Should you need a licence to be an arborist?

[Gregsie]

Probably leaving myself wide open on this one but here goes:

 

Reading our local free paper this afternoon and looking through the small ads in the back (as you do), it struck me how many 'tree surgeons' have NPTC qualified and tree topping mentioned in the same ad.

 

Got me thinking, should the government bring in a licencing scheme for arborists. What I'm getting at is that you could get your NPTC tickets, have no idea about correct pruing, tree care (or BS3998) and call yourself a tree surgeon.

 

Slightly off topic I do find it worrying how easy it is to get your CS39 tickets. I'm at college at the moment, won't be touching a chainsaw until after Xmas and will have the opportunity to take four tickets by July. IMHO wouldn't it be better to have a prerequsite of a couple of years on the ground before you are allowed to take your climbing tickets ?

 

Anyway ramble over.

[Ross Smith]

totally agree and think the clients should be made aware of the diffrence so they can have an arborist carry out their tree work rather than a topper in the local rag

[skyhuck]

Probably leaving myself wide open on this one but here goes:

 

Reading our local free paper this afternoon and looking through the small ads in the back (as you do), it struck me how many 'tree surgeons' have NPTC qualified and tree topping mentioned in the same ad.

 

Got me thinking, should the government bring in a licencing scheme for arborists. What I'm getting at is that you could get your NPTC tickets, have no idea about correct pruing, tree care (or BS3998) and call yourself a tree surgeon.

 

Slightly off topic I do find it worrying how easy it is to get your CS39 tickets. I'm at college at the moment, won't be touching a chainsaw until after Xmas and will have the opportunity to take four tickets by July. IMHO wouldn't it be better to have a prerequsite of a couple of years on the ground before you are allowed to take your climbing tickets ?

 

Anyway ramble over.

 

IMO, you cannot legislate a better world, and qualifications don't stop bad practice.

 

Harold Shipman was very well qualified!!

[Andy Collins]

Hmmm dunno, the Eastern European black market would soon print off many of these, they'd be better licenced than us! No, I dont think more red tape is the answer.

[Ian C]

NPTC is a recognised certificate of practical competence, you can have all the education you want but you still need to be good at the practical work, some training is a must though, there is bad practice in every trade, when you go out for a meal do you ever ask if the chef is trained? could be some old tramp that happens to be good at cooking but you still pay your bill cos your happy with it!

[Tom D]

Nice idea in theory, but the only way it would work is if you could only call yourself an "arborist" if you were one. Like you can only call yourself a doctor if you are one.

 

The question is : what is an arborist?

[Marc]

 

Slightly off topic I do find it worrying how easy it is to get your CS39 tickets. I'm at college at the moment, won't be touching a chainsaw until after Xmas and will have the opportunity to take four tickets by July. IMHO wouldn't it be better to have a prerequsite of a couple of years on the ground before you are allowed to take your climbing tickets ?

 

Anyway ramble over.

 

NPTC easy to pass hard to fail, what you got to remeber is a few days training and assesment is never going to make you an experienced arborist, its only a foundation of good practice to build upon.

 

I was climbing and using a saw many months before i did most of my nptc (with a little guidance of course), to me that was the best way of doing it that way i did'nt go into my units green and totally inexperienced, i had a vague idea and could get more out of my trainers as i already knew the basics.

 

Everyone has to start on the ground, its foolish to think you can go to college for a few weeks training and become a climber, how long you stay on the ground is all down to how competent you are.

 

 

If having a license meant i could charge the right amount of money for the job i do then i'm all for it, otherwise to much red tape.

[treequip]

Like some others here my carer pre dates these competencies. It was a bit of a rude surprise when I came back from my “Journeyman” period and found NPTC omnipotent in the UK (Can’t leave anything alone for 6 years can you?)

My point is, how did we differentiate between the Pro’s and the numptys, before we used “NPTC qualified” to wave the banner of professionalism?

Another point I would like to offer for consideration is this, since a competence is mandatory why are we shouting about it. (“NPTC qualified arborist” seems to be on every advert) I notice bus companies don’t use the same tack. All our drivers have PSV licences. Of course they do, it’s mandatory. If a driving licence for a chainsaw is all you have why shout about it.

 

Andy

[skyhuck]

since a competence is mandatory why are we shouting about it. (“NPTC qualified arborist” seems to be on every advert) I notice bus companies don’t use the same tack. All our drivers have PSV licences. Of course they do, it’s mandatory. If a driving licence for a chainsaw is all you have why shout about it.

 

Andy

 

This my point!

 

Proof of competence is mandatory (not NPTC) BUT its not ENFORCED!! nor will it ever be!

 

Driving licenses are enforced! to a point.

[treequip]

A driving licence is required by statute and carries a tariff of penalties enforceable by a court of law.

 

The competency for tree work operations is not required by law, but is mandatory because the HSE says it is. Any enforcement usually falls when a company comes to the attention of the HSE but often it will be dealt with by an improvement notice. In short it doesn’t have the teeth is ought to have and the HSE doesn’t have the resources to police the job.

 

Andy