ARB Approved + CHAS for less than £500 per year..!

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

But, MORE IMPORTANTLY, a different set of standards for contractors of 'upto 5 people' (inc. the boss / employer.)

 

More news to follow soon.

 

Thanks all and hope business is improving.

 

Cheers..

Paul

[Peter]

Sounds interesting, if one already had CHAS accreditation would that make it possible to fast track some of the AAAC stuff?

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

Sounds interesting, if one already had CHAS accreditation would that make it possible to fast track some of the AAAC stuff?

 

Hi Peter, thanks for the post!

 

It depends what you mean by 'fast track'.

 

IF you mean can we bash through the H&S elements quicker, then yes...hopefully, so we can spend more time on site.

 

IF, however, you mean can we 'skip' that section, in a sense 'prior accredit', then I'm afraid not. The reason is because H&S compliance is very much intergal to the ArbAC approval and needs to be checked. Further, based on my considerable expereince to date (and particularly where 'non arb' external H&S advisors have been involved), the relevant docs. are often lacking and/or inappropriate/irrelevant to tree work operations, i.e. lots of reference to scaffold and ladders.

 

That said, particularly if you fall into the small company category, i.e. 'upto 5 people' (inc. the employer), the CHAS stuff is minimal AND we will be providing a full range of H&S docs. as templates to download.

 

Sorry for the lengthy reply...bet you've missed these eh? (like a hole in the head, ha!)

 

Cheers..

Paul

 

PS If you are CHAS accredited, thereby requiring annual audits, we can offer to undertake this for you as an ArbAC so you have one point of contact, at least for the assessing / auditing elements of the accreditations, rather than two (however the CHAS accreditation adminstrative process, i.e. completion of a simple form & £60 cheque, is done directly with CHAS.)

Edited January 20, 2011 by AA Teccie (Paul)

[ukminch]

Sounds good

[roseyweb]

That sounds fantastic, that cures my biggest gripe about AAAC, my name will be at the top of the signing up list,

Where would one find said list?

[Peter]

Further, based on my considerable expereince to date (and particularly where 'non arb' external H&S advisors have been involved), the relevant docs. are often lacking and/or inappropriate/irrelevant to tree work operations, i.e. lots of reference to scaffold and ladders.

 

 

So in essence you are saying that CHAS accreditation on its own is an unreliable indicator of H&S compliance in arb?

 

Is that the official position of the AA?

 

FWIW, I am confident that my H&S docs, which easily passed scrutiny from CHAS, and contain no references to scaffold, would meet the requirements of the AAAC scheme. I'll happily email you a copy to take a look at if you want.

Edited January 20, 2011 by Peter

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

So in essence you are saying that CHAS accreditation on its own is an unreliable indicator of H&S compliance in arb?

 

Is that the official position of the AA?

 

FWIW, I am confident that my H&S docs, which easily passed scrutiny from CHAS, and contain no references to scaffold, would meet the requirements of the AAAC scheme. I'll happily email you a copy to take a look at if you want.

 

 

Hi Peter,

 

Not at all, "the official position of the AA", but often based on my experience H&S procedures are either sometimes lacking in certain areas, i.e. W@H procedures for tree work ops, OR inappropriate for arb ops., and more particularly where non-arb extrenal H&S advisors have been involved.

 

Even by CHAS managements own admission a specific industry based body is far better to assess it's own contractors than a non-specialist and hence they have given their full co-operation in achieving appropriate and suitable standards.

 

As you mention, where the H&S procedures etc. have been established 'in-house', they often carry much greater weight and relevance to the actual operations undertaken and, most importantly, have ownership whihc is crucial to the process. However, even in that situation, it is useful to have positive external scrutiny even if from a non-arb specialist, and perhaps at times a general H&S practioner highlights some issues that may be taken for granted by the arb specialist, i.e. manual handling assessments (BUT, this particular issue has previoulsy taken up (too) much time convincing other CHAS assessors that we cannot do this effectively as almost every load we deal with is different, tahnkfully CHAS management have now acknowledged this and provided adequate rsik assessments are in place, with evidence of MH training so that the basics of good lifting techniques etc. are understood, they're happy...phew!!!)

 

Cheers..

Paul

[johnty]

Sounds ok, more detail to follow I hope, my biggest thing was the cost of getting and being an AAAC. We have spoke before Paul let me know of any more info.

[tommer9]

VERY good news. I would be extremely interested.

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

Sounds ok, more detail to follow I hope, my biggest thing was the cost of getting and being an AAAC. We have spoke before Paul let me know of any more info.

 

Hi Johnty,

 

Sorry for delay in replying but I was travelling most of last evening.

 

If by any chance you are attending the 'Aspect Tree Consultancy' / South Hams DC BS3998 seminar at Ivybridge next week yuo'll get more of an insite as I'm speaking about it there. If not don't worry as more info will follow.

 

Cheers, n hope all's well!

Paul