Telescopic pole pruners for commercial use

[Ashbrooke]

I think if you manage to cause enough bother with the Ryobi lopper on a stick to get the hse involved you shouldn't be allowed to dress yourself. 

[pleasant]

4 hours ago, Retired Climber said:

They'd also let me walk out with an arm full of top handle saws, even though I don't technically have relevant qualifications to buy them any more. 

 

 

...interesting

[GarethM]

Thought the top handle thing was more a Stihl dealer policy?. Like the Stihl policy of not sending chainsaws mail order but husqvarna will.

[Mark Bolam]

4 hours ago, Ashbrooke said:

I think if you manage to cause enough bother with the Ryobi lopper on a stick to get the hse involved you shouldn't be allowed to dress yourself. 

Hahahahahaha!

 

Perfect!

[pleasant]

32 minutes ago, GarethM said:

Thought the top handle thing was more a Stihl dealer policy?. Like the Stihl policy of not sending chainsaws mail order but husqvarna will.

It's not ILLEGAL to sell a top handle to a non qualified operator, but the HSE in conjunction with the industry have a recommended standard which has been in place for 20 years plus, so nothing new. HSE advise dealers NOT to supply non certificated operators with single handed use chainsaws, and insist dealers keep records of identification of those that are qualified that have made a purchase should the need arise to trace the saw back to the supplying dealer in the event of an HSE attended incident. If a dealer has supplied a top handle saw to a non qualified purchaser then the dealer could be held to account for a degree of liability in the event of an incident, and thus will bring the dealer and possibly the manufacturer into disrepute, which in turn could cause the dealer to lose its franchise.

 

I have had an instance locally whereby an HSE officer was driving past a site and noticed a top handled saw was being used as a ground saw (also discouranged by the HSE) and immediately closed the operation down to ascertain the qualifications of those working on the site.

 

Personally, I do sometimes wonder why anyone would want to operate something as dangerous as a top handle saw without the correct training...putting your own safety issues aside, there is also the little matter of no insurance cover.

Edited September 25, 2022 by pleasant

[Dan Maynard]

Do you not do pre-delivery check then? Each saw I've bought from a dealer has had the bar and chain fitted at the time.

[pleasant]

10 minutes ago, Dan Maynard said:

Do you not do pre-delivery check then? Each saw I've bought from a dealer has had the bar and chain fitted at the time.

On a brand new saw, yes we do. However pdi's are conducted by a fully trained technician who is trained and insured to fit chains and conduct a customer handover. At the end of the handover the customer is required to sign a pdi handover to reflect he has been advised how to operate and knows the do's and dont's and has been given the handbook etc.

 

The guys who deal with customers who come in with their own saw who just want a chain, that then sometimes ask us to fit it, are not trained, so only supply not fit. Supplying a chain for a pre-existing owned customer saw is a different scenario than a customer hand over of a new saw.

 

As an aside, I was told many years ago from someone who had been in the trade for a very long time, that if someone asks you to fit a chain to a saw because they don't know how to, then that person shouldn't be using a saw......and I think he was right.

Edited September 25, 2022 by pleasant