been either trained or had a good mentor beforehand.
Being a stubborn grumpy fuck and having dealt with a few thousand red and roe deer during my lifetime I still refuse to entertain doing an approved deer course. [emoji3]

Edited November 11, 2018 by Baldbloke

[Marc Lewis]

Its all box ticking and arse covering and company's making a good deal of money from it. Imo you should not need refreshing what you are practicing day in, day out, where is the sense in that? I do think however that cs38 should be refreshed as we never get to practice it (hopefully) and this is a unit that does not need refreshing. Makes no sense to me.

[The avantgardener]

4 minutes ago, Marc Lewis said:

Its all box ticking and arse covering and company's making a good deal of money from it. Imo you should not need refreshing what you are practicing day in, day out, where is the sense in that? I do think however that cs38 should be refreshed as we never get to practice it (hopefully) and this is a unit that does not need refreshing. Makes no sense to me.

Because people get sloppy and pick up bad habits and do it day in day out until someone gets hurt, that’s why you need refreshers.

Why don’t you arrange a practice day in CS38 for all employees who hold the unit?

It doesn’t have to be done through a company or organisation, keep a record of what you covered, this is assuming that the person doing the recording is competent themselves.

[Marc Lewis]

Because people get sloppy and pick up bad habits and do it day in day out until someone gets hurt, that’s why you need refreshers.
Why don’t you arrange a practice day in CS38 for all employees who hold the unit?
It doesn’t have to be done through a company or organisation, keep a record of what you covered, this is assuming that the person doing the recording is competent themselves.

Is there evidence to suggest that? If so fare enough.

As for practicing cs38, we do and have it recorded as you suggest. It is a requirement by the company i contract for. But that was not my point.

[The avantgardener]

15 minutes ago, Marc Lewis said:

Is there evidence to suggest that? If so fare enough.

As for practicing cs38, we do and have it recorded as you suggest. It is a requirement by the company i contract for. But that was not my point.

So what was your point?

Your post states the you never get to practice CS38 but the company you contract for insists you practice it, which is it?

Refreshers are there to prove that a chainsaw operator is still ‘competent ‘ to use it safely, one day every five years, hardly a money spinner.

[Jamie Jones]

On 05/11/2018 at 21:10, Luckyeleven said:

Always upgrade, do a higher course, it will still refresh the lower tickets.

As stated... just do a ticket on another more interesting field so that it refreshes your other tickets.

The refresher element is just to ensure you are safe with a chainsaw.

[spuddog0507]

38 minutes ago, Marc Lewis said:

Its all box ticking and arse covering and company's making a good deal of money from it. Imo you should not need refreshing what you are practicing day in, day out, where is the sense in that? I do think however that cs38 should be refreshed as we never get to practice it (hopefully) and this is a unit that does not need refreshing. Makes no sense to me.

Got a saw in my hands nearly every day but just had to do a FISA refresher course at a coast of a lost day and £200 ish for 6 hrs doing the things i do every day but it ticked some boxes and thats about it oh and got a certificate that said i had been there, the thing what gets me is we all drive and there is more people killed on our roads in a day than there is in forestry and arb in a year, but do we do a driving refresher NO, i could possibly see this coming as another money making scam where if you are of a certain age you will have to renew every 2/3/5 years, 

[Marc Lewis]

So what was your point?
Your post states the you never get to practice CS38 but the company you contract for insists you practice it, which is it?
Refreshers are there to prove that a chainsaw operator is still ‘competent ‘ to use it safely, one day every five years, hardly a money spinner.

My point was that I think it makes more sense to refresh cs38 than other units that we do every day.

And yes it does get very costly if you have several empolyees who all need refreshers in cs units, all the different ua units amongst others.

[The avantgardener]

23 minutes ago, Marc Lewis said:

My point was that I think it makes more sense to refresh cs38 than other units that we do every day.

And yes it does get very costly if you have several empolyees who all need refreshers in cs units, all the different ua units amongst others.

I think your missing the point altogether though.

You don’t have to do a refresher in every unit you hold.

If you do CS31 stuff all day everyday and only occasionally do CS32 or CS38, you do a refresher in those units as those are the ones that you are most likely to be less competent in as you practise them the least.

If you only do CS31 stuff, then you refresh that, like I say, one day once every five years, hardly that costly.